With the release of the Battlescroll: Galletian Reinforcements I’ve been able to go back through the data from the release of the General’s Handbook and tidy everything up. In doing so, I though it may be cool to give you a run-down of how each faction performed under the current General’s Handbook until the Battlescroll took effect.
The data used for analysing these results was taken from 110 Grand Tournaments between 3rd July 2022 and 6th November 2022.
Bonesplitterz
Region Comparison – Popularity
Bonesplitterz saw their highest popularity in Oceania with 2.0% of players choosing the faction for tournament play, while at the opposite end of the world the uptake was only 0.6% in Scandinavia.
Region Comparison – Win Rates
Their popularity in Oceania transferred to their regional win rates as well with a massive 76.0%. While players in the UK & Ireland could only manage 51.8%.
Each region had their share of 4+ win results, however, Oceania, Europe and North America each had a single 5-0 result.
Subfaction Analysis
Subfaction
Players
Win Rate
Drakkfoot
28
63.38%
Icebone
27
54.92%
None/Unknown
1
80.00%
Faction Total
56
59.68%
Drakkfoot and Icebone had a fairly even split in their player base, however Drakkfoot came out on top in terms of their win rate.
Top 10 Bonesplitterz Players
You may notice that some players have a better World/Nation ranking than players above them in this table. This is due to players playing with multiple factions. These players have been ranked on their top 4 Beasts of Chaos results only.
Woehammer Winner: We’ll get to Warclans and Warscrolls later, but anyone who has been following the Bonesplitterzance recently will be expecting to see at least some Savage Big Stabbas in the list. The allegiance ability that helps to maximise their output is Spirit of Gorkamorka. Each melee attack that hits on a 6 scores 2 hits, so with a unit of two Big Stabbas, it’s reasonable to expect at least one of these to go off each combat, if not two, especially if All out Attack is also ordered. In real terms, this means that you should be expecting 5 rend -2 damage 2 attacks to get to the wound roll.
Honourable Mention: I’m going to steer clear of the Rules as Written (RAW) vs Rules as Intended (RAI) debate on this one, but Tireless Trackers is key either way it is played. After deployment but before the first battle round starts, half the units in the army (rounding up) can move up to 5”. With minimum sized unit (MSU) Big Stabbas being quite popular, this can be a lot of movement that can be used to get on objectives early or, as some people argue, repeatedly move a Wurrgog Prophet right into ‘Hard Stare’ range. It’s also worth noting that units can move 5” backwards too, encouraging ranged units to deploy so they can pepper your Savage Orruks at range, only to step just outside of their threat range.
Warclans
Woehammer Winner: In what is a theme running throughout the whole Orruk book, there are two good ones that have strengths and weaknesses and then one that everyone forgets about and you’ll hardly ever see. The winner is the more common choice and the more successful one that is hovering around mid-60% for the current GHB as per the Honest Wargamer Stats: Drakkfoot. Drakkfoot is fantastic in the current meta that has a high number of Nighthaunt and Nurgle armies as it ignores Ward saves. To put this in context, your Big Stabbas will put a Pusgoyle Blightlord to a 6+ save and prevents the 5+ Ward save Nurgle is famed (and cursed!) for. Throw in a Purple Sun nearby…any damage goes straight through.
Honourable Mention: My personal favourite is second and is perfect if you’d like to re-enact the charge of the Rohan at Pelennor Fields from Lord of the Rings, but put the greenskins on the cavalry! Icebone has a toned-down version of Venom EncrustedWeapons from Kruleboyz in as much as if the wound roll is a 6, that wound is converted to mortal wounds and the attack sequence ends. But the key draw form Icebone is that Boarboyz are Battleline in an Icebone army. Not only does this avoid giving up an Galletian Veterans related points, but means that practically your whole army can be mounted with a 12” move for over 50 hunks of bacon going forward at high speed. Those few characters you don’t have on boarback can take advantage of Tireless Trackers to get a bit of a head start getting stuck in.
Command Traits
Woehammer Winner: Easy one for the winner here as it synergises well with several strategies mentioned above and that is Great Hunter. What this allows a Bonesplitterz army led by a general with this command ability to do is to add 3” to the Tireless Tracker battle trait so that it’s an 8” move before the first turn begins. If you want to go full Riders of Porkhan then this means that the few characters you have on foot can actually be 1” further up the board than your 12” mounts, positioning them well to join the charge turn 2.
Honourable Mention: It’s boring, but probably the next best one here would be Master of Magic to help with some of the buffs available to your casters as the other options for Bonesplitterz don’t really do much for them.
Artefacts
Woehammer Winner: Really simple one for the winner and it’s Glowin’ Tattooz to improve the Ward save of a hero to 4+ instead of 6+. This is decent on its own, but it’s when you put it on the Wurrgog Prophet that it truly shines, or should that be glows? We’ll get to the best mini-game in AoS in a moment, but suffice to say Glowin’ Tattooz lets your Wurrgog play the game of chicken longer and practically double the threat caused by this single character.
Honourable Mention: There’s a meme-able option with Mork’s Boney Bitz to potentially be up to +10 to cast vs. Adam Mumford’s (in)famous Cockatrice list, but the second best option is Dokk Juice to heal D6 wounds in the hero phase. What is great is that there aren’t the restrictions of being outside of 3” to this heal as there is to Heroic Recovery. Great on any character, but a fantastic back up for a second Wurrgog Prophet who couldn’t get their tattooz ready for the battle!
Mount Traits
Woehammer Winner: A somewhat of a restricted list due to the restricted number of units that can take a mount trait, but the winner (again!) is Fast ‘Un – it’s almost like movement is really important in Age of Sigmar! Really handy to get a Maniak Weirdnob where they need to be for a subsequent hero phase or to sneak round and grab an objective.
Honourable Mention: However, with only a 6+ save and Ward on your Weirdnob and a very economical 6 wounds, if they find themselves in combat after not charging then Smelly ‘Un might help them make it through to be able to attack back or even survive until the next turn. Maybe.
Spell Lore
Woehammer Winner: If you’ve gone Icebone with lots of mounts with lots of tusks and hooves flying everywhere then the first spell out of the Lore of the Savage Beast you want your wizards to be learning is Glowy Green Tusks. This spell gives Rend -2 to the mounts only of one unit of boarboyz, which is great. One of the big draws of Big Stabbas is that it gives you the rend that this army so lacks, so a spell that gives you that is a big deal and it only casts on a 5 as well.
Honourable Mention: There are shooting options in Bonesplitterz, but since losing access to Curse and the mortal wounds associated with it in the new 3rd edition book, Bonesplitterz are a melee army. Managing the flow of the combat is something that Ironjawz can do with Smashing and Bashing; Kruleboyz can do with their Waaagh and Bonesplitterz can do with Gorkamorka’s War Cry. Although a tricky cast with a short range, if successfully cast, an enemy unit has to fight at the end of the phase, allowing all your boyz to have a go at taking down whatever they’re fighting before getting hit back, enabling you to hang on to the Bonesplitterz Waaagh of a 4+ Ward for a combat phase for a whole extra turn.
Grand Strategies
Woehammer Winner: Waaagh again would not be a bad pick, but because of the fact there are restrictions associated with who scores it, Get Dem Bones! is also a decent choice. To succeed with this Grand Strategy you just have to control a nominated terrain feature wholly within enemy territory at the end of the battle. Potentially this could be one to avoid if Realmstone Cache is in the mission pack as the territory for that battleplan might mean there isn’t terrain wholly within, but usually you should be okay and it can be scored by your Maniak Weirdnob late game with their 12” hero phase Fast ‘Un move, followed by another 12” move and then an auto-run of 6”.
Honourable Mention: Just as with Ironjaws, Take What’s Theirs is your GHB only best-pick as you’re going forward anyway.
Battle Tactics
Woehammer Winner: With the new GHB, gone are the points for killing monsters…unless you’re a Bonesplitterz general. They have access to Kill Da Big ‘Un if an enemy monster that you choose is killed by any attacks by a friendly Bonesplitterz unit, meaning it could be melee, ranged or magic…or even a ‘Hard Stare’ from a Wurrgog. It might seem a bit of a risk as the Wurrgog, as we’ll see shortly, can be swingy, but due to the wording of the Wurrgog’s ability, there is a work-around. The Wurrgog ability must be used at the beginning of the hero phase, which rules out any shenanigans in Big Waaagh of teleporting the Wurrgog into ‘Hard Stare’ range. However, in Bonesplitterz (and Big Waaagh, though to less utility) it means that you can do the attacks with the Wurrgog before you choose a battle tactic. If the monster’s dead, you pick this tactic and score it; if not, you can evaluate whether or not to go ahead. There is an argument to make the Wurrgog your general to take advantage of this sequence to guarantee This One’s Mine.
(UPDATE: Thanks to Calvin from AoS Coach who has rightly pointed out that because the Wurrgog’s Laser Eyes are an ability and not an attack, sadly means that you cannot score either of Kill Da Big ‘Un or This One’s Mine. Thanks Calvin! Potentially you can still use the work around of ‘stare first; battle tactic later’ with Outmuscle, Gaining Momentum, Eye for an Eye or Against the Odds as these don’t specify attacks. Realistically, you probably don’t need out-of-sequence jank in these circumstances though.)
Honourable Mention: Returning to the Orruk book, we have Time to Get Stuck In! that synergises really well with Icebone and their speedy boarboyz as you score it if all models are within (not wholly within) an enemy unit at the end of the turn. The only restriction is that this needs to be scored in the first or second turn only. If book tactics aren’t being used, then Barge Through Enemy Lines is similar in its philosophy and should be doable with some of your mounted troops.
Warscrolls
Woehammer Winner: The most famous of all Bonesplitterz units and the one that plays a large part in a good proportion of Big Waaagh lists being Ironjawz plus one Bonesplitter is the Wurrgog Prophet. Firstly, though quite an old sculpt, the model is awesome and really conveys the glee of this crazy Orruk dancing around before and during the battle. Where things get real is with the Wurrgog Mask mini-game. Instead of casting, you can pick 1 unit with 12” of the Wurrgog and visible to it. On a 3+, that enemy suffers D3 mortal wounds. So far, so alright. However, you can then choose to play again and go for another 3+ roll. If you make it, another D3 mortal wounds are coming your opponent’s way; if you roll a 1 or a 2, then the Wurrgog takes D6 mortal wounds – this is where Glowin’ Tattooz comes in to ignore half of those. You can keep playing this mini-game until one of three things happens: The Wurrgog stops staring The enemy unit is destroyed The Wurrgog blows his own head off Fortunately, the Wurrgog starts with 7 wounds, so you can gamble at least once. It is very swingy and it does take some skilful positioning to get the Prophet in range, but if you do, you can kill anything in the game that can die, regardless of what other layers of protection they have. As mentioned above, you can also stare before you choose a battle tactic, allowing some Kruleboyz-esque sneakiness to creep in.
Honourable Mention: While I’m very much Team Icebone, we can’t not mention the Savage Big Stabbas. They come in units of two, giving you an 8 wound unit with 6 attacks, hitting and wounding on 3s with Rend -2 for 2 damage. Any hits of a 6 explode into 2 hits and each time on of these is killed in melee, they do D3 mortal wounds to a unit within 3” on a 4+. If this is a monster, it’s a 2+. And then there’s the points cost…80 points. They’re an absolute steal and can set up some great ambushes where a unit is screening 2” in front of one or several Big Stabbas. The screening unit may or may not survive, but the Stabbas can’t be touched by the charging enemy unit…but the Stabbas can certainly hit them back with the 3” range on the weapon!
Final Thoughts
Bonesplitterz are in a really interesting place. Their meta representation is pretty tiny, in the bottom 5 overall, but their win rate is 63%, which is top 5 (thanks again to the Honest Wargamer Stats team of Rob and Ziggy for this info). There’s a good chance that you may not see Bonesplitterz in action much, but they have been seen on Season of War, with Michael Simeon running them, so check out that battle report if you want to deep-dive everything boney in the Orruks’ book.
The final part of the series, Part 4 of 4 will be Big Waaagh, the pick ‘n mix of the battletome, where the best bits of all three allegiances come together for a good old ruck and features a battle tactic that even Daughters of Khaine players would look down upon for being too easy!
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Fantasia Fanatic XLII Tournament that took place in Sweden on the 1st and 2nd October. It involved 38 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: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Allherd – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
Leaders Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)** – General – Command Trait: Dominator – Artefact: Tanglehorn Familiars Great Bray-Shaman (100)** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Viletide Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)** – Artefact: Blade of the Desecrator – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy
Battleline 6 x Dragon Ogors (250)** – 6x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 1 10 x Ungors (65) – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)*** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)*** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)*** – Mauls & Half-Shields
Units 20 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (350)* – 8x Savage Greatblade – 12x Savage Blade & Arcanite Shield – Reinforced x 1 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
Declan: As we do more and more Top Three lists for AoS, two things are starting to happen. We see similar armies and we start to see the same names… and Ronya is one of those names. Ronya has gone for a Tzaangor based Beasts of Chaos army, but this works in the same way as most Beats of Chaos armies. There’s massive rend from the Herdstone, and summoning from the Dragon Ogre Shaggoth hurting himself (and then healing). It’s been a great army since the White Dwarf update and remains good.
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leader Guardian of Souls (150)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish – Bonded to Krondspine Krulghast Cruciator (150)*
Battleline Spirit Torment (115)* 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)** – Reinforced x 1 5 x Hexwraiths (160)* 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)* 10 x Grimghast Reapers (160)**
Behemoth Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)* – Allies
Declan: Let’s be fair, Nighthaunt are good – they give debuffs on the charge (after retreating), and if you don’t kill whole units they come back – very quickly. And what would make them better? Anders has the answer with a Krondspire Incarnate. Yet another model in the army that is difficult to kill (in fact he is impossible), the Incarnate also discourages opponents using their Endless Spells – a double benefit.
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Allegiance: Sylvaneth – Glade: Gnarlroot – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Alarielle the Everqueen (840)** Warsong Revenant (305)** – General – Command Trait: Spellsinger – Artefact: The Vesperal Gem – Lore of the Deepwood: Treesong Spirit of Durthu (370) – Artefact: Greenwood Gladius Arch-Revenant (120)**
Battleline 10 x Dryads (100)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)*
Endless Spells and Invocations Spiteswarm Hive (40)
Declan: Marcus was 4-0 going into the final game and lost to Ronya… not bad at all and thoroughly earning the third place. This Slyvaneth army is different to others I have seen, in that Alarielle is making an appearance. At 840 points Marcus did well to get value out of them and I have to be honest I’m not 100% sure how he did it. Sure Alarielle is good, but she’s also a point sink. I imagine there was a lot of teleporting through trees, charging and teleporting back (either with Durthu or Alarielle); but Marcus did well to concentrate on the Battle Tactics and grabbing the wins.
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Allegiance: Bonesplitterz – Warclan: Drakkfoot – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Wurrgog Prophet (150)* – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate Wurrgog Prophet (150)* – Artefact: Mork’s Boney Bitz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Glowy Green Tusks Wardokk (80)* – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry Savage Big Boss (65)**** – General – Command Trait: Great Hunter
Battleline 10 x Savage Orruks (165)** – Chompas 10 x Savage Orruks (165)** – Chompas 10 x Savage Orruk Morboys (155)***
Units 5 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (145)*** 5 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (145)*** 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)* 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)**** 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)**** 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)****
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)**** – Allies
Declan: Another 4-1 but this time it’s Bonesplitters. They have definitely overcome the initial doubters after the release of the Orruk Warclans book where some thought it was the third army behind Kruleboyz…! Bonesplitters are now fighting it out with Big Waaagh for 2nd place.
2 Wurgogg Prophets put up 12″ range bubbles that you have to brave to enter and the Krondspire Incarnate puts out even a larger one! Sure the Incarnate makes this army, but it’s available for everyone and helping even the top armies so no reason Bonesplitterz can’t benefit.
The thing that helps this army in the meta is Drakkfoot:
Games Workshop and Wahapedia
Ward rolls are common in the top armies – Nurgle and Nighthaunt spring to mind. And turning them off can make a big difference. However as is always the way with theory, Dennis avoided them all – oh well! He did very well to beat what was in front of him for a 4-1.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Bathurst Grand Tournament that took place in Bathurst, NSW, Australia on 10th and 11th September. It involved 33 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament in the Mountains west of Sydney. The tournament didn’t allow book Battle Tactics or Grand Strategies, instead following the GHB Season 1 alternatives only.
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: Bonesplitterz – Warclan: Icebone – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Wurrgog Prophet (150)** – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Mork’s Boney Bitz – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate – Krondspine Bond Wurrgog Prophet (150)** – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Glowy Green Tusks Wardokk (80)** – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry Wardokk (80)*** – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
Battleline 5 x Savage Boarboys (140)** – Chompas 5 x Savage Boarboys (140) – Chompas 5 x Savage Boarboys (140) – Chompas
Units 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)*** 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)*** 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)*** 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)*** 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)*** 5 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (145)* 5 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (145)*
Brett: Another Bonesplitterz win, this time in the mountain country which seems like it would a natural home for the smaller orcs. And pretty cold at this time of year, especially nice for Icebone. Similar to some other recent Bonesplitterz lists but with extra Wurrgog and some Wardokks. Only one of the Wurrgog’s has the tattoos for the 4+ and the other is the general so you don’t want him to die. That means late game you’ve very likely got a screened Wurrgog that if you’re pushed you can still do the stare. Bottom of 3 or in turns 4/5 that’s a real game changer. Similarly the Krondspine is here as well, I can see that working really well by giving you a durable option, something the Bones are missing.
You can anchor one end of the line with him forcing your opponent to really commit then counter assault with either the Big Stabbas or the Boars. Lots of mobility from the pregame move and the 5 units of Boars. 4 casters giving 6 casts and unbinds, both the Wurrgog and Wardokk have unique abilities, the Wardokk healing, wounding or improving spell casts. A Wardokk near the Wurrgog General combined with the 6+ natural ward and the 4+ ward during the Waaagh makes him as dangerous as the Wurrgog with Glowing Tattoo’s combo. The Glowing Green Tusks improves a Boars rend by 2 (-2) and War Cry applies a fight last.
A lot of tricks even in a straight forward list with some nasty stings that would take a lot of thought to work around. Definitely a worthy winner, and no Purple Sun either.
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Allegiance: Sons of Behemat – Tribe: Breaker Tribe (Fierce Loathing: Shiny ‘Uns) – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Kragnos, The End of Empires (720) Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant (525)* – General – Command Trait: Extremely Bitter – Bossy Pants and Clever Clogs – Artefact: Vial of Manticore Venom (Universal Artefact) Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant (525)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Battleline 1 x Mancrusher Gargants (170)
Core Battalions *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent
Brett: Kragnos for mortals and 3D6 charges with a pair of Gatebreakers both with weapon enhancements (+1 to wound rolls for the Venom and +1 damage for Flaming Weapon) for extra deadliness. It does make you wonder why Kragnos has less wounds than a Gargant though. Otherwise there isn’t a heap to say, Extremely bitter for additional loathings – HQs and Wizards attract an extra +1 to hit rolls. Anything with a save of 1+ through to 4+ also attracts a +1 to hit. Terence only lost his last round match (to Dalton) and honestly that’s a pretty hard counter to this list. Wurrgogs can be hard on Gargants and are really dangerous for Kragnos, potentially killing him before he gets to Bellow. If I have the right army Terence also did really well in the painting on top of being a great general.
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Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords – Great Nation: Alumnia – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Scinari Cathallar (110)* – General – Command Trait: Burning Gaze – Artefact: Waystone – Lore of Hysh: Total Eclipse Vanari Lord Regent (155)* – Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light
Battleline 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)*** – Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)*** – Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)*** – Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh 30 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (510)* – Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh – Reinforced x 2 20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (340)* – Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light – Reinforced x 1 5 x Vanari Bladelords (130)** 5 x Vanari Dawnriders (140)** – Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh
Units 5 x Vanari Dawnriders (140)** – Spell1: Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light
Brett: Described by his own team members as a filthy list, we have the 50 x Sentinel shoot for the sun list. But there is a lot more than Sentinels happening here. By lightening his HQ slot Sam has left room for 3 multi purpose Warden units (MSU) and still had room for a decent mobile Bounty Hunter units (Bladelords and Dawnriders). The Wardens are useful as screens, very good on objectives (they are Expert Conquerors) and a decent threat with Power of Hysh giving them mortals on 5s and 6s. They are also boasting Lambent Light to serve as marker lights for the Sentinels making at least 2 units very dangerous to bully off objectives.
The Bladelords are probably going to stay near the Cathallar for their bodyguard but the 2 Dawnriders are useful not only as battleline to harry GV units but are a good way to pick up a Battle Tactic or 2 with their speed. Then there are the 50 Sentinels with their superior range, mortal wounds and indirect fire. Sam recovered from a first round loss to finish on 4/1. The first round was into a Fangs of Sotek list with Lord Kroak turning of most Lumineth magic making them much less effective. A difficult match up. Despite the description at the start this is a fairly risky list, maximising troops over some efficient HQs and a very good result as pay off.
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Allegiance: Blades of Khorne – Slaughterhost: The Goretide – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Bloodsecrator (125)**** – Banner of Khorne (Artefact): Banner of Rage Bloodsecrator (125)**** – Artefact: Thronebreaker’s Torc Bloodstoker (80)**** – Artefact: Talisman of Burning Blood Bloodstoker (80)*** Slaughterpriest (100)*** – Prayer: Bronzed Flesh Skarr Bloodwrath (105)*** – General
Battleline 6 x Mighty Skullcrushers (330)* – Bloodglaives – Reinforced x 1 30 x Bloodreavers (240)* – Meatripper Axes – Reinforced x 2 10 x Bloodreavers (80)** – Meatripper Axes 10 x Bloodreavers (80)** – Meatripper Axes 10 x Bloodreavers (80)** – Meatripper Axes
Units 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)*** 10 x Wrathmongers (290)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Wrathmongers (145)****
Brett: Patrick is a member of Measured Gaming and you can find him running lists similar to this one on the Measured Gaming youtube channel. Great battle reports but they aren’t kid or work friendly. Pat went 3/2 and finished 10th with Khorne, but hasn’t taken any of the big Daemon models, instead sticking with mortals to make it much harder. Double warlord battalion for 2 extra relics so lets start with those. Thronebreaker’s Torc is mandatory for Goretide, Banner of Rage is 12″ aura of reroll 1s, and Talisman of Burning Blood adds 1 to charge rolls within 12″ of the bearer. Goretide includes a run and charge (with an auto 6″ run) command ability for mortal units, and more dangerously grants reroll 1s to wound within 12″ of an objective.
This list is going to fight near objectives, 4 of the 6 small heroes are buffing pieces – the Bloodstokers grants 3″ to run and charge where the Bloodsecrator adds an attack. Bloodsecrators also force rerolls of successful casts. The Slaughterpriest is the source of magic (since Khorne hates magic) including dispels and Skarr is a bomb looking for your large horde like blob to explode in. With luck he can return and fight again. Large blocks of Mighty Skullcrushers, Wrathmongers and Bloodreavers in Bounty Hunters for the potential extra damage and to take advantage of the increased attacks (or hand them out for Wrathmongers) Khorne loves to provide. The multiple smaller units are useful as screens but they are really here to die and give up Bloodtithe points. Khorne doesn’t care where the skulls come from.
Pat’s doubled up on their usefulness by putting them in Eternal Conquers for additional impact on objectives. Which they want to fight near due to Goretide. Very easy for a lot of factions to lose an objective to stray Bloodreavers. Great to see a variant list which I’m sure caused some issues for opponents.
The following stats are for the week ending 28th August only, essentially GT’s that took place on the 27th and 28th August.
Rolling 4 Week Stats
The rolling stats includes all GT’s since the weekend of 30th/31st July to the 20th/21st August. This covers a total of 983 players (+152 players) across 24 Grand Tournaments (+3 GT).
As the new release of the GHB takes hold it looks as though the overall effect is a positive one, although the stats are starting to shift away from the 50% mark slightly again. With Destruction once again falling.
Its not been a good week for the Kruleboyz and this is also reflected in the four weeks stats with them falling to 35.0%. Come on GW, show them some love.
Here are the rolling four weeks win rates since we began tracking this information:
Faction Stats (Version)
The below stats are for every match in a grand tournament since the release of the new General’s Handbook.
A great week for Seraphon sees them extend a lead over the Daughters of Khaine with 9 clean sweeps to their 6.
Meanwhile at the lower end of the tables factions who have gone a whole tournament with five losses…
As for the win rates of each faction since the release of the new GHB:
In terms of faction popularity:
By rights, each faction should have an equal share of the player base, however we know this will not be the case due to either the appeal of the miniatures or the rules for the factions. Here we can see the most popular factions are Stormcast Eternals, Nighthaunt, Sylvaneth, Daughters of Khaine, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Seraphon and Skaven.
Currently it would appear that Seraphon players have the highest chance of going 5-0 at an even.
A change is afoot for the Woehammer stats. We’re going more in depth. You’ll still find the tournament results for GT’s in the last week below along with links. Then there is statistic sections for the rolling four weeks stats and the current Age of Sigmar version (i.e. since the most recent update in terms of GHB or Battletome release).
Mancunian Carnage: Summer 2022 – Australia 81 Players
Position
Faction
Subfaction
Result
1st
Ironjawz
5-0-0
2nd
Slaves to Darkness
Knights of the Empty Throne
5-0-0
3rd
Maggotkin of Nurgle
Drowned Men
4-0-1
4th
Nighthaunt
Scarlet Doom
4-0-1
5th
Nighthaunt
Emerald Host
4-0-1
Mancunian Carnage: Summer 2022
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This Weeks Stats
The following stats are for the week ending 21st August only, essentially GT’s that took place on the 20th and 21st August.
Rolling 4 Week Stats
The rolling stats includes all GT’s since the weekend of 30th/31st July to the 20th/21st August. This covers a total of 983 players (+152 players) across 24 Grand Tournaments (+3 GT).
As the new release of the GHB takes hold it looks as though the overall effect is a positive one, although the stats are starting to shift away from the 50% mark slightly again. With Destruction once again falling.
Its not been a good week for the Kruleboyz and this is also reflected in the four weeks stats with them falling to 36.5%. Come on GW, show them some love.
Here are the rolling four weeks win rates since we began tracking this information:
Faction Stats (Version)
The below stats are for every match in a grand tournament since the release of the new General’s Handbook.
A great week for Seraphon sees them extend a lead over the Daughters of Khaine and Maggotkin of Nurgle with 7 clean sweeps to their 5.
Meanwhile at the lower end of the tables factions who have gone a whole tournament with five losses…
As for the win rates of each faction since the release of the new GHB:
Beasts of Chaos cling to their top spot but the Maggotkin of Nurgle seem to be having a resurgence and are not too far off their heels. Seraphon and Bonesplitterz are falling closely behind.
Kruleboyz fall back down the table and join Flesh-eater Courts, Ogors, Bonereapers and Gloomspite in the sub 45% win rate.
In terms of faction popularity:
By rights, each faction should have an equal share of the player base, however we know this will not be the case due to either the appeal of the miniatures or the rules for the factions. Here we can see the most popular factions are Stormcast Eternals, Nighthaunt, Sylvaneth, Daughters of Khaine, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Seraphon and Skaven.
Chance of going 5-0
Currently it would appear that Seraphon players have the highest chance of going 5-0 at an even.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Capital City Bloodbat that took place in Ontario, Canada on 20th and 21st August. It involved 43 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: Flesh-eater Courts – Grand Court: Court of Delusion – The Feast Day – Mortal Realm: Shyish – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Crypt Infernal Courtier (130)* – General – Command Trait: Dark Acolyte – DerangedTransformation King of the Krondspine (245)* Abhorrant Archregent – Artefact: The Dermal Robe – Lore of Madness: Spectral Host Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (445)* – Mount Trait: Gruesome Bite – Lore of Madness: Blood Feast
Battleline 10 x Crypt Ghouls (85)* 10 x Crypt Ghouls (85)** 9 x Crypt Flayers (540)** – Reinforced x 2
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)* – Allies
Brett: Carl (Season of War) is back and with a different army as well. Jordan took 4th with his slippery eels as well. This time Carl’s running Flesh Eater Courts reminding everyone there is more to death than Nighthaunt (or maybe Soulblight). No Grand Court listed, that avoids the mandatory trait and artefact common to 2nd edition book subfaction but they can still take a delusion – Feeding Frenzy. This command grants a second pile in and fight to a unit, very useful on the Flayers or Terrorgheist. The Archregent and Ghoul King are wizards with 3 casts/dispel but as senior officers of the court they can also muster (summon) units. Both the Archregent and the Infernal can muster or return Flayers or Horrors as can the Ghoul King. The Archregent can also bring in cryptghouls (Galletian Veterans) and Courtiers.
All of this adds up to the listed army being on the start. The Flayers will be hard to remove, 9 with 4 wounds is enough to survive most attacks and they can grow back. Chronomatic Cogs to ensure rerolls, the spells that they use tend to increase the number of attacks, grant fly or mortal wounds. The warscroll spells are good enough that you want access to them most of the time. Apart from the Infernal Courtier/Flayer connection important aura’s are large (18″ reroll 1s for Grypt Ghouls). They can spread a little to cover an objective with certain death. But their ability so summon Galletian Veterans anywhere on the map that isn’t occupied they play into this season really well. The army has 3 full hammers between the Ghoul King, Incarnate and Flayers.
And they are very mobile, particularly when everything can be made to fly so terrain is irrelevant. One loss to a very strong Witch Aelve army – 50 stabby ladies and the High Gladitrix is hard to punch through and they hit very hard. Otherwise they’ve taken down strong combat and magic armies as well as Gargants. Amazing effort with what is currently seen as one of the weakest factions in the game. More than anything I think this shows the level of balance in Age of Sigmar (and what a good general can do). Shout out to Karl Turbide for the very interesting Ironjawz list Carl played in Round 2.
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Allegiance: Bonesplitterz – Warclan: Icebone – Grand Strategy: Get Dem Bones! – Triumphs:
Leaders Savage Big Boss (65)* – General – Command Trait: Great Hunter Maniak Weirdnob (100)* – Artefact: Mork’s Boney Bitz – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry – Lore of the Savage Beast: Power of the Were-boar Wurrgog Prophet (150)* – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry – Lore of the Savage Beast: Power of the Were-boar Savage Big Boss (65)** Savage Big Boss (65)** Savage Big Boss (65)**
Battleline 5 x Savage Boarboys (140)* – Stikkas 5 x Savage Boarboys (140)* – Stikkas 5 x Savage Boarboys (140)** – Stikkas 5 x Savage Boarboys (140)** – Stikkas
Units 5 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (145)*** 5 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (145)*** 4 x Savage Big Stabbas (160)*** – Reinforced x 1 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)
Brett: Ah the cunning orcs. No one in their right mind would just run at you and throw their bodies at you to kill you. So they’ll never suspect that’s our cunning plan. 19 drops, count ’em, 19. They get a turn whenever you want them to. Do you want them to go first with a pregame move? Icebone does Mortal Wounds on 6s based on the damage characteristic across the army. Big Stabbas are strong (and there are a lot), 6 high quality attacks hit and wounding on 3s per pair is great. Running the fairly cheap Maniacs backed by the standard Boarboy is another great idea, making it easier to hunt down Galletian Veterans where ever they are.
Not strong on objectives so their preference is always to charge into an enemy for the +1. With the double Warlord the army has an extra spell and artefact. Glowing Tatooz to improve his Ward to 4 (+2 to ward casts) making lifting his stare much less of a risk.
His warscroll has a useful spell into hordes as well. 3 casts but both casters have the same spells, one to force fight last (very bad against Bonesplitterz) and the other to grant +1 to run and charge. The Savage Big Bosses bring 6 attacks and allows another unit within 12″. With 4 Savage Big Bosses they can either spread out or concentrate and maximise their chance to remove something. His only loss was to Oliver (3rd) who brought a lot of shooting and casting which would quickly wear down teh Bonesplitterz. I think we will continue to see versions of this army for most of this season. They are a fun army, who doesn’t want semi naked greenskins running across the field at you.
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Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Hallowheart – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Knight-Incantor general adjudant(125)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Ignite Weapons – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist Battlemage on Griffon (255)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Sear Wounds – Lore of Whitefire: Elemental Cyclone Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290) – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Crystal Aegis – Lore of Whitefire: Roaming Wildfire Freeguild General (100)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Sear Wounds – Lore of Whitefire: Warding Brand
Battleline 10 x Dreadspears (85)* – City Role: Honoured Retinue (Must be 5-20 models) 30 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (300)* – Reinforced x 2 30 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (300)* – Reinforced x 2
Units 2 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (230)* 5 x Drakespawn Knights (120)*
Endless Spells & Invocations Horrorghast (40) Purple Sun of Shyish (70) Soulscream Bridge (80)
Brett: Very spell heavy army (from Hallowheart so that’s to be expected) back with a lot of shooting and some thin screens. 4 Heroes that in Hallowheart all (even the SCE and the non caster with Arcane Tome) have 2 spells. Hallowheart grants the ablity for a cast to give themselves D3 mortal wounds and add that to their casting roll, most of their spells are CV5 or 6 to begin with so this is mostly useful in getting the Purple Sun out but useful for any clutch spells and in early turns no reason not to do it. The Knight Incantor still has a once per game dispell/deny and ignite weapons grants +1 to wound, most likely on the Crossbow men (wounding on 2s). Between the Wildfire Lore and their warscrolls the wizards have access to 5 damaging spells, 3 that are AoE.
The General can increase ward saves against magic and heal wounds (also useful if you take wounds on say the Hurricanum to boost casting). The crossbows need to be more than 3″ from enemy units and not have moved to receive an extra attack if there are more than 10 models – so 61 attacks. No rend but if they are wounding on 2s weight of dice is an issue. Horrorghast helps because even if you only kill enough to force a battleshock, they are losing an extra D3 models if they fail. Against MSU units that can be devestating. Both Fulminators and Drakespawn Knights are nasty, particularly on the charge, in this army they can be given Wildform (Mage on Griffon) for +2 to run and charge. They could use the Soulscream and then only have a effective 7″ charge into something important.
Most of this army is going to be a big castle with a lot of buffs and reach. There aren’t a lot of screens so there is a chance something can reach the casters/crossbowmen. If you are close then the Crossbowmen really drop in effiency. Against FEC (a really close game – only 2 points) I wonder about the impact of FEC summoning, particuarly of units outside of the shooting range. In the end this is a spell casting army with limited mobility (4 really mobile units but 2 of them will struggle solo) so it’s dependant on the dice. A gambler’s army, really fun to play with and against.
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Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz – Option: Jaws of Mork – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs:
Leaders Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig (110)* – General – Moonclan Stabba – Command Trait: Envoy of the Overbounder – Artefact: Syari Screamersquig Madcap Shaman (80)** – Lore of the Moonclans: Squig Lure Madcap Shaman (80)** – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork
Battleline 20 x Shootas (140)*** – 2x Badmoon Icon Bearers 20 x Shootas (140)*** – 2x Badmoon Icon Bearers 20 x Shootas (140)*** – 2x Badmoon Icon Bearers
Units 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105)* 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105)* 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105)* 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105)* 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105)* 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105)** 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105)** 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105)** 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105)** 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105)** 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150) – Allies
Endless Spells & Invocations Mork’s Mighty Mushroom (40) Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
Brett: 186 wounds of Madness. Watch your army be swarmed and overwhelmed by funny little creatures with Slittas. This is the Jaws of Mork White Dwarf army right down to the option use of a General with a Squig. This isn’t a Tome Celestial but an older 2nd Edition buff. Lots of cheap Shootas in units just big enough to qualify for the +1 to hit. Jaws of Mork has a command ability to return (on a 4+) a slain squig unit at half strength near the Loonshrine. On top of that we have the Marshcrawla to buff nearby units of Bounder’s melee attacks to make sure they do something and attract attention.
2 casters to castle with the Shootas (expert conquerors to really control objectives), they are bringing a teleport and an ability to run and charge for 3 units. The plan is to buff up 3 bounders and run then charge them into your face. Returning squigs and a genuine horde are hard to deal with unless you have horde killing abilities. FEC does and also plays into low bravery units really well (you will have many running squigs) and Fangs of Sotek Seraphon have better heavy hitting units with big screens of cheap tradeable Skinks. Their spell casting would have limited the effectiveness of things like the Purple Sun. I really like that this is a 6 drop list (madness) – those are long drops. A crazy off meta list that performed really well, horde Gitz are meant to make a come back.
A change is afoot for the Woehammer stats. We’re going more in depth. You’ll still find the tournament results for GT’s in the last week below along with links. Then there is statistic sections for the rolling four weeks stats and the current Age of Sigmar version (i.e. since the most recent update in terms of GHB or Battletome release).
The following stats are for the week ending 14th August only, essentially GT’s that took place on the 13th and 14th August.
Rolling 4 Week Stats
The rolling stats includes all GT’s since the weekend of 23rd/24th July to the 13th/14th August. This covers a total of 831 players (-13 players) across 21 Grand Tournaments (+2 GT).
As the new release of the GHB takes hold it looks as though the overall effect is a positive one on the overall win rates for each Grand Alliance as they all get close to that 50.0% mark.
This is the first time in a rolling four week period where only two factions have fallen below the 45% win rate. Are things getting even better for AoS?
Here are the rolling four weeks win rates since we began tracking this information:
Faction Stats (Version)
The below stats are for every match in a grand tournament since the release of the new General’s Handbook.
Daughters of Khaine, Seraphon and Maggotkin of Nurgle now have both achieved 4 5-0 wins a piece.
Meanwhile at the lower end of the tables factions who have gone a whole tournament with five losses…
As for the win rates of each faction since the release of the new GHB:
Bonesplitterz relinquish their top spot to Beasts of Chaos, however they both have win rates of over 57%, as do Maggotkin of Nurgle and Big Waaagh!
At the other end of the table Gloomspite Gitz are the only sub 40% faction, their new book can’t come soon enough.
In terms of faction popularity:
By rights, each faction should have an equal share of the player base, however we know this will not be the case due to either the appeal of the miniatures or the rules for the factions. Here we can see the most popular factions are Stormcast Eternals, Nighthaunt, Sylvaneth, Daughters of Khaine, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Seraphon and Skaven.
Currently it would appear that Big Waaagh! players have the highest chance of going 5-0 at an event, however this is from a small player base so will fall as more players register under the Big Waaagh! banner.
A change is afoot for the Woehammer stats. We’re going more in depth. You’ll still find the tournament results for GT’s in the last week below along with links. Then there is statistic sections for the rolling four weeks stats and the current Age of Sigmar version (i.e. since the most recent update in terms of GHB or Battletome release).
Harambe’s Heroes and Goldmine Games Rumble in the Jungle – USA 28 Players
Position
Faction
Subfaction
Result
1st
Daughters of Khaine
Zainthar Kai
5-0-0
2nd
Nighthaunt
Quicksilver Dead
4-0-1
3rd
Maggotkin of Nurgle
Drowned Men
4-0-1
4th
Sons of Behemat
Stomper Tribe
4-0-1
5th
Seraphon
Thunder Lizard
4-0-1
Harambe’s Heroes and Goldmine Games Rumble in the Jungle
Summer of Sigmar – Gamers Guild Grand Tournament – USA 15 Players
Position
Faction
Subfaction
Result
1st
Daughters of Khaine
Zainthar Kai
5-0-0
2nd
Sylvaneth
Gnarlroot
4-0-1
3rd
Slaves to Darkness
Ravagers
4-0-1
4th
Kharadron Overlords
3-0-2
5th
Idoneth Deepkin
Dhom-Hain
3-0-2
Summer 0f Sigmar – Gamers Guild Grand Tournament
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This Weeks Stats
The following stats are for the week ending 31st July only, essentially GT’s that took place on the 30th and 31st July.
Rolling 4 Week Stats
The rolling stats includes all GT’s since the weekend of 16th/17th July to the 6th/7th August. This covers a total of 844 players (+177 players) across 19 Grand Tournaments (+4 GT).
As the new release of the GHB takes hold it looks as though the overall effect is a positive one on the overall win rates for each Grand Alliance as they all get close to that 50.0% mark.
Here are the rolling four weeks win rates since we began tracking this information:
Faction Stats (Version)
The below stats are for every match in a grand tournament since the release of the new General’s Handbook.
Daughters of Khaine and Seraphon now have both achieved 3 5-0 wins a piece.
After the last weekend, all the factions have now achieved at least one weekend where they’ve had an army go to 4 wins.
Meanwhile at the lower end of the tables factions who have gone a whole tournament with five losses…
As for the win rates of each faction since the release of the new GHB:
Bonesplitterz increase their win rate to over 60%, while at the other end of the table Gloomspite Gitz fall to 35.8%
In terms of faction popularity:
By rights, each faction should have an equal share of the player base, however we know this will not be the case due to either the appeal of the miniatures or the rules for the factions. Here we can see the most popular factions are Stormcast Eternals, Nighthaunt, Sylvaneth, Daughters of Khaine, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Seraphon and Ironjawz.
Currently it would appear that Kharadron Overlords players have the highest chance of going 5-0 at an event closely followed by Beasts of Chaos and Hedonites of Slaanesh
This article is the debut article for Ethan Armstrong who has joined us from our Discord Server. Ethan will be joining our list doctors, a small team of players who will talk you through your lists and give suggestions on how you may be able to improve.
If you’re interested in having the list doctors look at your army list, then please send it to thewoehammer@gmail.com and we’ll be sure to include it in a future article.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Steel City GT that took place in Pennsylvania, USA on 6th and 7th August. 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
Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Lofnir – Grand Strategy: Master of the Forge – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Auric Runefather (125)** – General – Command Trait: Spirit of Grimnir Auric Runesmiter (135)** – Runic Iron – Prayer: Prayer of Ash Runelord (95)** – Allies
Battleline 10 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (320)*** – Broadaxes – Reinforced x 1 10 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (320)*** – Broadaxes – Reinforced x 1 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 – Artefact: Axe of Grimnir – Magmadroth Trait: Coal-heart Ancient Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Magmadroth Trait: Lava-tongue Adult
Ethan: In a meta increasingly leaning towards magic dominance, recent tournaments have returned a suite of powerful results for a variety of armies running anti-magic tools. Bill Souza, in this vein, has expertly piloted his Lofnir Lodge to a 5-0 utilising a variety of tools tailored to meta-mancy. The inclusion of a Runelord as ally speaks to the prevalence of endless spells in the current game, with his +2 to dispel rolls and additional unbind giving the army tools to put a damper on the ability of purple sun (and other spells! They also exist!) to affect Bill’s hero and monster-reliant list. The easy scoring of Bill’s Grand Strategy (have an invocation on the field at the end of the game) solves a problem many armies struggle with under the new GHB neatly, taking advantage of the lack of banishment found across most armies to pick up a consistent source of VP to boot!
Bill has taken Lofnir into this tournament, unlocking Runesons on Magmadroths as battleline and allowing for inclusion of all three mount traits. Magmadroths provide a monster of a warscroll (pun intended) – taking hits well, providing huge amounts of output and being excellent carriers of the artefacts Bill has included (more on this later!). Looking at Bill’s path through the tournament, his army is well equipped to the challenges of both melee-focused enemies who struggle to displace his army off of objectives at the same time as preventing the magmadroths punching holes in their own lines. Trickier foes like the Lumineth are tempered at least in part by the Runelord and the sheer prevalence of powerful ward saves in Bill’s force.
An exceptionally clever layer of complexity in this list is the expert use of the new battalions Bill has used, using both his sub-faction and general selection to satisfy conditions of these battalion for the inclusion of powerful units in Expert Conquerors and Bounty Hunters. The selection of the Auric Runefather as the general, make the Auric Hearthguard battleline, allowing them to be Expert conquerers, counting as 3 models on objectives. On such a notoriously durable unit, so long as they remain close to their heroes to activate their 4+ ward, an opponent is forced to invest significant quantities of damage onto these units if they intend to displace them, losing primary points for every turn they fail to do so. Additionally, the Magmadroths becoming battleline allow them to be selected as bounty hunters, increasing their already incredible output further when paired up against Galletian Veterans. Having committed so heavily to the new battalions, it only makes sense to round things out with a Command Entourage, picking up an extra artefact in the process.
With a strong alternative to Battle-regiment focused lists and a suite of tools tailor made to handle current meta conditions Bill has proven the Ur-Gold fiends of the Fyreslayers have fight in them yet after many dismissed their most recent battletome. Things are looking up for the Dwarves!
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Army Faction: Blades of Khorne – Army Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Bloodsecrator (125)* 1 x Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (295)* – Artefacts: Skullshard Mantle 1 x Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210)* – Hellforged Sword and Malefic Talons 1 x Lord of Khorne on Juggernaut (140)** – General – Command Traits: Mage Eater 1 x Skarbrand (380)**
BATTLELINE 3 x Mighty Skullcrushers (165)* – Skullhunter – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Bloodglaive 3 x Mighty Skullcrushers (165)* – Hornblower – Standard Bearer – Skullhunter – Bloodglaive 3 x Mighty Skullcrushers (165)* – Hornblower – Standard Bearer – Skullhunter – Bloodglaive 3 x Mighty Skullcrushers (165)** – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Skullhunter – Bloodglaive 3 x Mighty Skullcrushers (165)** – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Skullhunter – Bloodglaive
Ethan: What year is it?!?! The inimitable Thomas Guan has flown in from the top rope with a Khorne list that looks like it’s straight out of their second edition glory days with a few notable tweaks to continue with the current trend of anti-magic tech. Everyone knows Khorne is good at dealing with magic due to their Blood Tithe dispel but the White Dwarf update to how the tithe is used opens up the ability for Khorne to really lay the smackdown on caster-heavy opponents. As if this weren’t powerful enough, Reapers of Khorne seems to be the premium Khorne sub-faction under the new GHB providing a suite of excellent command abilities, artefacts and traits to their heroes. In the old book style, these traits and artefacts are mandatory selections, though with abilities like a 2+ spell ignore and an additional unbind attempt (auto-unbinding and causing d6 mortal wounds on an 8!) I doubt you’ll find many among the bloodied hordes complaining.
This list includes a selection of the well-known Khorne combos and all-star units with the ever-powerful combination of a Pile-in Thirster and Skarbrand appearing. Usually in this combination Skarbrand is held back on the first turn to place him at his top bracket before being flung into combat with a 6” pile-in, no charge required. This combination is brutally doubled down on by the Reapers of Vengeance sub-faction command ability allowing Skarbrand to then fight again in the combat phase, again piling in 6” so long as they remain within range of the other Bloodthirster. A bloodsecrator acts as a buff-piece and powerful priest, allowing for additional attempts to dispel endless spells and a STD Daemon Prince gives Thomas the capacity to choose who he fights, and where. The combination of this Daemon Prince with the Pilethirster provides a lot of control for a list that, on the face of it just wants to smash you in the face but it’s only after looking at the remainder of the list that the flashbacks of a time when Khorne was the meta darling of the day begin. A Lord of Khorne on Juggernaut and five (count ‘em!) units of Mighty Skullcrushers round out the list, blasting mortal wounds into opponents on the charge and providing tanky bodies for objective taking with good movement to ensure the army is able to make contact with the enemy before its lack of ranged tools become an issue.
Thomas has done well with an off-meta pick, only falling to Fyreslayers in the final round. Sadly for Thomas, the Duardin possess (or maybe Dispossess?) many of the tools required to stare down this combat army and ask them if that’s all they’ve got? Also lacking in magic of their own, the durable, high-ward Fyreslayers waste many of the strengths of Thomas’s Subfaction, drawing them into a sit-down, drag out combat slog where the Skullcrusher’s charge effects will lack the punch they would otherwise provide. To go 4-1 with an off-meta pick is nevertheless an incredible achievement and show a level of list-building mastery that seems to be the joy of many an experienced player in the new GHB.
Leaders Kragnos, The End of Empires (720)* Wurrgog Prophet (150)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Glowy Green Tusks
Battleline 5 x Savage Boarboys (140)* – Chompas 5 x Savage Boarboys (140)* – Chompas 5 x Savage Boarboys (140)* – Chompas
Units 5 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (145)* 4 x Savage Big Stabbas (160)* – Reinforced x 1
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)* – Allies
Ben’s army asks you which problem you’d like to deal with first and like the multiple choice quiz from hell, you’re always wrong. With the number of threats this list presents you can only pity the opponents Ben stared down ( 😊 ) throughout his journey on this eternal quest to krump.
Continuing the trend of book-based Grand Strategies, Waaagh! Simply requires either a battleline unit or your general (Does Kragnos count?) to be wholly within enemy territory when the battle ends. Realistically, if this doesn’t naturally happen in the course of play in an Ork army, you may need to return to school to do some fingerpainting and commune with old mate Mork.
There’s not a huge amount to say about the list as a whole, Kragnos is a brutal combat monster, the Wurrgog’s usual trick of staring something off the table removes notable threats and, in combination with a bound Incarnate provides a wonderful problem for your opponent should you ever lose the staring match. Boarboyz fill out the battleline slot while a reinforced unit of big stabbas… well… they stab?
With so many points invested into the Incarnate and Kragnos, Ben does a good job of rounding out his army, ensuring that he has enough bodies to threaten various objectives and the speed to get there, only falling over (in much the same way as Thomas’s Khorne) to the sheer durability of Bill’s fyreslayers. With such a stable of experienced players I’d kill to be a fly on the wall throughout these games but don’t let the relatively heavy combat focus of these lists trick you into thinking the games look much as a toddler playing with dinosaurs (leave that to Seraphon players), without the tools such as shooting and casting that many armies enjoy mastery of both deployment and the movement phase would have been key to these players.
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Allegiance: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADERS Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180) – Artefact: Mork’s Eye Pebble – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (280)*** – Lore of the Swamp: All Orruk Warchanter (115) – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)*** – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Wurrgog Prophet (150)*** – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
BATTLELINE 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)** 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)** 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*
OTHER UNITS 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Jagged Gore-hackas 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Jagged Gore-hackas 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)***
Ethan: This tournament’s wildcard list, piloted by Ben Mulshine, utilises a variety of the tools we’ve mentioned throughout the other lists above, only losing once to Thomas’s Khorne in its path. Much like Bill, Ben (must resist!) has potted (sorry.) his units into the triple combination of Warlord, Expert Conquerers and Bounty Hunters, eschewing any hope of turn selection in favour of an extra artefact, CP, Count-as-three capturing and bonus damage against Galletian Veterans. ‘Ardboyz capture objectives while the suite of powerful heroes and the Gore-Gruntas team up with the Incarnate to grab the opponent’s neck and beat them down with pure combat efficiency.
The previously discussed combination of Wurrgog and Incarnate present a Russian Roulette-esque threat to the opponent where even playing the game is to lose it. The hero loadouts all work together to solve one of the lists major weaknesses with the Eye-pebble, Fast’un and the Great Green Hand of Mork getting in the opponents face quickly and mitigating the ability for shooting armies to punch holes in Ben’s units before they’re able to do that they do best, foightin’.
I’d love to ask Ben how he felt various aspects of the list performed, the battalions make deployment a challenge as, while Ben can deploy in reaction to his opponent, the risk of a double turn or being alpha struck himself create a schrodinger’s cat of a deployment, where Ben must be ready to react depending on whether his opponent decides to give him the turn or not. The list is finely tuned with tools for a variety of situations and draws on one of the biggest advantages Big Waaagh! provides by allowing an all-star cast of the Orruk Warclans various Warscrolls. Listbuilding is always a matter of refining however and I do wonder whether Ben feels he’d make any changes or stick with the current list after such a respectable result.
Incredible work to the players of all of today’s lists! The new GHB continues to deliver as a factional wunderkind with tournaments around the world giving a variety of factions their time in the sun. It only remains to be seen whether the current trend of anti-magic continues to dominate the magic-heavy lists going around currently or if upcoming tomes (LRL and Tzeentch, though still a ways off) can break through a meta which seems pre-designed to keep them under wraps.
