Category Archives: Icebone

Bonesplitterz – Faction Review (Jul-Nov ’22)

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

SubfactionPlayersWin Rate
Drakkfoot2863.38%
Icebone2754.92%
None/Unknown180.00%
Faction Total5659.68%

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.

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Battletome Review – Orruk Warclans Part 3: Bonesplitterz

Allegiance Abilities

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 Encrusted Weapons 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!

Top Three AoS Lists for Bathurst GT

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.

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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)*

Behemoths
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)***

Core Battalions
*Bounty Hunters
**Warlord
***Battle Regiment

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1970 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 139
Drops: 9

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

Total: 1940 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 100
Drops: 4

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

Endless Spells & Invocations
Chronomantic Cogs (40)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Bounty Hunters
***Expert Conquerors

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 121
Drops: 7

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)****

Endless Spells & Invocations
Hexgorger Skulls (50)

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

Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Artefact

Total: 1990 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 176
Drops: 14

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.

Final Tournament Placings

Top Three AoS Lists for the Capital City Bloodbath – Age of Sigmar Champs

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 – Deranged Transformation
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

Endless Spells & Invocations
Chronomantic Cogs (40)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Bounty Hunters

Total: 1970 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 400 / 400
Wounds: 83
Drops: 3

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)

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Warlord
***Bounty Hunters

Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Spell

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 191
Drops: 19

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)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 126
Drops: 2

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)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment
***Expert Conquerors

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 150 / 400
Wounds: 186
Drops: 6

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.

Final Tournament Placings

Top Three AoS Lists for the Steel City GT

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

Endless Spells & Invocations
Runic Fyrewall (40)

Core Battalions
*Bounty Hunters
**Command Entourage – Magnificent
***Expert Conquerors

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 95 / 400
Wounds: 104
Drops: 8

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

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1975/2000)

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.

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Allegiance: Bonesplitterz
Warclan: Icebone
– Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
– Triumphs: Indomitable

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

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 400 / 400
Wounds: 101
Drops: 1

Ethan: Holy moley what a brutal list:

  • Kragnos
  • Wurrgog
  • Krondspine
  • Big Stabbas

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)***

BEHEMOTH
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)
Allies
Bonded: Wurgog Prophet

ENDLESS SPELLS
Umbral Spellportal (70)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Bounty Hunters
**Expert Conquerors
***Warlord

ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS
Artefact

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 400 / 400
Wounds: 111
Drops: 12

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.

Final Tournament Placings

Top Three AoS Lists for the Season of War Grand Tournament

This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Season of War Grand Tournament that took place in Ontario, Canada on 6th and 7th August. It involved 65 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament. The tournament was hosted and organised by Seaon of War, you can find out more on their youtube channel.

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: Seraphon
Constellation: Fangs of Sotek
– Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Slann Starmaster (265)*
General
– Command Trait: Arcane Might
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Spell: Stellar Tempest
Skink Starpriest (130)***
Spell: Hand of Glory
Skink Priest (90)***
Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse
Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)***
Artefact: Serpent God Dagger

Battleline
10 x Skinks (75)**
Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers
10 x Skinks (75)**
Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers
30 x Skinks (225)**
Boltspitters & Moonstone Clubs
– Reinforced x 2
5 x Saurus Guard (115)***

Units
2 x Salamander Hunting Pack (280)*
Reinforced x 1
2 x Salamander Hunting Pack (280)*
Reinforced x 1

Behemoths
Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek (165)*

Endless Spells & Invocations
Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (60)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Expert Conquerors
***Warlord

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1970 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 116
Drops: 8

Brett: Seraphon but, interestingly, not Thunderlizard. The Seraphon book hasn’t been brought up to 3rd Edition standard yet but remains one of the best and most complete battletomes. We haven’t seen a lot of Skinks at the top recently but maybe Eternal Conquerors will bring them back into the light.

Lots of heroes starting with the Saurus Astrolith Bearer, buffing casting and providing a ward within 12″ his Celestial Conjuration Point (CCP) generation is probably amount the most powerful ability. CCP let you summon units, if you have more than 6 you can summon. A Slann General and Astrolith together give 2D3 CCP a turn making at least 6 CCP a turn feasible. That’s 10 Skinks as a minimum. The Starmaster is a nasty wizard with an inbuilt Spell Portal, 3 casts, +1 to cast/dispel/unbind and unlimited range on his dispel/unbind. Both his warscroll spell (Comet’s Call) and Stellar Tempest deal MW. His command trait allows 1 reroll for a cast/dispel/unbind in each hero phase (2 per turn). He’s built to get both the Purple Sun and Gnashing Jaws out on command and make if difficult to get your spells off.

Supporting him are another wizard and a priest, granting another 2 dispel/unbind attempts as well on top of their casts. The Starpriest is granting rerolls for hit rolls of 1 to a unit. The army has a range of offensive options, the salamander hunting packs with high quality attacks for targets with good saves, the Bastilidon for a little of everything. And the large Skink pack for removing low wound, poor save blobs. Having the 2 loadouts on the Skinks is an interesting play, 2 of the units are ideal for screening or taking objectives (where they count as 30) and the other for damage. With curse the 30 strong unit is on average able to produce MW. Special mention to the Purple Sun (MVP this season so far) and Gnashing Jaws.

Gnashing Jaws is a really strong choice now we are seeing a lot of armies with really strong but slow infantry (Fyreslayers, Kurnoth, Stormcast, Maggotkin). The potential MW output into a unit with a move of 4″ is eye watering. Something to remember is it can affect your foot heroes. This army is really set up to deal with hordes with massed 1 damage attacks but can, with a combination of spells/abilities and some stronger units pivot.

The range of lists taken down in the event shows the flexibility and balance of the army as well as the great generalship. More than just winning each round Ridge scored well in every round to secure the win over Rueben. A head to head between them would be interesting.

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Allegiance: Sons of Behemat
Tribe: Taker Tribe
Grand Strategy: Make the Land Tremble
Triumph: Inspired

Leader/Battleline
Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant (525pts)*
Artefact: Arcane Tome
– Spell: Flaming Weapon
Kraken-Eater Mega-Gargant (490pts)*
General
– Glowy Lantern
– Very Acquisitive
– Krakenskin Sandals

Battleline
Mancrusher Gargants (170pts)**
Mancrusher Gargants (170pts)**
Mancrusher Gargants (170pts)**
Warstompa Mega-Gargant (470pts)*

Core Battalions
*Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent
**Bounty Hunters

Total: 1,995pts

Brett: Another strong showing from the Sons, this time with the less popular Mancrushers in the army as well. The army build is quite clever, creating 2 wizards in an army with next to no magic but still maintaining key artefacts. With endless sells on the rampage Wizards and Priests are almost mandatory inclusions now for the dispel/unbind. The text for Glowy Lantern is pretty cool too, apparently this is a smart Kraken-Eater.

No Montrously Tough here but Flaming Weapon on the Gatebreaker takes the flail to flat 4 damage. Even on his bottom profile that +1 damage is still making a difference with -3 Rend. The Kraken Eater is both well equipped with Very Acquisitive giving both the extra artefact and allows equipping 2. The second is Krakenskin Sandals making the his stomp a more reliable. Bosses of the Stomp provides the 3rd artefact which is on the Gate Breaker. The Mancrushers being in Bounty Hunters is potentially a solid move, it doubles their effect on Galetian Veterans of course.

Mancrushers are typically more vunerable to ranged attackes with their lower wound counts. Pity no one really brought that many, the Thunder Lizard Seraphon list having the most. It goes to show that in a spell heavy infantry meta, even with the risk of a Purple Sun, the giants have a place. The weakening of some shooting (SCE) will help that and they were never bad, so after 6 months we might start to see quite a few back on tables. It will be interesting to see what effect there is on the meta if there are more Sons on the table. To state the obvious, a very effective army with interesting choices that double down on it’s anti infantry roll. Congratulations on 5/0 in a tight field. A head to head between Reuben and Ridge would be quite a spectacle.

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Allegiance: Nighthaunt
Procession: Scarlet Doom
– Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Krulghast Cruciator (150)*
Guardian of Souls (150)*
Artefact: Midnight Tome
– Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish
Spirit Torment (115)*
Spirit Torment (115)
General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist

Units
9 x Spirit Hosts (375)**
Reinforced x 2
10 x Chainrasps (110)**
10 x Chainrasps (110)**
20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)***
Reinforced x 1
20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)***
Reinforced x 1
4 x Myrmourn Banshees (105)***

Endless Spells
Purple Sun of Shyish (70)

Core Battalions
*Command Entourage – Magnificent
**Expert Conquerors
***Bounty Hunters

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 112
Drops: 10

Brett: More familar territory here with a Nighthaunt Scarlet Doom army still it has it’s own quirks similar to the armies we’ve already looked at. From the Grand Strat (Fight or Flight – no enemies within 6″ of any NH unit contesting an objective) to the block of Spirit Hosts there are nuiances to the list. If you are going first the Grand Strat seems easy since NH can always fall back but with 10 drops going second is more likely. Inspired is a good choice for NH since battleshock isn’t really a thing for them.

4 reasonably standard heroes, providing damage reduction, spells and healing for multiple units. Master of Magic is particularly good with the Purple Sun allowing rerolls of a crucial spell. The unit selection is more interesting in this army. Spirit Hosts took a hit from 2nd to 3rd edition losing their MW on 6s ability for a body guard effect. With 3 wounds though a block of 9 is going to be tanky especially with Spirit Hosts to return a model every turn. The Myrmourn are here as stabby spell stealers, very useful in the Endless Spell era we are currently enjoying. The Chainrasps are really only here to meet battleline, they will probably provide some screening or more likely backline objective holding but will evaporate if pushed too hard.

The Bladegheist are here as the damage dealers, doing mortal wounds on the charge to fall back and charge again. Worse of course they get an extra attack and as bounty hunters are doing 2 damage into your GV units. I think people are getting a handle on Bladegheists now, you need to make sure you understand their threat range or try to remove them with shooting. They are devestating if they can hit you in full formation with the current rules meaning all will hit you most of the time. His only loss was against a Maggotkin list with 3 Lords and 12 Blightlords. With the Blightlords the Bladegheist wouldn’t get additional damage and the Maggotkin army would have superior magic. Their MW output and “shooting” would have been effective at blunting the NH.

Still don’t under estimate Bladegheist, putting down Sons in the first round and then the Hog spam in the last should give an idea of the damage potential. Nate’s first round match against Oliver from Season of War is now up on the Season of War website for anyone interested. Having watched it I am amazed at how tanky the Spirit Hosts turned out to be, great move.

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Allegiance: Bonesplitterz
Warclan: Icebone
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Get Dem Bones!
– Triumphs: Inspired

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)*
Artefact: Mork’s Boney Bitz
– 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)**

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

Endless Spells & Invocations
Purple Sun of Shyish (70)

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Warlord
***Bounty Hunters

Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Spell

Total: 1960 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 181
Drops: 14

Brett: Wow where do I even start with this list, 181 wounds and 40 little pigs with more small heroes than most nations can handle. This list is making maximum use of Icebone’s MW on 6s to hit with melee weapon. Grand Strategy is to control a piece of terrain at the end of the battle. 3 casts from the Prophet and Shaman, including the Shaman is a great idea given the chance the Prophet will blow himself up. They concentrate on winding up their crazy mates with their spells.

The Savage Big Bosses have an ability to let another unit with 3″ of an enemy, wholly within 12″, fight immediately after this unit. That’s why there are so many, they are slow but they can fairly easily do 24, 2 damage attacks before letting so the Big Stabbas hit you (or more likely a small boar unit). With so many boars this is a solid tactic letting you concentrate a small castle of pain near an objective and the boars go wide. Combined with the Prophet lifting his mask and the Big Stabbas getting into combat this is enough damage to down a Gargant.

The boarboys and Maniacs are always going to be best on the charge so you want to make sure that isn’t an option first round. And I haven’t mentioned it but there is a reason for the 2 wizards, Purple Sun to eat something important. No shame in drawing against Maggotkin who could outlast most of the charges and blunt them with disease points. His only loss was to our 2nd place Gargants, again understandalbe because you are relying on swingy units to drop them.

Final Tournament Placings

AoS Meta Stats (w/e 10th July 2022)

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.

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Grand Tournaments

Ranked from largest to smallest.

South Coast Series July – England/UK
40 Players

PositionFactionSubfactionResult
1stSlaves to DarknessHost of the Everchosen5-0-0
2ndNighthauntScarlet Doom4-0-1
3rdSylvanethHeartwood4-0-1
4thSylvanethGnarlroot4-0-1
5thSeraphonFangs of Sotek4-0-1
6thIdoneth DeepkinFuethan4-0-1
7thMaggotkin of NurgleDrowned Men4-0-1
8thBonesplitterzDrakkfoot3-1-1
9thNighthaunt Emerald Host3-0-2
10thDaughters of KhaineZainthar Kai3-0-2
South Coast Series July

Summer on the Coast AoS GT – Washington/USA
37 Players

PositionFactionSubfactionResult
1stKharadron OverlordsBarak-Zilfin5-0-0
2ndDaughters of KhaineHagg Nar4-0-1
3rdBlades of KhorneGoretide4-0-1
4thHedonites of SlaaneshLurid Haze4-0-1
5thSlaves to DarknessHost of the Everchosen4-0-1
6thNighthaunt Scarlet Doom4-0-1
7thSeraphonThunder Lizard3-0-2
8thSons of BehematBreaker Tribe3-0-2
9thSylvanethHeartwood3-0-2
10thSylvanethGnarlroot3-0-2
Summer on the Coast AoS GT

Kingdom of Skrappa Spill – England/UK
28 PlayersGenerals Handbook: Pitched Battles 2022-23 Season 1

PositionFactionSubfactionResult
1stCities of SigmarHallowheart5-0-0
2ndDaughters of KhaineKhailebron4-0-1
3rdCities of SigmarHammerhal4-0-1
4thSkaven4-0-1
5thMaggotkin of Nurgle3-1-1
6thSeraphonThunder Lizard3-1-1
7thDaughters of KhaineKhailebron3-0-2
8thDaughters of KhaineHagg Nar3-0-2
9thNighthaunt 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 AllianceWin RateArmies% Share of Armies5-0 Wins4+ Wins
Chaos56.4%6220.46%520
Order51.0%14949.17%421
Death43.8%5016.50%16
Destruction43.8%4213.86%03

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.

FactionWin RateArmies% Share of Armies5-0 Wins0-5 Losses
Slaves to Darkness72.2%61.98%11
Beasts of Chaos63.1%134.29%20
Nighthaunt61.3%175.61%10
Blades of Khorne60.0%51.65%00
Sylvaneth58.5%134.29%00
Cities of Sigmar57.1%175.61%11
Seraphon56.3%247.92%21
Kharadron Overlords55.0%61.98%11
Big Waaagh!54.0%51.65%00
Maggotkin of Nurgle53.8%216.93%12
Bonesplitterz51.5%72.31%00
Lumineth Realm-Lords50.0%123.96%00
Daughters of Khaine50.0%175.61%01
Sons of Behemat50.0%82.64%00
Idoneth Deepkin47.8%185.94%00
Sons of Behemat48.5%214.33%01
Skaven46.7%61.98%10
Legion of the First Prince46.7%61.98%01
Stormcast Eternals45.6%268.58%03
Ogor Mawtribes44.8%61.98%01
Fyreslayers43.0%165.28%01
Flesh-eater Courts40.0%51.65%00
Soulblight Gravelords37.8%185.94%02
Gloomspite Gitz33.3%61.98%00
Ironjawz32.8%72.31%02
Ossiarch Bonereapers27.0%103.30%02

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.

FactionSubfactionWin RateArmies% Share of Armies5-0 Wins0-5 Losses
Maggotkin of NurgleDrowned Men69.1%113.63%10
NighthauntScarlet Doom67.6%72.31%00
Beasts of ChaosNone61.4%72.31%10
Cities of SigmarLiving City57.1%72.31%00
SeraphonThunder Lizard55.7%216.93%21
Sons of BehematBreaker Tribe53.4%61.98%00
Stormcast EternalsHallowed Knights52.9%72.31%00
FyreslayersLofnir51.7%61.98%00
NighthauntEmerald Host48.3%61.98%00
Lumineth Realm-LordsZaitrec48.1%113.63%00
Daughters of KhaineZainthar Kai47.1%72.31%01
Legion of the First Prince46.7%61.98%01
Skaven46.7%61.98%10
Soulblight GravelordsVyrkos Dynasty43.3%61.98%00
Stormcast EternalsHammers of Sigmar42.3%154.95%03
Soulblight GravelordsKastelai Dynasty38.6%72.31%01
FyreslayersGreyfyrd35.2%92.97%01
Ossiarch BonereapersPetrifex Elite27.5%82.64%01

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…..

AoS Meta Stats (w/e 3rd July 2022)

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 PlayersGenerals Handbook: Pitched Battles 2022-23 Season 1

PositionFactionSubfactionResult
1stSkaven5-0-0
2ndNighthauntScarlet Doom4-0-1
3rdIdoneth DeepkinMor’Phann4-0-1
4thBonesplitterzDrakkfoot4-0-1
5thSeraphonThunder Lizard3-0-2
6thDaughters of Khaine Zainthar Kai3-0-2
7thSylvanethHeartwood3-0-2
8thBeasts of Chaos3-0-2
9thSoulblight GravelordsKastelai Dynasty3-0-2
10thSons of BehematBreaker Tribe2-1-2
From the Ashes 2022

World tSports Champions – England/UK
16 PlayersGenerals Handbook 2021-22

PositionFactionSubfactionResult
1stNighthauntGrieving Legion5-0-0
2ndIdoneth DeepkinIonrach3-0-2
3rdBeasts of ChaosAllherd4-0-1
4thIdoneth DeepkinFuethan3-0-2
5thSlaves to DarknessHost of the Everchosen4-0-1
6thMaggotkin of NurgleDrowned Men3-0-2
7thCities of SigmarHallowheart2-0-3
8thBonesplitterzDrakkfoot2-0-3
9thLegion of the First Prince 1-0-4
10thStormcast EternalsHammers of Sigmar2-0-3
World tSports Champions

Coliseum of Sigmar Carnage GT – Florida/USA
9 PlayersGenerals Handbook: Pitched Battles 2022-23 Season 1

PositionFactionSubfactionResult
1stLumineth Realm-LordsZaitrec3-0-1
2ndNighthauntEmerald Host4-0-1
3rdStormcast EternalsHallowed Knights3-1-1
4thLegion of the First Prince3-1-1
5thIdoneth DeepkinNautilar2-0-3
6thStormcast EternalsHammers of Sigmar2-0-3
7thSlaves to DarknessHost of the Everchosen0-0-2
8thSons of BehematBreaker Tribe2-0-3
9thDaughters of Khaine Zainthar Kai0-0-4
Coliseum of Sigmar Carnage GT

Grand Alliance Stats

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 AllianceWin RateArmies% Share of Armies5-0 Wins4+ Wins
Chaos56.7%9419.38%627
Order50.7%21844.95%834
Death45.8%8216.91%211
Destruction45.0%9118.76%08

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 AllianceBattletomesBattletome %Actual Rep %
Order937.50%44.95%
Chaos729.17%19.38%
Death416.67%16.91%
Destruction416.67%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.

FactionWin RateArmies% Share of Armies5-0 Wins0-5 Losses
Beasts of Chaos67.1%142.89%20
Legion of the First Prince 61.5%132.68%00
Slaves to Darkness61.1%61.24%01
Seraphon59.7%306.19%52
Blades of Khorne56.7%61.24%00
Maggotkin of Nurgle56.6%357.22%32
Bonesplitterz55.4%102.06%00
Cities of Sigmar54.2%244.95%21
Daughters of Khaine52.8%224.54%02
Nighthaunt52.2%326.60%12
Idoneth Deepkin51.8%234.74%10
Flesh-eater Courts51.7%61.24%00
Lumineth Realm-Lords51.5%214.33%00
Kharadron Overlords51.4%71.44%01
Sylvaneth49.1%112.27%01
Sons of Behemat48.5%214.33%01
Soulblight Gravelords47.1%285.77%11
Stormcast Eternals47.1%6012.37%04
Ogor Mawtribes47.1%282.89%01
Ironjawz44.7%163.30%01
Kruleboyz44.3%112.27%01
Hedonites of Slaanesh44.3%71.44%00
Skaven43.0%91.86%10
Big Waaagh!41.3%81.65%00
Fyreslayers39.5%204.12%02
Gloomspite Gitz30.9%112.27%01
Ossiarch Bonereapers28.2%163.30%02
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

FactionSubfactionWin RateArmies% Share of Armies5-0 Wins0-5 Losses
Beasts of ChaosNone70.0%51.03%10
Maggotkin of Nurgle Drowned Men68.0%204.12%20
Legion of the First Prince61.5%132.68%00
NighthauntScarlet Doom60.0%112.27%00
Beasts of ChaosGavespawn60.0%61.24%00
SeraphonThunder Lizard59.6%285.77%42
BonesplitterzDrakkfoot58.3%61.24%00
Cities of SigmarLiving City57.7%132.68%20
Ogor MawtribesBoulderhead56.0%51.03%00
Kharadron OverlordsBarak-Zilfin53.3%61.24%01
Idoneth DeepkinMor’Phann53.3%61.24%10
Lumineth Realm-LordsZaitrec52.9%153.09%00
Sons of BehematBreaker Tribe52.8%153.09%00
Idoneth DeepkinNautilar51.3%81.65%00
IronjawzIronsunz50.0%61.24%01
Daughters of KhaineHagg Nar50.0%71.44%01
Stormcast EternalsAstral Templars50.0%61.24%00
Daughters of KhaineZainthar Kai49.2%122.47%01
Stormcast EternalsHammers of Sigmar48.8%336.80%02
Soulblight GravelordsVyrkos Dynasty48.0%102.06%00
Soulblight GravelordsKastelai Dynasty45.5%112.27%01
Stormcast EternalsHallowed Knights44.7%153.09%01
KruleboyzBig Yellers43.4%81.65%01
Skaven43.0%91.86%10
FyreslayersLofnir42.9%71.44%01
Hedonites of SlaaneshLurid Haze42.0%51.03%00
IronjawzBloodtoofs41.7%102.06%00
NighthauntEmerald Host41.5%132.68%02
Big Waaagh!41.3%81.65%00
Maggotkin of NurgleBefouling Host40.0%71.44%11
FyreslayersGreyfyrd35.8%122.47%01
Ossiarch BonereapersPetrifex Elite28.8%153.09%02
Gloomspite Gitz25.0%81.65%01
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.

PlayerCountryRegionRating
John BScotlandEurope1,049.4
David JackScotlandEurope1,031.2
Leigh MartinScotlandEurope1,030.3
Zachary ShinnUSANorth America1,029.7
Nathan WatsonScotlandEurope1,029.4
Jonathon RobertsUSANorth America1,020.0
Daniel GomezUSANorth America1,019.2
Cara NewbyScotlandEurope1,010.6
Richard McQuarrieScotlandEurope1,010.3
Karl RohrUSANorth America1,010.0
Alastair MaxwellScotlandEurope1,010.0
Reece FraserScotlandEurope1,010.0
Jamie McHughScotlandEurope1,010.0
Ryan PothecaryScotlandEurope1,010.0
Ian (Yes, just Ian)ScotlandEurope1,009.7
Aaron Burns LeesScotlandEurope1,009.4
Allan GeorgeScotlandEurope1,000.3
Douglas KlemUSANorth America1,000.0
Frank KellyScotlandEurope999.1
Scott SempleScotlandEurope999.1
Alasdair RobertsonScotlandEurope990.0
Michael SmithUSANorth America989.4
James HobsonScotlandEurope988.3
Michael PetersonUSANorth America980.3
Lewis MitchellScotlandEurope971.2
Grant FraserScotlandEurope968.9
Andrew DowlingUSANorth America961.7
AoS Player Rankings on 3rd July 2022

AoS Meta Stats (w/e 26th June 2022)

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.

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Grand Tournaments

Ranked from largest to smallest.

Giga-Con: Age of Sigmar Teams Event – Georgia/USA
32 Players

PositionFactionSubfactionResult
1stSeraphon Thunder Lizard5-0-0
2ndBeasts of Chaos4-1-0
3rdBeasts of Chaos4-0-1
4thOgor MawtribesBoulderhead4-0-1
5thLumineth Realm-Lords Zaitrec4-0-1
6thHedonites of Slaanesh Godseekers Host4-0-1
7thCities of SigmarLiving City 4-0-1
8thNighthaunt Scarlet Doom4-0-1
9thStormcast EternalsHallowed Knights3-1-1
10thBig Waaagh!3-1-1
Giga-Con: Age of Sigmar Teams Event

Ironweld Open GT – Massachusetts/USA
32 Players

PositionFactionSubfactionResult
1stSeraphonThunder Lizard 5-0-0
2ndSeraphon Thunder Lizard 4-0-1
3rdLegion of the First Prince4-0-1
4thSeraphonThunder Lizard 4-0-1
5thBonesplitterz Drakkfoot 3-1-1
6thLumineth Realm-Lords Zaitrec 3-1-1
7thDaughters of KhaineHagg Nar3-0-2
8thDaughters of KhaineZainthar Kai 3-0-2
9thStormcast EternalsHallowed Knights 3-0-2
10thSoulblight Gravelords Vyrkos Dynasty 3-0-2
Ironweld Open GT
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Grand Alliance Stats

64 players took part in 2 GT’s over the last week.

Grand AllianceWin RateArmies% Share of Armies5-0 Wins4+ Wins
Chaos55.6%914.1%04
Order53.7%3046.9%26
Death50.0%1015.6%01
Death39.3%1523.4%01

Faction Stats

The below stat show the results for those factions represented by 5 armies or more only.

FactionWin RateArmies% Share of Armies5-0 Wins0-5 Losses
Seraphon 80.0%57.9%20
Lumineth Realm-Lords 60.0%57.9%00
Soulblight Gravelords 40.0%57.9%00

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.

AoS Meta Stats (w/e 19th June 2022)

Here are the AoS Meta Stats for all the Grand Tournaments that have taken place between Monday 13th June and Sunday 19th 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 was a total of 3 Grand Tournaments last week, a quiet week! That being said, one of them was the awesome UK tSports Champions, which our very own Declan was invited to take part in. You can read up on his prep here.

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Grand Tournaments

Ranked from largest to smallest.

Pyrehammer 2022 – Wielkopolskie/Poland
40 Players

PositionFactionSubfactionResult
1stSons of BehematBreaker Tribe4-0-1
2ndStormcast EternalsHammers of Sigmar4-0-1
3rdBeasts of Chaos5-0-0
4thSylvaneth4-0-1
5thMaggotkin of NurgleDrowned Men4-0-1
6thLumineth Realm-LordsSyar3-1-1
7thKharadron OverlordsBarak-Zilfin3-1-1
8thMaggotkin of NurgleDrowned Men3-0-2
9thStormcast EternalsHallowed Knights4-0-1
10thMaggotkin of NurlgeDrowned Men3-1-1
Pyrehammer AoS GT

Rise of the Everchosen – Emilia Romagna/Italy
32 Players

PositionFactionSubfactionResult
1stMaggotkin of NurgleDrowned Men5-0-0
2ndMaggotkin of NurgleDrowned Men4-1-0
3rdSlaves to DarknessKnights of the Empty Throne4-1-0
4thStormcast EternalsHammers of Sigmar4-0-1
5thFyreslayersLofnir4-0-1
6thSeraphonThunder Lizard3-0-2
7thSeraphonThunder Lizard3-0-2
8thSons of BehematStomper Tribe3-0-2
9thStormcast EternalsKnights Excelsior3-0-2
10thCities of SigmarLiving City3-0-2
Rise of the Everchosen AoS GT

UK tSports Champions – England/UK
16 Players

PositionFactionSubfactionResult
1stBeasts of ChaosAllherd5-0-0
2ndMaggotkin of NurgleDrowned Men4-0-1
3rdMaggotkin of NurgleDroning Guard3-0-2
4thFyreslayersLofnir3-0-2
5thCities of SigmarTempest’s Eye3-1-1
6thIdoneth DeepkinMor’Phann2-0-3
7thSeraphonThunder Lizard3-0-2
8thNighthauntEmerald Host2-0-3
9thNighthauntScarlet Doom3-0-2
10thCities of SigmarHallowheart3-0-2
UK tSports Champions AoS GT
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Grand Alliance Stats

286 players took part in 10 GT’s over the last week.

Grand AllianceWin RateArmies% Share of Armies5-0 Wins4+ Wins
Chaos64.7%1921.59%37
Order49.2%4955.68%05
Destruction43.8%89.09%01
Death34.2%1213.64%00

Faction Stats

The below stat show the results for those factions represented by 5 armies or more only.

FactionWin RateArmies% Share of Armies5-0 Wins0-5 Losses
Maggotkin of Nurgle66.0%1011.36%14
Cities of Sigmar58.6%77.95%00
Stormcast Eternals54.0%1011.36%03
Idoneth Deepkin46.0%55.68%00
Seraphon43.0%1011.36%00
Fyrselayers40.0%77.95%01
Soulblight Gravelords33.3%66.82%00

Maggotkin of Nurgle top the charts this week in a very small data set. With a win rate of 66.0% Followed closely by Cities of Sigmar with a win rate of 58.6%. Seraphon, Fyreslayers and Soulblight Gravelords all struggling to make that magical 45% mark with Soulblight Gravelords being the only faction below 40%.

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Subfaction Stats

Only Seraphon/Thunder Lizard and Maggotkin of Nurgle/Drowned Men made the requirement for this table (min 5 armies represented). Thunder Lizard managed a win rate of 43% while Drowned Men achieved 72.5%……