This is the top three AoS lists for Stockholm Slaughter 9 took place in Sweden on the 18th and 19th of March. It involved 18 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: Vostarg – Grand Strategy: Master of the Forge – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Auric Runefather (120)* – General – Command Trait: Fury of the Fyreslayers Auric Runemaster (130)*** – Artefact: Volatile Brazier – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Auric Flamekeeper (90)*** Auric Flamekeeper (90)*** Battlesmith (150) – Artefact: Nulsidian Icon – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Auric Runesmiter (120) – Forge Key – Prayer: Ember Storm
UNITS 15 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (450)* – Poleaxes 30 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (480)** 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)** 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)**
Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Subfaction: Cabalists – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Spells: Chaotic Conduit, Daemonic Speed Exalted Hero of Chaos (100)** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Rune-etched Blade and Chaos Runeshield – Spells: Binding Damnation – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (195)** – General – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Command Traits: Not to be Denied – Daemonic Axe – Wings – Artefacts of Power: Helm of the Oppressor – Spells: Daemonic Speed
BATTLELINE Corvus Cabal (80)* Corvus Cabal (80)* Chaos Knights (460)** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Doom Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Cursed Flail – Ensorcelled banner: The Eroding Icon
OTHER Chaos Chosen (480)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Exalted Champion – 2 x Icon Bearer – 2 x Skull Drummer – Ensorcelled banner: The Banner of Screaming Flesh Ogroid Theridons (380)** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Thorakon – Goroan Great Axe – 2 x Banner Bearer – 2 x Charge-caller
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Soulscream Bridge (80)
Leaders Orruk Megaboss (140)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm (Galletian Champion) – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeat: Killa Beat
Battleline 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)* 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)** – Jagged Gore-hackas 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas 5 x Spider Riders (90)* 5 x Spider Riders (90)
This is the top three AoS lists for the Columbus Brewhammer GT that took place in the USA on the 4th and 5th of February. It involved 39 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
Jon Anderson (Aka Poro):
Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords – Subfaction: Helon – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Archmage Teclis (700)* – General – Spells: Healing Zephyr Scinari Cathallar (110)* – Artefacts of Power: Silver Wand – Spells: Overwhelming Heat Hurakan Windmage (120)* – Spells: Transporting Vortex – Aspects of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox
OTHER Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)* – High Sentinel – Spells: Speed of Hysh
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70) 1 x Shards of Valagharr (40)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
We’ve another commentator join us recently, who has slipped under the radar. Jon joined us at the backend of 2022. So much so that when I sent a message on our writers WhatsApp asking who wanted to comment on the Lumineth list, Jon had to remind us all it was his list.
So, in his own words, here’s how Jon played his list.
Jon Anderson: News from the Realms!
With LVO behind us and a new GHB season in full swing, I decided to venture out into the wilds. A barren place, a forgotten place, a place with no hope where even the whisper of superior college football conferences will send the locals into a fuss. That’s right, I went to Ohio.
I was in Columbus, to be exact, and participated in the second annual Brewhammer event. This year, I was not stymied by two 12″ charges in Round 5, though, and I was able to go 5-0 and win the event for the “good” guys.
Today, I want to go over a quick list analysis of my Lumineth Realm-Lords, which went undefeated at the GT. My path to victory took down Sylvaneth, Ironjawz, Nighthaunt, the Flesh-eater Courts, and finally more Sylvaneth.
Starting things off with the list was my decision to field the Great Nation of Helon which gave me bonus shots with the Sentinels. Very nasty. Many arrows.
Some deviance from the path has been detected! I went with the Grand Strategy “Take Their Toys”, which works out well when the plan was to table the opponent every round.
One drop. Uno. Ein. Ichi. The Sith Castle wants to determine who goes first and none of the bonuses from other battalions are worth taking. Why take a Warlord battalion when I’m going to forget I even have a relic to begin with? The Cathallar had the silver wand which enabled her to cast an additional spell. Guess what I didn’t do all weekend? You guessed it! Read my scrolls.
I put Teclis as the general because the tournament DID NOT allow book tactics and/or Grand Strategies. Because of this, I needed to have access to This One’s Mine in a pinch. I never needed it, but the option was there. Cool list, have you heard? Nothing crazy at battleline; one pack of Wardens and two reinforced squads of Sentinels meant I just wanted to use the Roos as board control and move blockers.
In regards to the Windchargers, I’m rapidly becoming a bigger fan of them. I don’t think you spam them, they’re not the rock you build your church on, but they’re a great support piece and at 130 points you unlock 3/3 battleline very quickly. I’d recommend naming the Roos: Jack, John, Luke, Jacob, and Steve.
Oh yeah, endless spells. Shards of Valagar giving half move but also removing the ability to teleport a unit was what won me the Sylvaneth game. Great endless spell, super cheap, buy high, sell low. Diamond hands.
Fun tournament, with fun people. I am looking forward to going back next year.
I’m happy to talk shop on Discord or Twitter. My Discord handle is Poro#4444 and my Twitter is @33r2d2
Best Overall: Jeff Campbell Crowley Best General: Jon Anderson Best Order: Austin Thimesch Best Destruction: “Megaboss” Mike Westendorf Best Death: Jake Myers Best Sport: Everyone, because you should all strive to be the best sports you can be.
Until next time, Darth Poro
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Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Army Subfaction: Oakenbrow – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Drycha Hamadreth (320) – Spells: Verdurous Harmony 1 x Spirit of Durthu (350) 1 x Treelord Ancient (330)* – General – Command Traits: Gnarled Warrior – Artefacts: The Vesperal Gem – Spells: Regrowth 1 x Arch-Revenant (120)* – Aspects of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox 1 x Arch-Revenant (120)*
BATTLELINE 1 x Treelord (230)* 1 x Treelord (230)* 1 x Treelord (230)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Spiteswarm Hive (40)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1970/2000)
Sylvaneth are settling into their gro(o)ve recently, and what’s great is that we’re starting to see a variety of builds do well.
Jeff here has gone against the grain and clinched a big 4-1 (losing only to the current…well, perennial boogeyelf) with an Oakenbrow treelord list! The sub-faction of choice for the big tree lover makes them battleline and helps them fight in top bracket – leaning into it therefore makes utter sense, hence the combo of Durthu, an Ancient, and 3 Treelords, backed up by the auto-take Spiteswarm hive for +3 to movement AND charges (not bad is it?).
We also see two Arch-revs here – most likely for scoring plays due to them being durable (when they select the 4+ ward option – and when wouldn’t they) and highly mobile GCs.
The increasingly popular mixed-phase output of Drycha rounds things out while fitting neatly into a battle reg – because the Treelords become troops in the sub-faction – making for a thematic and clearly powerful list. It’s great to see that Big Tree as an archetype is viable, and this is one of the first examples I’ve seen – so kudos to Jeff for staying true to his roots!
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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Astral Templars (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Knight-Vexillor (120)* – Pennant of the Stormbringer – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Knight-Draconis (300)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Thunderous Presence – Spell: Celestial Blades Battlemage (100)* – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Allies
Battleline 5 x Liberators (120)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1x champion Grandweapon 5 x Liberators (120)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1x champion Grandweapon 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)* – 2x Drakerider’s Lance – Champion lance – 2x swords – Reinforced x 1 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)*
Units 10 x Protectors (440)* – Reinforced x 1 – Champion
We’re back with Stormcast, who remain one of the most consistent factions throughout 3rd Edition so far. Dragons help. Lots of things we are used to, block of Storm Drakes in Scions of the Storm to get the drop on the opponent. No Lord Imperatant so no 7″ charges from off the board, but there is a clever use of the Vexillor. His banner gives a once a game teleport for a unit. Combine that with the Battlemage, and you could drop the Protectors somewhere with a 7″ charge (9″ with +2″ movement). A great way to move away from the almost autoinclude Relictor. Astral Templars ignore monstrous rampages, which are mostly for the drakes. They will be able to carry out a rampage and ignore the same from anything big. With both the Knight Draconis and Storm Drake, that’s potentially a big help.
This is a very mobile list with the Tree Revenants (Musician granting teleport), the Vexillor (Tunnel Master), and his Pendant. It might just be me but I like the idea of Galletian Command combined with the Vexillor’s Pendant, Wild form and Tunnel Master to throw the Protectors and Vexillor across the board to take advantage of Strike at the Opening.
This is a really bad idea, that’s a lot of rolls you need to go your way and you couldn’t rely on it. But. Anyway, the list did what it does, holding back lines with Liberators and giving freedom to the hammers (Protectors and Drakes). There is a nice balance of abilities to improve the Protectors’ mobility. And it worked, mostly anyway. Nicholas scored well in every round except against the Sylvaneth list with 6 Treelords (3 Lords and 3 Characters). Ents anyone? Ents are tough, and these fight and fade. It is very hard to counter with so few bodies.
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Allegiance: Ironjawz – Warclan: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable, Indomitable
Leaders Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)* – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat
Battleline 10 x Orruk Brutes (300)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 2x Gore Choppas – Reinforced x 1 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas
A cool variation on the Bloodtoofs list with 15 pigs and a Mawcrusha but 10 Brutes and Rippa’s Snarlfangs. More of a harassing unit that are only a little faster than the pigs, though. Their most useful trait, though, is only costing 70pts and finishing that Warlord battalion. Still, getting somewhere fast can be useful, and something that is small and not that threaten might go under the radar. The Brutes are a seriously powerful unit. Now that Bounty Hunters has gone, their issue is speed. Double Ironjaw’s fist is an interesting concept. With Might Destroyers, you could give All Out Attack to all of the Pigs and the Brutes in the same turn. Twice. For 2 CP each time.
Interesting concept, it failed in the face of overwhelming shooting (Lumineth) and a lower score in the 5th round (more shooting) but performed well throughout. It says as much about the power of consistent shooting into melee armies as much as anything. Bouncing back from the 2nd round loss to take 6th with a very solid 4-1 is a great result.
This is the Top Eight AoS Lists for the Las Vegas Open that took place in Nevada, USA, on 27th, 28th, and 29th January. It involved a massive 324 players, all vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
We’re particularly lucky this week as six of the top eight players agreed to give us comments on how their lists work. On top of this, we’ve also got comments from the Head Judge at LVO, Gareth Thomas.
So, thank you to; Jiwan Noah Singh, Kaleb Walters, Gavin Grigar, Cody Saults, Nate Trentanelli and Gareth Thomas for all agreeing to give us your thoughts.
Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Gavespawn – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Beastlord (95) – Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)*** – Artefact: Tanglehorn Familiars – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)*** – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy Grashrak Fellhoof (150)*** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage
Battleline 30 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (525)** – 30x Pair of Savage Blade – Reinforced x 2 10 x Gors (70)** – Gor-Blades & Beastshields 10 x Gors (70)** – Gor-Blades & Beastshields
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Grashrak’s Despoilers (0)***
Jiwan Noah Singh: The heroes all serve a function against different matchups, and with the Gavespawn ability, they can then serve a secondary function when they die.
The general has to be the Tzaangor Shaman to unlock Galletian Veterans for the big block, but also has the extremely helpful big cast once per game, and moves 16/19” if I need to go hold and up a huge threat. Mostly, I used the big cast for the bull spell, but in other matchups, I considered he would have used tendrils of atrophy to break armor stacking. His speed let’s him get there for that short ranged spell.
Grashrak gives out the +3 move, and because he can pass wounds, it is helpful against ranged threats who losing the move bonus would be difficult against. His spell is also a super combo with Gavespawn if I need to lift a gargant or something in one activation.
The shoggoth was there for his spell and having a starting monster, and the pre-phase move made anyone worried about that going off have to deploy really far back.
Beastlord was the newest addition but was a pretty fun vehicle for the gnarlblade. With run and charge, he moves 15” on an auto run, so throwing him across and 18” deployment means he can also make people worry about making me take top, for small only investment on my part. Additionally, if he got his attacks off and the bull was on something, it was a less likely but still redundant plus to wound, or hit and wound.
Gors are 10 potentially deepstriking bodies on a 4+ in combat for 70 points. They also have plus to run and pile in, which is so strange that it just confuses people when you tell them, but it is actually helpful.
Tzaangor are 60 wounds, have mortal banners, can zoom across the board and fight something with a billion attacks, but also rally on 4+. I generally deploy them in a cloud, all about 1” from each others bases, to maximize the board space, but also to be able to pull them out of 3” against things that shut down inspiring, and if I need to rally, recharge, ect. Let’s me save bodies if I pull them out of coherency too, which I did intentionally several times to be able to rally again.
The rest of the list is enlightened, in blocks of 6, in bounty hunters. These have tons of uses and can pump out massive damage. Turning off all our defense is like another rend in many cases. So with the fight last bull running around, some plus to hit (always try to end on damned if you can) from multiple sources, and the throwing an extra attack on them from a spawn, they are such a threat that an opponent must deal with them. When you stack a plus to hit, going second, and gavespawn attacks, I know of very few things with that output. And at 2/3 rend no cp, few things can eat it with saves.
The beasts summoning on top of all the threats to kill or hold things, and ability to run a hero into something, die, and lock them up, meant that in almost all my games I can lose tons of things and still keep taking points. I built in some tech to deal with specific matchups that concerned me, most of which didn’t happen, but in general it’s a 5 turn army with a ton of flexibility and lots of different things going on. Good proving ground usage was hugely helpful with the ability to summon Galletian Veterans, and the output meant the main armies I expected to see, Ogors, Gargants, Nurgle, Nighthaunt, all had something that was a big problem for them that I didn’t mind sacrificing.
That’s pretty much it.
That, and having distractingly beautiful hair, that helped too.
This list – piloted by Nicholas ‘Scooter’ Walters – is testament to the difference reps and familiarity with an army can make. Even if that army is considered underpowered.
Scooter nearly went all the way with what is a pretty common IJ list, with a sneaky ally in the shape of the Fungoid Shaman for the extra CP generation. I mean, it’s an ‘obvious’ list – but if you watch back the stream of Scooter playing Gavin Grigar’s Cities list for example, you can see the difference skill and knowing the intricacies – the limits, the averages – of your army can make. Keeping the Maw Krusha back until it’s absolutely needed – knowing when to smash that ‘Destroyer’ button on the foot boss – and making all the right calls with your pigs are all key to playing IJ well.
Even though the list will be hurt by losing bounty hunters, making the pigs half as effective, the inclusion of the Megaboss makes sense going into the new season – he’s a great, durable and fighty Galley champ. The speed and activation potential with smashing/bashing of the feral hogs will never go out of style.
Ironjaws might be suffering from a lack of units and power creep these days but Scooter is out here to prove that if you love your army, and you’re prepared to stick with it and get the reps in, ‘the meta’ be damned, you too can damn well near win LVO.
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Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Guild of Summoners – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)* – General – Command Trait: Arcane Sacrifice – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion Kairos Fateweaver (440)* Magister (120)* – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate – Incarnate is Bound to the Magister Changecaster, Herald of Tzeentch (150) – Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch
Battleline 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Tzaangors (180)* – 10x Pair of Savage Blade
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)* – Allies
Endless Spells & Invocations Tome of Eyes (40) Umbral Spellportal (80) Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
Kaleb Walters: My main goal was to create a Swiss Army Knife style list. Bring as many solutions to the answers in my faction as possible.
Reason For Family: Guild of Summoners: 1 FREE Battle Tactic: Summon Lord of Change. LOC have 14 wounds, -1 Rend shots, 18 inch range, movement 12, +1 To casting for all Tzeentch casters, -1 to hit naturally and monstrous rampage abilities. While other families have more flexibility, the norm is to summon Blue Horrors that have 20 wounds, Movement 5, shoot 12 inches at 0 rend but have good board presence.
List Design: Min Max: Minimum Battleline Maximum Hero’s/Monster Damage. My list is designed to castle up and react to the deployment of my opponent. By staying low drop I normally have the option to decide how I want to engage. I either sacrifice my Acolytes (120pt a unit) to an alpha strike list, or I position aggressively with a front and center incarnate primed to go wild and level up. Either formation still allows me to throw powerful spells that can turn off Command abilities and unleash a possible 15 mortal wounds at 27 inches or more. In addition, as the game goes on, I become more magically dominant with the additional LOC while reducing the overall strength of my opponent.
The next part of my list design is increasing/ reducing my opponents armor. I have 2 spells & 1 Endless spell that can reduce my opponents armor and with the rend stacking of the Acolytes or the LOC natural -1 Rend shots and of course the already powerful incarnate -2/-3 rend I am able to turn normal attacks into Mortal Wound equivalent attacks.
I also know the future with my lame sauce guaranteed Grand Strategy & Destiny Dice…….
Opportunities of The Design: I have a difficult time dealing with Hordes and / or armies that can summon cheap disposable models on a mission with more than 4 objectives. I also find it difficult to face armies like KO that can stay outside my threat range and then engage on their terms.
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Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Tempest’s Eye – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Mighty Beachhead – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290)* – General – Command Trait: Hawk-eyed – Lore of Eagles: Strike of Eagles Arkanaut Admiral (140)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Eagles: Aura of Glory Battleline 20 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (200)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)* 10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)*
Units 20 x Arkanaut Company (180) – 2x Light Skyhooks – 2x Aethermatic Volley Guns – Reinforced x 1 4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (440)* – Reinforced x 1 4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (440)* – Reinforced x 1
Core Concept Bring guns… lots of guns. We recently had 2 books introduced into the meta (Ogors and Slaves to Darkness), and the resurgence of some old foes (Dragons, Ironjaws and Nurgle), that generate a ton of kill pressure and melee engagement on Turn 1. Tempest’s Eye combats this with great Turn 1 buffs (+1 Save/+3 Move) and efficient shooting (+1 Hit/+1 Wound) supplemented by a healthy number of mortal wounds (Hurricanum, Dracoth Breath). All these elements together are hopefully enough to keep even the scariest melee threats at bay.
Strengths Shooting Volume from Crossbowmen, Tempestors and Arkanauts combined with force multipliers centering around the Hurricanum (+1 Hit/+1 Wound). Adaptable Tech from the Admiral (+1 Rend/Ward Removal/Charge Debuff). Drop Control (2 Drops) typically allows the list to immediately threaten a double turn and forces your opponent to make hard decisions on Turn 1. Horrorghast allows the list to hit crucial damage break points against large units such as Tzaangors, Chosen, or Blood Sisters or spread damage across multiple units for greater efficiency.
Weaknesses 1 Drop armies or specifically being disconnected from the double turn, which forces the list to overextend and expose its firebase. Melee armies whose movement outranges the threat ranges of the list’s shooting units. Middling mobility limits the army’s ability to play proactively and aggressively.
Takeaways and Closing Thoughts As fun as it was to throw buckets of dice, the list has some glaring weaknesses that I was able to mostly avoid due to some fortunate pairings over the course of the weekend, but it does have undeniable strengths and when the list wins it really wins. Enjoy responsibly!
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Subfaction: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480) – General – Command Traits: Mighty Waaagh! Leader – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts of Power: Destroyer – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480)* – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist
BATTLELINE Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Shootas (120)*
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Cody Saults: Ironjawz, for me, was the only choice for LVO this year. My standard approach to tournaments is to not play the same game everyone else is expecting to play. With GV being a thing, and folks running bounty hunters, 2 drops kept me tied or out dropping every opponent, and with the list’s raw damage potential, it has the potential to cripple opponents before they get a chance to interact with your units. Second consideration, with a tournament with as many rounds as LVO potentially has for those who do well, avoiding burnout is key. The list only has 4 unit profiles, which helps with keeping rules front of mind and always knowing your options.
The Maw Crusher is an absolute engine for this list, as Skull-Shaking Bellow allows you to spread Mighty Destroyers out to multiple targets, which helps with board control and damage potential. Its melee profiles allow it to put out a punishing amount of wounds, while its solid armor save prevents it from being an easy removal target. Moreover, it has several ways to help clear screens to make sure you get to your target. Its shooting attack is only 4 potential wounds at rend 1, and very short range, but combine that with the impact hits from the pigs, and enhanced stomp monstrous action, the crusher stands a very good chance of clearing screens and getting to the target it truly wants. A quick Finest Hour passing to your opponent’s turn, with an All Out Defense means that even after they deal their damage, they will continue to gum up the works for your opponent, while taking a monstrous amount of extra attention to move. Having 2 allows for redundancy, protect the one in the most vulnerable position, and then respond with the second. The mighty destroyers move means they are never out of position, as if they clear targets and need to pivot to another flank, they almost always have the movement to get there.
Gore Gruntas also represent a solid damage investment, as buffed by the Warchanta, and under the Iron Jaws WAAGH, there is very little in the game they can’t chew through. I went with two units of three, and one of six. The 2 three-man units can take buffs and present good screen clearance in matchups where the opponent has good screening, and for matchups you don’t need the initial sacrificial salvo, they can be used for fast objective grabbing, or counter skirmishing. The post-combat movement abilities from Bloodtoofs also allow for re-establishing screens or locking up units safely.
Warchantas are a must in any IJ list, as they can pass out solid damage bonuses to units about to be in combat, give out charge bonuses, and even heal a key couple of wounds. They have a surprising amount of beef for small characters, and receiving their own buffs can dish it right back.
The last inclusion in the list was shootas, an easy inclusion to give me some cheap screens. Shootas in 20 man squads can be strung out to prevent enemy outflank or deep strike, and the nets, positioned well, can punish an opponent for under-committing resources to remove them or what they are near.
All in all, the list was tailored with so much mobility and relatively low drops to force an opponent to play defensively. This works out either way for us, as the number of hard to remove wounds makes sure they stay in their deployment zone while we grind down their units. Every unit in the army punches up, able to drag down more costly targets, with the post combat mobility to shift our positions, removing the need to choose between damage and objectives.
All in all, the list performed well. The meta we had until the GHB transition had a lot of lists with hard DPS checks, and this list put out enough damage to meet that need and then some.
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Gavespawn – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired,Indomitable
Leaders Beastlord (95)* – Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm
Battleline 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 6 x Dragon Ogors (290)*** – 2x Paired Ancient Weapons – 4x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 1 3 x Dragon Ogors (145)*** – 1x Paired Ancient Weapons – 2x Draconic War glaives
Units 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)** 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)* 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)*** – Reinforced x 1
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480) – Allies
It’s the ‘other’ BoC list from LVO! As you can see, it damn near went as far as Noah’s, losing only to Scooter’s incredibly well piloted IJ list.
It’s a relatively normal archetype – with the usual 3 HQs for their wide variety of utility – the Dragon Ogor Shaggoth especially proving critical due to his incredible warscroll spell (heal d3 to a Dragon Ogor and give them re-roll wounds) and the Dragon Ogor scroll allowing re-rolls of 1s while near him.
A mix of Ungors for super cheap and speedy (+3″ thanks to the Bray Shama) trading pieces (once the rend starts stacking) and the more out-of-the-box Dragon Ogors make up the battleline – offering speed, punch, and plenty of board control.
Beyond that, it’s basically ‘the spindog’ syndrome. 6 Enlightened on Discs also provide an absolute missile – if you read any of these, you know by now they’re an absolute staple of BoC lists.
The body count, speed, and Spinedog allow Rigolet to care less about dictating first, and so he packs in bounty hunters plus a warlord for additional utility. A savage list that will operate very differently (and be like, double the cost) with the new book – but there you have it!
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Reikenor the Grimhailer (190)* – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist Krulghast Cruciator (150)* Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (150)* – General – Command Trait: Spiteful Spirit – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Battleline 5 x Hexwraiths (170)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)* 10 x Chainrasps (110)* 10 x Chainrasps (110)*
Units 10 x Craventhrone Guard (180)* – Reinforced x 1
Nate Trentanelli: The list began as a bit of a joke to include two famously “bad” units in the Black Coach and the Craventhrone Guard- or “Crossboos” as they’ve come to be known by. I decided that I couldn’t possibly take Top Nighthaunt in the ITC this season without ever having actually played these units. Not wanting to have no chance during games, I peppered in some more useful units in the Hexwraiths and the Krulghast- staples of Nighthaunt armies.
I’ve gone for an Arcane Tome Knight of Shrouds here for one reason. With his Command Trait “Spiteful Spirit”, when he takes damage in the Combat phase he will roll a number of dice equal to his wounds characteristic and do a mortal wound to all enemy units within 6” for each 4+ he rolls. Quite the useful little bomb. To make things even better, Arcane Tome makes him a wizard, allowing him to be moved by Lauchon. Almost guaranteeing a turn 1 charge wherever I want to maximize his chances of doing mortal wounds. Reikenor with his +3 to cast will almost guarantee Lauchon goes off.
Hexwraiths do what hexwraiths do – nearly unmatched speed to pin opponents in their deployment zones. With 4 units of them, I can either overload my opponent turn 1 with all 20, or simply move block them turn after turn. It may lose me all my hexwraiths, but I’ve functionally disallowed my opponent from actually scoring any objective points.
2 units of Chainrasp exist solely for 2 battle tactics. Start them in the underworld and bring them down on a turn. You don’t have a good battle tactic option. Put both in your opponents deployment zone for an easy Barge Through Their Lines with a bonus for 2 GVs. The next turn take Desecrate Their Lands for another Battle Tactic. 2 complete for no effort.
The unit of Craventhrone Guard I also put in the underworld. Though their damage output is poor, it is something Nighthaunt don’t really have access to anywhere else – shooting. Even that small amount of extra damage is noticeable and useful. They are also a great distraction piece, and the Spectral Bolts ability to shoot through terrain is better than it seems. I know, I know. It’s Crossboos. Trust me. They will work.
Last is the Black Coach. It really is the AoS equivalent to a tank. It’s base size makes it terrific at blocking key areas. With the Craventhrone Guard shooting it’s actually quite easy to power it up as well. Allowing you to shoot with the Craventhrone Guard first, slay 5 models from a screen, and fire the Black Coach into the thing you really wanted to shoot for 3D3 mortal wounds. Alternatively, keeping it on its 4+ ward makes it truly crazy at tanking. Keeping it in the Krulghast bubble also gives it -1 damage for even more craziness. It’s shocking how survivable it is.
The Mortalis Terminexus gives you the flexibility to heal your heroes and Black Coach or use it more as I did, which is an aggressive mortal wound bomb. 26” total threat range from casting is great, and it can pump out quite a bit of chip damage.
All together, the armies Battle Traits of Ethereal and Wave of Terror combine to make even the weakest looking unit truly scary. Roll enough 8s on the charge, and even Kragnos will fall to simple chainrasp. The army has 5 different units that do D3 mortals on a 2+ on the charge. Don’t underestimate how much that is. Simple averages tell you that’s about 8 mortal wounds. Which, by the way, you can retreat and do all over again every turn.
Because of the movement of this army- Hexwraiths, Lauchon heroes, Black Coach teleports, and Underworld Reserves – you can be anywhere and everywhere. Movement wins games, and it’s no surprise to me that most of my opponents had issues with catching me. Even if it they were close, you can simply use one unit to block for the rest to move to safety. Keep your units alive until the exact moment your opponent is out of position. And then pounce all at once. Be careful not to allow your opponent to single out units and be careful. You don’t pull your units away from each others support. Aggressive movement with supporting units will win you games.
Happy haunting!
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Subfaction: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Frostlord on Stonehorn (450) – General – Command Traits: Touched by the Everwinter – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Metalcruncher – Spells: Flaming Weapon – Prayers: Pulverising Hailstorm Butcher (140)* – Cleaver – Spells: Molten Entrails Huskard on Stonehorn (400)* – Blood Vulture – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder – Prayers: Keening Gale
Camaron has my thanks (but not quite my sword) for not taking any Ironblasters! What he’s taken instead is loads of big, angry cows! It’s almost a completely pure Beastclaw Raider army – love to see it.
This list essentially asks ‘can you handle 5 cows swamping you’, and the answer was ‘no’ for everyone other than Kaleb’s Tzeentch, who were able to puncture those super tough hides with his sneaky magic MW output.
Enhancement wise – which is where the tactics are in a list like this – you’ve got Metalcruncher on the Frostlord for dealing with tanky 3+ saves, along with Touched by Everwinter to make him into a priest and able to cast the excellent MW AoE ‘Pulverising Hailstorm’. The Huskard gets the Rockmane Elder (-1 to wound in melee).
A pack of Gnoblars act as a cheap add-on screen that still fits into the battle reg – crucial for a pressure list like this – in order to dictate first and almost certainly give it away every time to make an absolutely devastating round of turn 2 charges and a hopeful end-it-there double.
Big gratz to Camaron for losing only in the shadow round to a legendary player and a bad match-up.
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Head Judge – Thomas
Acting as Head Judge at LVO 2023 was a thrilling experience. I should begin by thanking both Front Line Gaming, and Scott Reed, the Head TO, for organizing such an amazing event.
LVO 2023 was the largest Age of Sigmar tournament in the world, by far, and 50% larger than previous LVOs. Whilst being involved in such a large event was a great experience, the logistics of organizing 325 players did throw up some challenges. To start, the release of the Battlescroll with new points one week before the list deadline (and after our rules cut-off) was a bit disruptive. We had to ensure that every player knew that we would be using the new points, and yet we still had quite a few lists submitted with the old points. Equally, we had to ensure that every player knew that we would not be using the new GHB, which was released the day after lists were due (and one week after rules cutoff). Of course, there were still a few players who submitted lists assuming the new GHB (comically enough, there was one player who we could not contact until round 1 to let them know that their Aspect of the Champion and Sharpshooter battalion had to go!).
The rest of the pre-event organization was handled by FLG and Scott, so my preparations beforehand were minimal. But I have been involved with the running of 36 events in the past 18 months and know that quite of bit of prep work is involved.
Due to the large number of players, LVO did not use the standard AoS GT format of 5 rounds. Instead, we used 5 rounds followed by a 3rd day of single elimination rounds for top 8 players. This year, 9 players went 5-0 which required us to run a Shadow Round 6th game for the players in 8th and 9th place to determine which of them would advance to Day 3.
The first five rounds were pretty straight forward from a rules judging point of view. The pack used at LVO, produced by Scott Reed, borrowed from the OTTD Generic Pack, which is something I was heavily involved in creating. Many of the players at LVO already have experience attending events that use the OTTD system, which helped keep rules and scoring questions to a minimum. When tricky questions did arise, I was able to fall back to the aosfaq.com website and team to provide answers.
The pressure as Head Judge only really started during the Shadow Round, which was the first round where we introduced active judging (where a judge watches the entire game and points out rules mistakes before and whilst they are made). Unfortunately, the game was a bit of a one-sided blowout – the choice to use Mighty and Cunning proved problematic when one player had essentially all GV and the other essentially none. Lesson learned! The only rules issue that cropped up was when one of the players declared Desecrate their Lands on a Defensible terrain piece. I had to remind him that you can only control Defensible terrain pieces by garrisoning them – the standard 3” rule does not apply. He was able to declare another terrain piece instead.
Day 3 was where the real excitement as Head Judge began, which entailed three rounds of active judging among the best players in the world. I was fortunate enough that James O’Brien who was a contender, had not made it to day 3, but as an experienced TO and judge was willing to jump in and judge half of the games.
When judging the final 8 of a 325-player event, there is really very little stress. These are fantastic players with a huge amount of experience and, more importantly, great sportsmanship. There was no confrontation to deal with, and all players played with intent at all times, meaning there were no disagreements to intervene with. If anything, I had to prevent players from giving too much benefit to their opponents!
Instead, the rule of table judging was just handling the occasional line-of-sight judging, pointing out often forgotten rules such as you need to jump into a garrison to control it (even the top players didn’t know that rule!) and mostly sitting back and watching some fantastic Warhammer being played. The biggest drama, up until the end of the final game, that is, was during the first round, when one of the games ended in a complete tie. With single elimination, a tie is not an option. It was also not something we had prepared for. Fortunately, the two players were able to agree that under any tie-break rules, there would be a clear winner. Of course, I couldn’t end without talking about that final game. What a game! I could watch both Noah and Scooter play Warhammer all day. Scooter is one of the great personalities to watch, and Noah is a fantastic human being. And their game was so close.
I suppose I should talk about the ending… By the end of the final game, the players had been through 3 days of extensive Warhammer. All with the backdrop of Las Vegas. I think it is fair to say that both players (and Judge) were drained. The game came down to control of an objective. Noah had a chaos spawn on it, Scooter had a goblin shaman. They fought in combat, but neither could kill the other (Scooter made the 4+ ward save to keep his Shaman alive on one wound – much to the crowd’s delight!). It was a great moment!
Of course, the spawn has 5 wounds, and so is worth 2 points on an objective, and the Shaman only has 4 wounds, so it is worth 1. But we were all too exhausted to notice. Noah assumed the Shaman was worth 2. Scooter assumed the spawn was worth 1 and I failed to notice the mistake (oh so easy to assume all heroes in the game are going to be 5 wounds or more!). That meant that they were tied on points, and Scooter won the match on battle tactics scored. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that we caught the mistake – where we had not considered that the Shaman was only 4 wounds (a friend texted me – thank you!). The way both players handled the turnaround in decision is a credit to them both. The level of joy each felt at the other being declared the winner was heartwarming.
The final, and LVO in general, left no doubt that Age of Sigmar has a fantastic community. And I am proud to be part of it.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for Blood in the Snow that took place in the UK on 14th and 15 January. It involved 30 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Melusai Ironscale (115)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Mindrazor – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Morathi-Khaine (680)* The Shadow Queen (680)*
BATTLELINE Witch Aelves (115)* – Hag – Death Pennant Bearer – Hornblower – Paired Sciansá Witch Aelves (115)* – Hag – Death Pennant Bearer – Hornblower – Paired Sciansá Blood Sisters (420)* – Gorgai
BEHEMOTH Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Horrorghast (40)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1965/2000
EDIT: You would think that I – a DoK main – would not get Blood Stalkers and Sisters mixed up – but there’s an interesting case study in assumptions tricking your brain into reading things wrong! To be fair, it doesn’t really change much but either way, my bad – commentary amended accordingly (less Pin-Cushion and more Pins-Needles)
Baz Norman is one of those names you really don’t want to see on your pairings sheet – and he’s ending the old season on another high here with a list that, with the forthcoming points changes and GC rules, is likely dead from here on.
Essentially it’s a riff on the good old fashioned pin-and-cushion list, with two timed-unkillable giant bases in Morathi and Spinedog to back you up while 15 Stab charge in behind them with their huge MW output. I call it, the ‘Pins-and-Needles’ list!
That’s it really. It’s done the business before, it’s done it here again and in the new season this list will be nearly 100 pts dearer and have only the one useful Galley Champ – so hopefully we’ll see DoK lists getting a mix up at least!
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Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Subfaction: Harvestboon – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Warsong Revenant (305)* – General – Command Traits: Spellsinger – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Treesong, Verdant Blessing Celestant-Prime (325)*
BATTLELINE Tree-Revenants (110)* Tree-Revenants (110)* Revenant Seekers (705)** – Revenant Soulwarden – 3 x Seeker Banner Bearer – 3 x Seeker Hornblower Spiterider Lancers (420)** – Spiterider Scion – 2 x Spiterider Standard Bearer – 2 x Spiterider Hornblower
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment **Bounty Hunters
TOTAL POINTS: 1975/2000
Peter Twigg here showing that Sylvaneth are starting to put some deep roots down – and that’s before their forthcoming points cuts.
It’s a nasty list – tripling down on Revenant Seekers, those bastards tricky flying cavalry who can feel nigh on indestructible by dint of healing up after they kill something and their ability to bring a model back by themselves – including one of their own. They’re backed up by Lancers – the less tanky but killier ones, all wrapped up in Harvestboon for the pre-game move (for EACH flying-cav unit) of 12″. The threat projection is obvious – you’re likely to start turn 1 swatting more bugs than you’d find at an al fresco jam tasting in August.
Then, just to make your life truly miserable, there’s a Celestant Prime.
The list has the speed to take down tanky targets like SCE and Slaves in the first two games, and also has the recursion and mobility to deal with DoK, losing only to Baz. Another list that may suffer in the new season due to lack of scoring GCs but honestly, when you can just pin and kill everything in the first battle-round, does it matter?
Leaders Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)** – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Command Trait: Mighty Waaagh! Leader – Artefact: Destroyer – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Orruk Warchanter (115)** – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat Orruk Warchanter – Bonded (115)** Orruk Warchanter – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Battleline 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)** – 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)* – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)* – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)
Points: 1,955/2,000
Elite in that special Orc way, Mawcrusha with 3 Warchanters for lots of Violent Fury (+1 damage), 12 pigs and a token 5 Ardboyz. And the Krondspine. It produces a quadruple threat, all hammers list that can be all Alpha strike but has some potential to play for a double if you hold it back until Turn 2/3. The change to -2 Rend boosted Goregruntas a lot and blocks of 6 can remove most threats in a turn. Even better they will usually (being 30 wounds) tie up whatever they charged for a 2nd round where the unreinforced unit can be taken out in 1 turn. This is a multi drop army (2 artefacts) so it probably isn’t going to get first turn unless their opponent thinks they can delay outside of 25”+, the threat range of the Goregruntas with Mighty Destroyers and Get ‘em beat.
But wait there’s more – Get ‘em beat on a Goregrunta unit with the Green Hand of Gork is a very good sniping tactic. You drop outside of 9” (no redeploy) with a 3D6 charge or better than 50% chance of making the charge. Then there’s the Krondspine, a handy addition to Ironjawz who are lagging a little in the win rate. Quadrulple threats with the potential to remove units quickly and restrict your scoring. But at the same time if the opponent is too mobile or spreads then other army lacks the units to pursue. If they Orks get to dictate play you are in trouble but they are vulnerable to mortal wounds (or spells really) and archers. And with so few units it’s hard to score Battle Tactics. High risk high reward list for a High risk high reward army – very orkish.
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Allegiance: Slaanesh – Host: Lurid Haze Invaders Host (Host of Chaos) – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders The Contorted Epitome (245)* – General – Command Trait: Feverish Anticipation – Artefact: Oil of Exultation – Lore of Slaanesh: Hysterical Frenzy Sigvald, Prince of Slaanesh (205)* Glutos Orscollion, Lord of Gluttony (440)* – Lore of Pain and Pleasure: Battle Rapture
Battleline 22 x Blissbarb Archers (280)** – Reinforced x 1 22 x Blissbarb Archers (280)** – Reinforced x 1 5 x Hellstriders with Hellscourges (135)*
Units 5 x Blissbarb Seekers (220)* 5 x Centigors (85)* 5 x Centigors (85)*
Endless Spells & Invocations The Burning Head (20)
Peter published these meta stats earlier this week, and according to it the Hedonites are…. *searches through list*… sleeping in. Apparently they are sick in bed with a terrible case of old book-itis, and would prefer not to have to have their names added to anything, thankyouverymuch.
In reality, Slaanesh is in a tough spot right now. They are stuck with Hero-hammer being the best way to field their most effective units while dealing with a GHB that rewards armies with good troops. They want to kill their opponents, but if they do it too well they break their own summoning mechanic. They want to get their heroes stuck in, but on a good day Sigvald is still going to fold under the weight of a decent opponent (there is only so much a 3+ save and 4+ ward can do when you’re starting out with 6 wounds).
All that said, what this list seems to want is to place as many threats on the board in as many places as possible. Blissbarb archers aren’t going to stand up to dedicated fire, but are fast enough to place bodies where you need them, potentially stealing an objective right out from under their opponent. The Seekers, Hellstriders, and Centigors are also present to make use of those relatively fast movement speeds to tie up and harass their opponents. The heroes waver between support (Glutos) and damage (Sigvald), both of which can very effectively support the other.
I expect once the new GHB is released and adopted by more tournaments we will see drastically different list-building styles from Hedonites. Whether those modified lists will see top 3s remains to be seen.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the SoCal Masters Grand Tournament that took place in Texas, USA on 7th and 8th January. It involved 10 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Beasts of Chaos – Army Subfaction: Allherd – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)** – Spells: Hailstorm, Sundering Blades 1 x Tzaangor Shaman (135)** – General – Command Traits: Dominator – Artefacts: Blade of the Desecrator – Spells: Vicious Stranglethorns, Wild Rampage 1 x Grashrak Fellhoof (150)** – Spells: Savage Dominion, Wild Rampage
BATTLELINE 10 x Ungors (65)*** – Brayhorn – Banner Bearer – Ungor Blade and Half-shield 10 x Ungors (65)*** – Banner Bearer – Brayhorn – Ungor Blade and Half-shield 30 x Tzaangors (525)*** – Twistbray – 2 x Icon Bearer – 2 x Brayhorn Blower – 4 x Tzaangor Mutant
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Wildfire Taurus (70) 1 x Ravening Direflock (30)
OTHER 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (360)* 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (360)* 1 x Tuskgor Chariots (65)* 5 x Grashrak’s Despoilers (150)**
Danny: Beasts of Chaos are finally running scared….of their new book. Because it contains at least the possibility of them being balanced.
In the meantime, you have something like this. In case you’re unfamiliar with how BoC work, let’s just say they do everything, with loads of bodies that punch above their weight (thanks to the Herdstone which gives rend that stacks by battle round and a 4+ rally emanating in an increasingly large aura by battle round) coming in from board edges when you least want them to.
For those who are experienced in such matters, let’s look to the innovations in this list. Well, it takes Grashrak Fellhoof and his merry band of Despoilers for a spin, on loan from Underworlds – who allows Brayherd units (i.e. most of the stuff in the list) to get…+3 to their movement…and a tasty spell for d3 mortals and +1 to hit for all units into that target. In true BoC fashion, that would probably be good value enough on its own but the 5 Despoilers in tow act as a bodyguard/ablative wounds too.
Beyond the usual ‘borrowing’ of the best stuff from the new Tzeentch book, the list also includes a token Tuskgor chariot. You don’t see those every day! But for 65 pts it’s a 10″ move, 6 wound on a 4+ piece with minor chip damage – but it’s 65 pts and moves 10″, who cares what else it does. The things BoC have access to for under 75 pts never ceases to amaze me.
Wishlist from the new book: change everything. Yes the models are old and ugly but their rules don’t need to match.
Of course – kudos to the general, as no army can win without skill. And there’s a lot to remember with BoC.
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Gregory Brewer 3/0/2
Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Subfaction: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90) – Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480)* – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un – Spells: Bash ’Em Ladz – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Orruk Warchanter (115)* Orruk Warchanter (115)*
Brett: Two things Ironjawz don’t love; huge screens (that they don’t clear on the first attempt) and lots of rend. Beasts bring both. Greg bounced back from a first round loss to the eventual winner before losing again in the 4th round to Kruleboyz (KB). Mortal wounds can be an issue for Ironjawz and 21 Boltboyz in 2 x 9 and a 3 man create some problems. Greg’s tried to increase damage output by taking Bash ’em ladz (+1 to wound rolls) but it’s not reliable with the high casting value. This list trys uses the Mawcrusha and 6 Goregruntas as the dynamic damage combination with the Krondspine as a 3rd threat/pining piece. Unfortunately, screens and MW shooting is a tough ask for a melee army. With poisons and MW those Boltboyz are removing a pig or two with Unleash Hell.
Other than his 2 losses though Ironjawz punished his opponents. Krondspine works great in the list either pining something important or distracting attacks from the Mawcrusha. 6 Gore gruntas have likewise proven to be a good foil to the Mawcrusha either supporting a push on one flank or allowing board wide pressure. Teleporting ardboyz is another effective distraction opportunity. Everyone knows the alpha strike but the inclusion of Krondspine and the larger Goregrunta unit give more subtlety and give options. It’s a matter of choice whether you take the Shaman for the teleport or not, it’s a very effective distraction/scoring mechanism.
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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hallowed Knights (Scions of the Storm) – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Gardus Steel Soul (150)* Lord-Castellant (155)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Spell: Celestial Blades
Battleline 5 x Vanquishers (110)* 5 x Vanquishers (110)* 5 x Vanquishers (110)*
Units 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)** – Drakerider’s Warblade – Reinforced x 1 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)** – Drakerider’s Warblade – Reinforced x 1
Brett: If there is one thing Stormcast have in spades, other than dragons, it’s Battleline units. Vanquishers are seeing some more use but usually a single unit, taking 3 is a bit of a risk but worth it if there are horde armies around. Drop one onto an unprotected objective and even if your opponent removes them they will attack on death, they have the Thunderstrike keyword as well give their Blaze of Glory an extra dice. Easier to shift with only a 4+ but damaging to deal with. No holy command is shown but if it was Call to Aid (likely) then that dead unit is going to return (only once per battle). Otherwise we have Gardus for a 5+ ward within 12″ and the Lord Castellant (who we’ll probably be seeing even more often as a Galletian Champion). Generally he’d put both buffs (+1 to save and +1 to wound) on a unit before it was sent into harms way.
Still there are issues, the Drakes have a lot of wounds but are hard to give cover from shooting, they can easily get out of buff range, redeploy can ruin charges and with high rend they will wilt. Evan recovered from 2 losses in the opening rounds, losing to a SCE list with a lot of shooting and Krondys (with Thudershock to wreck those charges and leave you exposed to the shooting). The second loss was to Maggotkin, damage output is a continuing issue for SCE and you don’t really want to be near them very long or the mortals pile up. Solid mobile list very reflective of where SCE is right now.
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Army Faction: Fyreslayers – Subfaction: Lofnir – Grand Strategy: Masters of the Forge – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Auric Runemaster (125)* – General – Command Traits: Avatar of Vulcatrix – Artefacts of Power: Volatile Brazier – Prayers: Heal Auric Runesmiter (135)* – Runic Iron – Prayers: Prayer Of Ash Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290)*
BATTLELINE Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Mount Traits: Coal-heart Ancient Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Mount Traits: Flame-scale Youngblood Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Mount Traits: Lava-tongue Adult Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (170)* – Karl – Hornblower of Grimnir Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (170)* – Karl – Hornblower of Grimnir
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Runic Fyrewall (40) 1 x Horrorghast (40) 1 x Molten Infernoth (40)
TERRAIN 1 x Magmic Battleforge (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1970/2000
Alice: There’s really only two ways to build Fyreslayers: Berzerker spam and Magmadroth Spam, but it comes with the territory of having a limited number of models.
That said…this one is interesting. Lofnir lets you bring Magmadroths as battleline, and juices them up to boot with extra wounds and mount traits. They’re a solid work horse monster that can do some solid damage output and horde clearing, a task Fyreslayers frequently struggle with. The Runesmiter and Runemaster support the army with powerful prayers, including the important Infernoth for Mortal Wound output and the Fyrewall to protect important units and objectives. Also key, the Runesmiter can tunnel a Magmadroth in 9″ away from the enemy, with bonuses to charge thanks to a supercharged rune granted through the army’s Heroic Action.
The Celestial Hurricanum is an interesting ally, it helps cover two of the Fyreslayer’s biggest weaknesses: Lack of Wizards and Ranged Mortal Wounds. A solid choice for artillery support. Rounding it off it can cast the Horrorghast, a powerful way to clear out a few extra models from large hordes by blocking Inspiring Presence.
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.
Ironjawz
Region Comparison – Popularity
Ironjawz saw their highest popularity in Scandinavia with 5.3% of players choosing the faction for tournament play, while at the opposite end of the world the uptake was only 3.3% in Oceania.
Region Comparison – Win Rates
Their popularity in Scandinavia didn’t transfer to their regional win rates where they only managed 42.3%%. While players in Oceania, where the faction was not as successful, managed 51.3%%.
The UK & Ireland and Scandinavia were the only locations of any 5-0 results, with the rest of the globe maxing out on 4 wins.
Subfaction Analysis
Subfaction
Players
Win Rate
Bloodtoofs
114
48.86%
Ironsunz
39
46.35%
Da Choppas
18
39.67%
None/Unknown
15
47.97%
Faction Total
186
47.35%
Bloodtoofs were the most successful faction with a win rate of 48.9%, and also the most popular with the majority of players flocking to the subfaction.
Top 10 Ironjawz 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 Ironjawz results only.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for DaBoyz GT 2022 that took place in Texas, USA on 19th and 23th November. It involved 66 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: Gavespawn – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)*** – Artefact: Tanglehorn Familiars – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)*** – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage Great Bray-Shaman (100)*** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Savage Dominion Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210) – Axe – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Allies
Battleline 30 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (525)** – 6x Pair of Savage Blade – 12x Savage Greatblade – 12x Savage Blade & Arcanite Shield – Reinforced x 2 10 x Gors (70)** – Gor-Blades & Beastshields 10 x Gors (70)*** – Gor-Blades & Beastshields
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1
Danny: BoC stands for ‘Best of Chaos’ right now. The book as it stands is kluged, retro-fitted and duct-taped together, in a failed attempt to keep its leathery, behooved insides from spilling out all over the winners podium. Peek inside and you’ll find a sludgey morass of keywords, a bunch of new rules sellotaped in and the ability to use the new versions of some other chaos scrolls and the ‘old’ (well, in between…) versions of other stuff like blood-slick ground Khorne Daemon Prince to halve charges/run rolls.
GW are onto a good thing with 3e books and I’m sure the new BoC book will sort this mess out – because it turns out ‘keep the points the same, but give everything +2 rend and a 4+ rally, along with use of the best melee warscrolls from the new Tzeentch book’ kinda makes for a good army – despite the recent points ‘hikes’.
This list takes the usual stuff – a Shaggoth for cheap casting and a platform for the ‘tanglehorn Familiars’ which literally just stops an enemy wizard within 12″ from casting…anything… and access to the Hailstorm spell to halve the move/run/charge rolls of an enemy unit within 21″. Bet you didn’t realise even their lore was broken.
2x 6 Enlightened on Discs on loan from the shiny new Tzeentch portal because apparently everything with a beak and hooves has to stick together? A giant blob of 30 Tzaangors on hoof form a big, buffable blob and summons in god knows what else at a rate of knots.
Nothing in this game is an auto-win and it’s entirely possible to rupture your hamstrings while leaning over a table to push this many models around so congrats to Jiwan for staying standing and getting the 5-0.
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Army Subfaction: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90) – Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork, Foot of Gork 1 x Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480)** – General – Command Traits: Touched By The Waaagh! – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un – Spells: Bash ’Em Ladz, Flaming Weapon – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur 1 x Orruk Warchanter (115)** 1 x Orruk Warchanter (115)**
BATTLELINE 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka
Edit: We’ve edited the below and removed the reference to the Krondspine being a source of 3d6 charges. Danny was thinking of Kragnos at the time…. he really wants one….
Danny: Ironjawz have definitely struggled this season, due to a one dimensional playstyle and, frankly, their book having been seriously powercrept. However, they can still pile on a whole load of pressure and if you’re not prepared for it, they can start a chain reaction of activations that can end games fast if you can’t tank it.
One of their weaknesses is getting into position – something the Spinedog obviously helps with. The fact it can lock down multiple units also potentially allows the gore-gruntas to choose more favourable engagements and gives them something to chuck into targets that would ordinarily blunt their charges, or of course preventing scary stuff cleaning up the pigs that IJ rely on to do everything.
You don’t have a huge degree of flexibility in a pig-heavy list (which is all IJ can realistically field in this Season) so let’s look at the Maw-krusha, the one thing with tactical choices. Brian has opted for Touched by the Waagh and Arcane Tome combo, giving him the ability to do d3 MWs to a nearby unit (enemy or friendly) and get the same value as a bonus to cast – in this case the +1 to wound spell and flaming weapon (thanks to the magnificent from command entourage) for extra damage when necessary. Of course with Spinedog bonded, he can potentially be up to a +4 to cast!
Spinedog occupies a weird niche atm and may still be controversial, but if it has a home in any army it’s Orruks atm, thematically and in terms of shoring up their weaknesses. And going 5-0 with IJ these days is definitely an accomplishment. It would be great if they didn’t have to rely on the Spinedog to do it, but in the meantime – big gratz to Brian!
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Army Faction: Kharadron Overlords – Subfaction: Barak-Zilfin – Grand Strategy: Spend Shares to Make Shares – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Aether-Khemist (90)* – General – Command Traits: Collector – Artefacts of Power: Staff of Ocular Optimisation Arkanaut Admiral (125)* Aetheric Navigator (85)* Aether-Khemist (90)** – Artefacts of Power: Spell in a Bottle
BATTLELINE Arkanaut Company (90)* Arkanaut Company (90)* Arkanaut Company (90)**
BEHEMOTH Arkanaut Ironclad (490)* – Great Volley Cannon – Great Endrinworks: The Last Word Arkanaut Ironclad (490)** – Great Sky Cannon – Great Endrinworks: Zonbarcorp ‘Dealbreaker’ Battle Ram
OTHER Grundstok Thunderers (270)**
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
Randal: Carl is at it again with another strong Kharadron Overlords list. This one tosses Gotrek to the side in favor of taking a second Ironclad. Also gone is the Flare-Pistol, a casualty of being a double Battle Regiment, but the list gains a Volley Cannon and two very important Great Endrinworks in the Zonbarcorp ‘Dealbreaker’ Battle Ram and The Last Word.
These two powerful mount traits add a level of resiliency to big wiffs from the dice, allowing the two boats to claw back into a game when something goes wrong. The Last Word allows the powerful Volley Cannon to fire at the end of the opponent’s Charge Phase if a unit ends their charge within 3” of that Ironclad making a scary Unleash Hell absolutely devastating, especially to big chaff units. The Ram, roll dice equal to the charge roll with mortal wounds on a 4+, serves as a risky backup plan if a shooting phase does not go well to finish off a unit giving the army a small amount of mortal wounds which the army overwise lacks.
This list is less of an alpha-strike list as his previous list was and more of a control and positioning army. It wants to play cagey, determining when and where engagements happen, and controlling the flow of the game. The big downside is that it is still weak to mortal wounds and has almost no mortal wound output itself. It is still a solid list but is going to require an experienced and knowledgeable pilot as mistakes are going to be harshly punished.
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Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz – Option: Gloomspite Gitz – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs:
Leaders Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig (110)* – General – Moon-cutta – Command Trait: The Clammy Hand Madcap Shaman (80)* – Artefact: Moonface Mommet – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork Kragnos, The End of Empires (720)*
Battleline 20 x Shootas (120)* 20 x Shootas (120)* 36 x Squig Herd (420)** – Reinforced x 2 24 x Squig Herd (280)** – Reinforced x 1
Units 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (75)* 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (75)*
Declan: 4-1… with Gitz. Well done to Anthony for a cracking result. Obviously the key to the army is Kragnos for his ability to charge most monsters off the board, give 3D6 charges to the squig herd (and himself) and generally cause a distraction. But the tech here is the Squig Herds and Sneaky Snufflers. With Expert Conquerors they each count as 3 on objectives (that’s 108 for the full 36 herd). They also rally on a 4+ so that’s where a lot of command points are going.
Then add in the Snufflers for +1 attack for each squig and they are not just an anvil with loads of wounds – they can be a hammer too. I was surprised that they (squig herd) went down in points in November, but definitely worth taking now!
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the South Coast Series Southampton that took place in the UK on 22nd and 23rd October. It involved 23 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: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hallowed Knights (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Gardus Steel Soul (150)* Knight-Draconis (300)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Thunderous Presence – Spell: Thundershock – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate
Battleline 5 x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1x Grandweapons 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)* – Drakerider’s Lance – Reinforced x 1 2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)* – Drakerider’s Lance
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)* – Allies
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Additional Enhancements Holy Command: Call for Aid
Brett: Almost all of the dragons list with a Krondspine. Mobility and some decent punch, I like how Matt has dangled the MSU Liberators there just so you can kill something easily. That he can summon on to an objective or block a point with Call for Aid (return the Liberators once slain). Gardus for his 5+ ward, most likely near the 4 Stormdrakes, Knight Draconis so the Drakes are battle line. Hallowed Knights giving a 50/50 fight on death. This list can control a lot of the board, a 4 man drake unit can span 20″. The drakes can move 12″ and shoot 12″ making first turn priority important. He can dangle the Krondspine as a target and engage at will. The Knight Draconis is likely to stay close to the big drake unit as well for Thundershock to control the charge phase.
Depending on match up and mission going first might even be an advantage with this list, Blaze of Glory and fight on death is going to punish any successful attacks on the drakes. As the only 5/0 and with really high scores Matt tabled a number of his opponents. And that’s what this list really needs to do, in the early turns remove as many hammers as possible then clean up. The drake’s 9 wounds and profile make them very hard to shift. For opponents, what do you go after? None of his opponents had a lot of shooting or ranged shooting with MWs, the first list with drakes had pairs matching into the 4 drake unit. Hint – that doesn’t work well even with teleports.
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Dismantle the Brave – Triumphs:
Leaders Krulghast Cruciator (150)** – General – Command Trait: Cloaked in Shadow – Artefact: Beacon of Nagashizzar Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (340)** – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Spirit Torment (115)** – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon
Battleline 10 x Chainrasps (110)*** 10 x Chainrasps (110)*** 5 x Hexwraiths (160) 5 x Hexwraiths (160) 5 x Hexwraiths (160) 10 x Grimghast Reapers (160)* 10 x Grimghast Reapers (160)* 10 x Grimghast Reapers (160)* 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)***
Brett: Nice to see Emerald Host back (and not Scarlet Doom) which means a few changes to the unit list. Emerald host slowly withers the opponent. This list plays into that, lots of units which take longer to clear (big hitting units don’t carry over their damage as far). Then Lady Olynder can once per battle brings back D6 models in every unit (they are all summonable). The Beacon also returns 1 model to each summonable unit (all of these). That will let the army stick around longer and score more. Mortalis Terminexus plays really well into this strategy as well (either heal or mortal wounds). There is still the Spirit Torment to help a unit that is being pressured and Krulghast for the damage debuff.
It’s great to see something different from Nighthaunt. Lots of options here with great speed from the Hexwraiths. It’s weakness is probably into something durable that does a lot of damage or the first round list he ran into. It would have removed a minimum of 2 units a turn and the Grimghasts are good, but not likely to kill Fulminators. Lady Olynder is vulnerable to long range shooting as well.
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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Army Subfaction: Petrifex Elite – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Arkhan the Black (340)** – Spells: Protection of Nagash 1 x Liege-Kavalos (170)** – General – Command Traits: Mighty Archaeossian – Artefacts: Godbone Armour
BATTLELINE 20 x Mortek Guard (280)* – Mortek Hekatos – 2 x Necrophoros – Nadirite Blade and Shield 20 x Mortek Guard (280)* – Mortek Hekatos – 2 x Necrophoros – Nadirite Blade and Shield 20 x Mortek Guard (280)* – Necrophoros – Mortek Hekatos – Nadirite Blade and Shield 5 x Kavalos Deathriders (190)** – Mortek Hekatos – Necrophoros – Nadirite Spear and Shield
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Nightmare Predator (60)
TERRAIN 1 x Bone-tithe Nexus (0)
OTHER 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (175)** – Dread Falchions 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (175)** – Dread Falchions
Brett: Arkhan and 3 x 20 blocks of Mortek. Need to say more? They aren’t going to go far but you aren’t going to shift them either. Deathriders and Necropolis Stalkers give a little more manoeuvrable but this is an army that is going to spread out slowly and dare you to charge. And that works (see Ironjawz above). Beasts of Chaos overwhelmed them through a combination of strong rend and bodies (including summoning). The first round draw is more interesting, the Tzeentch list is essentially Horrors and Flamers, hard to kill and a lot of shooting. But they’d have to come into range (charges) and it had less bodies than this list. The ability to control more of the board and force your opponent into an unfavourable match up is the way this list grinds out wins.
Brett: Not a particularly techy list, Ironjawz with a Mawcrusha and Rogue Idol, 2 Warchanters and a mix of 12 gore-gruntas and ardboyz. In true orcish style, it either went off like a frog in a sock or didn’t quite get over the bar. Ironjawz struggle against armies that can bury them or screen them with cheap bodies, the pigs damage isn’t as prodigious as you might like. If you can feed screens to the Mawcrusha and Idol and pepper them with MWs as both of the Chaos lists did here you have a good chance. Still not an easy list to play against, particularly with how quickly the Idol can reach you, priority is key here. With only one Mawcrusha Matt hasn’t had to worry about giving himself another artefact. Interesting way Matt’s mixed tanky (Hulking Brute) and damage (Mean ‘Un) on the Mawcrusha.
This is still a solid Orruk list that can take a tournament (or close to) depending on the day and opponents.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Northern Invasion Grand Tournament that took place in Scotland on 1st and 2nd October. It involved 45 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: Seraphon – Constellation: Fangs of Sotek – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Lord Kroak (430)* Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140) – Artefact: Serpent God Dagger Skink Starpriest (130)* – Spell: Hand of Glory Slann Starmaster (265)* – General – Command Trait: Arcane Might – Artefact: Itxi Grubs – Spell: Stellar Tempest
Battleline 30 x Skinks (225)** – Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers – Reinforced x 2 10 x Skinks (75)** – Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (75)** – Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 5 x Saurus Guard (115)*
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400) – Allies
Endless Spells & Invocations Horrorghast (40) Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (60) The Burning Head (20)
Comments: Fangs of Sotek with both Kroak and Krondspine headlining a lot of Skinks. No Bastilidons or Engine of the Gods, the only Behemoth is the Krondspine. No Purple Sun either but a pair of Mortal Wound endless spells with Ravenak’s and Burning Head combined with Horrorghast. The intention is pretty clear, send in the Horrorghast then follow up with Ravenak’s and maybe the Burning Head before Kroak rains MWs on you. This list is able to bring decent damage, especially from Kroak, Krondspine and the big unit of Skinks, which on top of the MWs and Horrorghast will cause battleshock issues. Countering that play is difficult, particularly with the summoning, but trying to stay back early may be the play. Kroak’s spells aren’t range limited and you need to avoid Unleash Hell from the 30 Skink block.
His opponents for the most part are reasonably slow and very exposed to Ravenak’s as a result. Combined with the Skink double shoot and Kroak turning off magic these were hard games for his opponents. It will be interesting to see what, if any, impact the new Tzeentch, Behemat and Lumineth tomes have on this type of list.
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Spirit Torment (115)*** Guardian of Souls (150)*** – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Spirit Torment (115)*** Krulghast Cruciator (150)*** – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist
Battleline 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)** 5 x Hexwraiths (160)* 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (175)** 10 x Chainrasps (110)**
Units 4 x Myrmourn Banshees (105)***
Endless Spells & Invocations Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
Comments: Scarlet Doom continues to be the top choice in Nighthaunt and this list doesn’t deviate too much from the normal inclusions. 2 x Spirit Torments, Guardian and Krulghast with Spirit Hosts as bodyguards. Otherwise Bladegheist (the soul of a Scarlet Doom army), Hexwraiths for mobile pressure and scoring with some Chainrasps as either screens of for screens/objectives. Banshees to provide counter spell (endless spell anyway) and the Purple Sun. Stand outs are probably Master of Magic (great choice) and the use of both of the new battalions. Turn priority isn’t critical for Nighthaunt with their speed, ignore rend and ward saves, the potential double on 2/3 is very strong for them, they often lose models slowly and regrow them. Most lists would run a 20 and a 30 Bladegheist unit with this number (50) available).
2 large units of Bladegheist are going to delete a lot of threats, they can each be backed Spirit Torments for some returned models. The list isn’t tied to 1 big death ball, it can effectively operate on 2 fronts. Expert Conquerors is a great choice, the units are relatively cheap so they can be traded and MSU batteline may not destroy them in one turn. Spectral Lure (Guardian of Souls) has a 24″ range, it’s possible to return models from a decent distance. The only match up he lost to is Kharadon, their boats can escape combat and with their shooting it’s a very tough fight for Nighthaunt.
Leaders Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)* – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Command Trait: Heroic Stature – Artefact: Armour of Gork – Mount Trait: Smelly ‘Un Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90) – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Battleline 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)* – 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers – 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers
Comments: A variation on the double Mawcrusha style with a Rogue Idol in place of the 2nd Mawcrusha. Warlord has been used to give the Shaman and extra spell and the MegaBoss on Mawcrusha is super tanky (Armour of Gork, Heroic Stature and Smelly ‘Un). Smelly ‘Un only applies if you haven’t charged, and that suggests how this list plays. The 2 x 6 Gore Grunta units and the Rogue idol are the aggressive elements, the Mawcrusha is going to be held back until it has to be committed. On the other hand the Rogue is going to charge as much as possible for that +1 to hit. If the Warchanter gives it the Get ’em beat it’s threat range is massive.
The list is the first of the 4/1s only struggling with Soulblight Gravelords. That’s expected because they operate in different ways, with SBGL getting stronger as time goes on and they can summon/return units while the Orruks lose strength particularly from Turn 3 onwards as units succumb. The secret to beating them is to out last them. Is it time for a new model for Ironjawz? If there was what should it be?
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Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs:
Leaders Knights of the Empty Throne Varanguard x 6 (560)** – General – Daemonforged Blade and Warpsteel Shield – Command Trait: Inescapable Doom – Artefact: Grasping Plate – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Knights of the Empty Throne Varanguard x 6 (560)* – Daemonforged Blade and Warpsteel Shield – Artefact: Corrupted Nullstone – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spell: Mask of Darkness Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spell: Mask of Darkness
Battleline 8 x Iron Golems (75)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 8 x Iron Golems (75)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 8 x Iron Golems (75)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 8 x Iron Golems (75)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
Units 6 x Furies (95)**
Behemoths Chaos Warshrine (215)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Prayer1: Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal
Comments: In 4th and another 4/1 result it’s Knights of the Empty Throne with max Varanguard and Iron Golems. Everything has Mark of Tzeentch because it’s probably the best in the current spell meta. Combat heroes (6 Varanguard) and 2 casting heroes with a team of mortal screens (Iron Golems) and the warshrine. Mask of Darkness for teleporting madness. The Varanguard are going to be applying pressure and stamping out threats, they don’t do as much damage as Fulminators (average damage is 18 before saves + 3 MWs). Iron Golems are a very annoying screen/objective unit. With the 7 x 1 wound and a 3 wound model, there is a very good chance you want clear it 1 turn unless you commit. And the Warshrine can then heal it forcing you to fight a them in 2 turns.
Again the only loss was to a faction that directly counters this list, long range shooting with mortals being a great counter. The unit of Varanguard with the grasping plate is able to pile in 6″, remember that if you have ranged attacks because they don’t need to trigger Unleash Hell. That’s probably the biggest trick, otherwise this a straightforward list.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Notorious GT II that took place in New Zealand on 8th and 9th 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.
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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
Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Subfaction: Pyrofane Cult – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
LEADERS Lord of Change (400)* – General – Shrouded in Unnatural Flame – Chainfire Amulet – Lore of Change: Tzeentch’s Firestorm Changecaster, Herald of Tzeentch (140)* – Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch Fatemaster (145)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion
Comments: Lord of Change (LoC) along with a Krondspine makes a lot of sense in the current meta. The Krondspine provides melee threat to anchor the centre of the board, while the Lord of Change (and Skyfires) provide mortals wounds at range. Host Arcanum is becoming more common than Pyrofane Cult but Pyro buffs Kairic Acolytes, in particular their ranged attacks (+1 hit and one unit re-rolling their wound rolls). Split between Bounty Hunters and Expert Conquerors these mortals are putting in a lot of work. Umbral Spell Portal and Chronomatic Cogs are the usual endless spells, the portal is very effective at extending the Lord of Change’s reach. The Ungors can be used as the screening unit, and the Skyfires the third hammer. They probably benefit most from the Ungors as a screen in the early turns.
The LoC has the mandatory Trait and Artefact (soon to change with the new book), while Arcane Tome is on the Fatemaster to create the 3rd wizard. James was lucky (?) and faced off against most of the scarier factions, including Seraphon, Daughters and Bonnesplitterz, winning all of them. His last round was against 3rd and is a repeat of a match recently streamed from Nashcon with the same outcome.
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Army Faction: Seraphon – Subfaction: Fangs of Sotek – Grand Strategy: The Astromatrix – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Slann Starmaster (265)* – General – Command Trait: Arcane Might – Spell: Stellar Tempest Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)* – Artefact: Serpent God Dagger Engine of the Gods (265)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Mount Trait: Starborne – Spell: Bind Endless Spell – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse Skunk Starpriest (130)** – Spell: Hand of Glory
Brett: Not a lot to say at this point with Fangs of Sotek and it’s continued success two General’s Handbook’s. This list drops Kroak for the more tame Starmaster and adds in both Krondspine and even more skinks. Do Seraphon really need a Krondspine? Maybe not, but he is a tremendous threat that needs to be dealt with and might get your opponent to leave the double reinforced Skink unit alone. With mulitiple screening 10 strong skink units, that can be teleported and summons guaranteeing a few Battle Tactics. Ravenaks would work well into most of his opponents with a maximum movement of 8″. It appears that he’s taken Warlord to get an extra artefact to take Arcane Tome on the Engine of the Gods and bind that to Krondspine. A good way to avoid it going wild.
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Army Faction: Ironjawz – Subfaction: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: Waaagh – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)* – General – Command Trait: Hulking Brute – Boss Choppa & Rip-tooth Fist – Artefact: Destroyer – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warchant: Get ‘Em Beat Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warchant: Fixin’ Beat – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Spell: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Madcap Shaman (80)* – Allies
Brett: Another familiar list, taking advantage of the 3rd edition Battletome to take as many Gore Gruntas as possible. Mobile and hard hitting, why not? Unusual features here include the weapons on the Pigs (or their riders? – Peter), all have the Pig Iron Choppas. This was common in 2nd edition for the extra attacks,t but in 3rd a combination of coherency and saves made the Gore Hacka’s extra rend the preferred choice. The Mad Cap Shaman has been included (I assume) for his warscroll spell (making one unit -1 to hit from range). On top of this we have a spell casting Warchanter. The last isn’t an uncommon solution (I mean I run it) but I wonder if the Mad Cap would have been better as a Fungoid Cave-Shaman for the CP. A solid list with lots of options, only defeated by the overall winner. 3 big threats moving a minimum of 9″ is a lot to deal with.
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Subfaction: Bloodgullet – Grand Strategy: Tame the Land – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Frostlord on Stonehorn (420) – General – Command Trait: Nice Drop of the Red Stuff – Artefact: Splatter-Cleaver – Mount Trait: Metalcruncher Huskard on Stonehorn (340) – Blood Vulture Kragnos, The End of Empires (720)
BATTLELINE 2x Mournfang Pack (160)* – Culling Clubs or Prey Hackers with Iron Fists 2x Mournfang Pack (160)* – Culling Clubs or Prey Hackers with Iron Fists 2x Mournfang Pack (160)* – Culling Clubs or Prey Hackers with Iron Fists
Brett: The other big boys (Ogors) who’ve seen a resurgence in recent times. This is an extremely mobile list with real potential to make the most of Kragnos’s The End of Empires qbiliry (it’s easy for these units to be wholly within 12″) and the 3D6 charge. An advantage of that longer charge is you can set up charges beyond redeploy range with a good chance of success. The Huskard synergises well with the Mournfang granting additional movement and as Ogors they naturally enjoy some of the benefits of Eternal Conquerors. Ogors have an extra 2″ movement if they are outside 3″ of an enemy when they begin their move and, if they are inside, they do mortal wounds (D3). That’s on top of impact hits.
The key is to stay away, well away, and kill Kragnos from range since they can charge from outside of 12″. Unfortunately the Frostlord and Huskard are only slightly kinder than Kragnos. The only army to do that well against them were Bonesplitterz. They are monster hunters and everything in this list is a monster. The Wurgog is always an issue for a combat army (needs to get within 12″) and the Big Stikka unit is a monster killer. Still ahead of the new book this is a strong performance.
