This is the top three AoS lists for the Goonhammer Open that took place in the USA on the 19th and 20th of August. It involved 15 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
As this event had less than 20 players attending there won’t be any list comments here as the guys will be concentrating on the larger events of the week.
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: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Null Myriad – Grand Strategy: The Scales Balanced – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Mortisan Soulmason (160) – Spells: Merciless Blizzard Arkhan the Black (380)* Liege-Kavalos (180)* – General – Command Traits: Diversionary Tactics Mortisan Boneshaper (140)* – Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key – Spells: Hoarfrost
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Nightmare Predator (40)
TERRAIN 1 x Bone-tithe Nexus (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
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Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Subfaction: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Follow the Path to Glory
LEADERS Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Spells: Hoarfrost Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – Artefacts of Power: Chaos Familiar – Spells: Chaotic Conduit
BATTLELINE Corvus Cabal (80)* Corvus Cabal (80)* Varanguard (580)* – General – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – 6 x Fellspear Varanguard (580)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – 6 x Fellspear Chaos Knights (440)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Doom Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Cursed Lance – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Army Subfaction: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Orruk Warchanter (120) – Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat 1 x Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90) – Spells: Hoarfrost 1 x Megaboss on Maw-krusha (450)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un 1 x Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat 1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (230)*
BATTLELINE 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka 10 x Orruk Brutes (140)* – Brute Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka – 2 x Gore-choppa
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
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Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Filthbringers – Grand Strategy: Control the Nexus
This is the top three AoS lists for Grimnir’s Vengeance that took place in the USA on the 12th and 13th of August. It involved 13 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: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Crematorians – Grand Strategy: Control the Nexus
LEADERS Nagash (900) Arkhan the Black (380)* Mortisan Soulreaper (110)* – General – Command Traits: Diversionary Tactics – Artefacts of Power: Luminscythe – Spells: Merciless Blizzard
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Nightmare Predator (40) 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
CORE BATTALIONS *Ossiarch Cohort
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
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Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Taker Tribe – Grand Strategy: Make the Land Tremble! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Gatebreaker (500)* – Artefacts: Arcane Tome 1 x Warstomper (450)** 1 x Kraken-Eater (480)** – General – Command Traits: Very Acquisitive – Artefacts: Amulet of Destiny, Glowy Shield of Protectiness 1 x Beast-skewer Killbow (Big Grikk’s Kruleshots) (290)***
BATTLELINE 1 x Mancrusher Gargant (140)* 1 x Mancrusher Gargant (140)*
OTHER 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz 1 (Big Grikk’s Kruleshots) (290)*** 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz 2 (Big Grikk’s Kruleshots) (290)***
CORE BATTALIONS: *Footsloggas **Bosses of the Stomp ***Regiment of Renown
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
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Allegiance: Skaven – Grand Strategy: None Chosen – Triumphs:
Battleline 20 x Clanrats (100)* – Rusty Blade – 2x Standard Bearers – 2x Standard Bell Ringers 20 x Clanrats (100) – Rusty Blade – 2x Standard Bearers – 2x Standard Bell Ringers 20 x Clanrats (100) – Rusty Blade – 2x Standard Bearers – 2x Standard Bell Ringers 10 x Plague Censer Bearers (180)*** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Plague Censer Bearers (180)*** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Plague Monks (180)*** – Foetid Blades – Reinforced x 1
Leaders Gordrakk the Fist of Gork (460) Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (450)* – General – Boss Gore-hacka and Choppa – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
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 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Jagged Gore-hackas
This is the top three AoS lists for the South Australia Grand Tournament that took place in Australia on the 20th and 21st of May. It involved 31 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: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: Barak Urbaz – Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies – Triumphs: Inspired
Kharadron Code – Artycle: Settle The Grudges -Additional Artycle From Barak-Urbaz : Honour Is Everything – Amendment: Trust to Your Guns – Footnote: Without Our Ships We Are Naught
Leaders Arkanaut Admiral (125)* – General – Command Trait: Ex-Grundstok – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha Aether-Khemist (80)* – Artefact: Spell in a Bottle Aether-Khemist (80)*
Behemoths Arkanaut Ironclad (500)* – Main Gun: Great Volley Cannon – The Admirals Flagship
Endless Spells & Invocations Spell in a Bottle: Soulscream Bridge (0)
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Total: 2000 / 2000
Today, we have the great Mark Nodge with Kharadron Overlords list who decided to choose violence. And guns, lots of guns… To hell with it, all the guns. In a trial run of the list, he is taking the Age of Sigmar World Teams Tournament representing Team Australia in early June. He blasted his way through SAGT like Michael Bay blasts through a blockbuster movie.
This list features Grundstock Thunderers, thirty-five Grundstock Thunderers, all packing special weapons for that extra sauce. Thunderers have been the go-to unit for Kharadron devastation of late, and this list skews about as hard into them as possible. The upgrades to their range and consistency with the new Battletome combined with the rend buff from the Khemist makes them deadly at eighteen inches and devastating at twelve. Furthermore, they have the ability for them to give a minus one to hit if they fail to kill something, or unleash hell, from suppressing fire, and finally if someone does tag them in combat if they survive, they get to dump up to 3d6 mortal wounds on their attacker. The biggest issue with the unit overall is its slow speed, which Mark has offset with multiple ways of getting them where they need to be. First off, we have the traditional Ironclad, which is an excellent shooting platform in its own right. The ability teleport, and once per game, dump its cargo, making it the precision piece of this equation. Next up, we have a Soulscream bridge in a spell in a bottle attached to a Khemist. This is a unique endless spell that has two massive bases that must be set up within twenty-four inches of the caster, then at the start of the movement phase, a single unit wholly within six inches may teleport. Even though this can only be cast once per game and is easy to dispel, the utility beyond the teleport itself is amazing. The bases are massive, so you can use them to screen pieces or even lane blockers against armies like Gargants.
Lastly, we have a Gunhauler with a very cheeky “Coalbeards Collapsable Compartments” Endrinwork. This rarely seen contraption gives the Gunhauler the Transport Vessel keyword and a six-man capacity. This is perfect for the unit of five Thunderers to roam around in, and when combined with the Gunhaulers unparalleled movement in the army it can go camp out on an objective while still presenting enough of a threat that chaff units cannot easily shift them off.
Overall, this is an outstanding skew list that presents multiple tough units that are a must kill with just enough support redundancy to keep it all afloat. It should dominate the horde based undead that are currently running rampant, such as Soulblight Gravelords and Ossiarch Bonereapers. It might have some difficulty with armies like Beasts of Chaos and Slannesh, who can pressure the heroes outside of combat. I look forward to seeing how Mark does with it at Worlds.
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Allegiance: Skaven – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Verminlord Warbringer (400)*** – General – Command Trait: Devious Adversary – Artefact: Rustcursed Armour – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Thanquol on Boneripper (430)* – 4 Warpfire Projectors – Lore of Ruin: Skitterleap Grey Seer (120)* – Lore of Ruin: Death Frenzy Grey Seer (120)* – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate Warlock Bombardier (110)** – Artefact: Vial of the Fulminator – Lore of Warpvolt Galvanism: More-more-more Warp Power! – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
Battleline 20 x Clanrats (100)* – Rusty Blade 20 x Clanrats (100)** – Rusty Blade 20 x Clanrats (100)** – Rusty Blade
Units 1 x Doomwheel (160)*** 1 x Doomwheel (160)***
Kieren Coates: The list was inspired by IronBlaze – a mad man who has been running doomwheels competitive rain hail or shine.
It’s designed to be a castle buster with still a strong core to finish out the game
Thanquol and verminlord make the base of the list, with thanquol being the key piece into magic dom and horde lists, and the verminlord being the primary physical damage output – if these two pieces are protected over 5 turns they can lift almost any army
Surrounding them to keep them safe is 3 sets of 20 clanrats acting as barriers and forcing the enemy to trade high value units into them, only to have them countered off and the lines rebuilt
For long-range damage, we have two grey seers who can be skitterleaped up the board to drop endless spells before taking gnawholes back.
Further to this, the doomwheels (or better known Zoomwheels) can have their movement doubled by the engineer, combined with 2 sources of death frenzy, levitate and MMWP they become a killing machine with an average movement of 28 inches.
Lob those doomwheels over the top to kill off key pieces that could threaten the life of the warbringer and thanquol, then keep them protected as they lift 2 units per turn and repeat for 5 turns to win the game.
The list is surprisingly concentrated with low health, so it’s best not to get too greedy and take it slow, killing 1-2 units per turn, but staying protected from the enemy counter is a must
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Subfaction: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
LEADERS Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480) – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un – Bash ‘Em Ladz – Arcane Tome – Touched by the Waaagh! Orruk Megaboss (140) – Artefacts of Power: Destroyer – Tunnel Master Orruk Warchanter (120) – Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat Orruk Warchanter (120) – Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Warchanter (120) – Warbeats: Killa Beat
BATTLELINE Orruk Gore-gruntas (170) – 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 Orruk Gore-gruntas (170) – 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
At first glance, this list looks typical for Bloodtoofs, Ironjawz with a Mawcrusha, Megaboss, and 18 Gore gruntas. But there is a little more depth to it. Kyle has tried to address the dismal output of Gore gruntas (Jagged Gore-hackas are 1 damage weapons) with Bash ’em lads and Killa beat. The Mawcrusha has Arcane Tome with Bash ’em ladz and Touched by the Waagh, pick a unit with 6″ and cause D3 wounds to them, the caster gets the number of wounds added to their casting roll. Now, the 8 is at least a 7 and more often than not a 6 casting roll. It grants +1 to wound rolls. Killa Beat (not often seen either) grants +1 to hit. With so many units spreading, the buffs will help, especially with Skull Shaking Bellow, to apply 3 commands for the cost of one (all out attack, for instance). 4 units can have +1 to attack.
The other benefit is that the 3 model units are much easier to move and pile in. It can make a difference to both mortals on the charge and just getting your attacks into the right unit. Shot off the board once by Kharadron it was otherwise an effective approach. The whole list is mobil (except the Warchanters) and can get up in your grill quickly. If the dice are hot, they are a real menance still, especially when you can buff the Jagged Gore-hackas.
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Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Befouling Host – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Great Unclean One (480) – General – Command Traits: Nurgling Infestation – Doomsday Bell and Plague Flail – Artefacts of Power: The Witherstave – Spells: Stream of Corruption Bloab Rotspawned (320)* – Spells: Gift of Disease Lord of Blights (150)* – Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Quicksilver Swords (60)
TERRAIN 1 x Feculent Gnarlmaw (0) 1 x Feculent Gnarlmaw (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
Roland Rivera: Here, we have a spicy Nurgle list that successfully executed the submarine (lose Round 1, win the rest of the way to clinch the 4-1). The Befouling Host subfaction lets Nurgle focus more on summoning by letting them place 2 Feculent Gnarlmaws instead of 1 at the start of the game, thus generating more Contagion Points and hitting their summoning benchmarks a bit faster. This is important because (as we will see below), most of the combat blocks in this list are rather lacking in foot speed, and summoning will be necessary to complement your board presence.
In order to get an extra Gnarlmaw, Befouling Host demands a Daemon General, and that is where we see the rather uncommon inclusion of a Great Unclean One. While the big fella is a bit slow, he packs some utility with his chosen artefact in the Witherstave, which makes the mortal wounds from disease points go off on 3+ instead of 4+. It also provides even more summoning points via the Doomsday Bell. Last but not least, Stream of Corruption gives you a potent short-range horde clearing spell that can line up very well into armies with lots of foot troops.
Another interesting inclusion is the Lord of Blights, along with the 3 units of Putrid Blightkings. Blightkings are efficient volume attackers that are very good at chewing up weaker troops, and the Lord of Blights is a durable foot Hero (especially with Fuelled by Ghurish Rage acting as a backstop) that gives you a bit of shooting.
These interesting inclusions are rounded out with some mainstays in Bloab, Nurglings, and the Rotmire Creed. All in all, this is a very interesting list featuring some uncommon choices, but it has the result to back it up.
This is the top three AoS lists for the Clash of the Titans 23 that took place in Sydney, Australia, on the 15th and 16th of April. It involved 18 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
As this event had less than 20 players attending there won’t be any list comments here as the guys will be concentrating on the larger events of the week.
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: Sylvaneth – Subfaction: Oakenbrow – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired – Seasons of War: The Burgeoning
LEADERS Treelord Ancient (330) – Spells: Regrowth, Verdant Blessing Spirit of Durthu (350)* – Artefacts of Power: Greenwood Gladius Drycha Hamadreth (320)** – Spells: The Dwellers Below, Verdant Blessing Battlemage (100)** – Magic of the Realms: Wildform (Ghur) Warsong Revenant (300)** – General – Command Traits: Spellsinger – Artefacts of Power: The Vesperal Gem – Spells: Treesong, Verdant Blessing – Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Army Subfaction: Cabalists – Grand Strategy: Follow The Path To Glory
LEADER Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts: Daemonic Familiar – Spells: Chaotic Conduit, Daemonic Speed – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled By Ghurish Rage Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Spells: Chaotic Conduit, Daemonic Speed – Mark of Chaos: Undivided
BATTLELINE 10 x Chaos Knights (440)* – Doom Knight – 2 x Standard Bearer – 2 x Hornblower – Cursed Lance – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – The Eroding Icon 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)* 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Soulscream Bridge (80)
OTHER 10 x Chaos Chosen (480)* – Exalted Champion – 2 x Icon Bearer – 2 x Skull Drummer – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 6 x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)
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Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Army Subfaction: Jaws of Mork – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable X2
LEADER Seedy – The LoonBoss (85)* Grimgutz – The Bad Apple Baron (aka Skragrott, the Loonking) (210)* Cider- The Madcap Shaman (70)* – Artefact of Power: Moonface Momment – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Grinkrak the Great (190)** Malus – The Squigboss (80)** – General – Command Trait: The Clammy Hand
BATTLELINE 20 x Moonclan Shootas (125)* 20 x Squig Hoppers (360)** 36 x Squig Herd (390)** 10 x Boingrot Bounderz (280)**
TERRAIN 1 x Bad Moon Loonshrine (0)
OTHER 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (110)** 6 x Grinkrak’s Looncourt (190)**
LEADERS Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)** – General – Command Trait: Hulking Brute – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Artefact: Armour of Gork – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Orruk Megaboss (140)* – Artefact: Destroyer – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Orruk Warchanter (120)** Orruk Warchanter (120)* Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)* – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
UNITS 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)** – Jagged Gore-hackas 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)** – Jagged Gore-hackas 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)** – Pig-iron Choppas 5 x Orruk Brutes (150)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 1 x Gore Choppas 5 x Orruk Brutes (150)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 1 x Gore Choppas
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS The Burning Head (30)
We said no comments, but this is my list. Happy with 3/5 with Ironjawz. Shout out to the Burning Head, for armies with no casting buffs and little range, it can be a very useful little source of easy to cast AoE Mortal Wounds.
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.
