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.
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: 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.
Peter: Kieron has had parts 1 through 4 written for a good while now and it’s only my own schedule that’s prevented me from posting these for him. For those who enjoyed Part 1: Kruleboyz and have been waiting for the others, I can only apologise. Part 3: Bonesplitterz will be posted this time next week. With the final part: Big Waaagh! Coming a week later. If you want to read them earlier they’ll be available on our Patreon site
Allegiance Abilities
Woehammer Winner: How can Ironjawz reliably get three turn 1 charges off, even when their opponent is hiding back in their territory? The defining battle trait Mighty Destroyers is the answer. This amazing ability allows a unit that receives this command to make a normal move if they are outside of 12” of an enemy; attempt a charge if they are within 12” of an enemy unit; or pile in 3” if already in engagement range. Combine that with a Megaboss on Mawkrusha, who can issue the command to three different units and you could have two units of Gore Gruntas moving 18” and then charging. That is to say nothing of the Mawkrusha itself who can also receive the command, moving 12” due to Mighty Destroyers, 12” if they have the Fast ‘Un mount trait followed by a move of 12” and then a charge of up to 12”! Just a casual 48” threat range then on this monster! If your opponent doesn’t screen well, the heart of their army can be ripped out before they can respond, especially when considering…
Honourable Mention: …Smashing and Bashing. This ability means that if the first unit activated in the combat phase kills and enemy unit, instead of your opponent being able to hit back, you choose a second unit to activate. If that unit wipes out an enemy, the Ironjawz fight again and so on until either there are no units in combat or an enemy is not destroyed. Combined with Mighty Destroyers, it is not unusual for an army facing the Ironjawz to be at least three units down while doing no damage in return AND to be pinned in their own territory.
Warclans
Woehammer Winner: This is incredibly close and depends what sort of army composition you are planning. If you want to lean into speed and mobility while avoiding fielding any Galletian Veterans then you are probably wanting to take Gore Gruntas as battleline and Bloodtoofs lets you do that. In addition, if a Gore Gruntas unit is still in engagement range at the end of the combat phase then they can pile in an additional 3”. Even better is that Gore Gruntas that fought but are not within engagement range can either make a normal move or attempt a charge, further increasing the range of these now turbo-charged pigs who may have moved 9” in the hero phase, 9” in the movement phase, 12” in the charge phase, piled in 3” and then charged an additional 12” for a mindboggling 45” or five times the movement characteristic on their Warscroll.
Honourable Mention: If you are looking to include mostly Ardboyz and Brutes in your army, then Ironsunz is probably the one you want to go for. Their clan trait is that you can charge at the end of your opponent’s charge phase as long as you are not already engaged in combat. Nurgle players know and love this ability (called Blightkrieg on The Glottkin’s Warscroll) but Ironjawz had it first and it’s free for all units to use, including your Mawkrusha. With Ardboyz and Brutes moving a frankly sedentary 4” each, anything that can give them extra movement is helpful, so having twice the number of charge phases helps get your Orruks across the board and where they want to be: in combat.
Command Traits
Woehammer Winner: Whereas Kruleboyz players probably want to take at least two if not all three of their versions, the Ironjawz ones are somewhat lacklustre in comparison. The winner is definitely Mighty Waaagh! Leader, which allows you to re-reroll charges for Ironjawz that are wholly within 12”, which is quite big area once you factor in the Mawkrusha’s huge base. With the Waaagh adding 1 to charges and adding a much needed pip of rend to weapons, the last thing you want it for charges to fall short and for this once per battle ability to have gone to waste.
Honourable Mention: There is a possible combo with the Arcane Tome as an artefact and either Touched by the Weird and Master of Magic to help a spell (Hand of Gork – see below) be cast, but I’m going to stick within the book for this one and go with Hulking Brute. Hulking Brute adds D3 mortal wounds once the general has completed a charge on a 2+ to one enemy unit. While not incredibly inspiring on its own, if the general on Mawkrusha also takes Mean ‘Un as a mount trait, then Stomp goes to D6 instead of D3 and there are no more pesky Hunters of the Heartlands left to stop you! Add in the Warscroll ability Destructive Bulk and not only are another 3 mortal wounds (at top bracket) added to the damage, but if a unit is then destroyed, the Mawkrusha can immediately pile in D6” and Stomp again for another D6+3 mortal wounds. Add in the impact hits from Gore Gruntas who are probably fighting alongside the Mawkrusha, ten wound screens are at serious risk of just making charges shorter and not actually achieving any screening at all.
Artefacts
Woehammer Winner: As mentioned above, there is a combo with Arcane Tome available, but I’m going to stick to the Ironjawz Artefacts of Power here with Armour of Gork being the winner of the three. Armour of Gork gives a 6+ ward and adds 1 to hit rolls, but with a penalty of 2” from the model’s movement characteristic. On a Megaboss on foot this results in a hilariously bad 2” move, but on the Mawkrusha, that’s still a 10” move that can get up to 20” once per battle with Fast ‘Un. A 6+ ward also makes the Megaboss effectively 21 wounds rather than 18 and offers some measure of protection against mortal wound spells and shooting.
Honourable Mention: A close second and probably the one you’d give to a Megaboss on foot (though see why this might be different for Big Waaagh in Part 4) is Destroyer for a once per battle +3 damage to the bearer’s melee weapons. Combine with the Warchanter’s +1 damage buff for between seven and eight 6 damage attacks depending on which flavour of Megaboss is carrying this artefact.
Mount Traits
Woehammer Winner: To give the option of a first turn angry Orruk cabbage charge, there can only be one: Fast ‘Un. The base that the Mawkrusha sits on is huge and while this can be a good thing, it can also make manoeuvring difficult, meaning that an extra move can be really helpful to get in exactly the right place for that charge, be it on the first turn or not. It’s also a great combo with Armour of Gork to offset the movement penalty that comes with this artefact.
Honourable Mention: As referenced above, taking Mean ‘Un can maximise the damage done on the charge and through stomps by your Mawkrusha, making it your second choice. Double Mawkrusha lists have taken down many events in the past (and have done so even in 2022-23 Season 1) so Mean ‘Un could be a choice for a second mount trait if you go down the Warlord/Command Entourage Battalion route. Then you need to ask whether the D6 damage vs. D3 damage on the Stomp every turn is worth more than Destroyer as a second artefact? Probably not, but it’s quite a fun option.
Spell Lore
Woehammer Winner: If you are not using herds of Gore Gruntas and Mawkrushas to get across the board, then the mobility of your foot troops is one of the biggest challenges as an Ironjawz general. Step up Da Great Big Hand of Gork to solve all those problems. For a mere casting value of 7, a unit that is not in combat and is wholly within 12” can be redeployed any where on the battlefield 9” from the enemy, but cannot move in the following movement phase. At this point, if Gork is throwing Brutes across the board, you can then Mighty Destroyers the Brutes to get them to attempt a 9” charge, with another two attempts possible in the charge phase if you don’t make it first time. However, if you want to channel that other Orruk god, Mork and be cunningly brutal, you can use Da Great Big Hand of Gork on a unit of Gore Gruntas and then place them outside of 12” (that is, 12.1” away). When Mighty Destroyers in then used, they can make their normal move of 9”, ending up with a 3” charge away from the enemy, getting around the restriction on moving after using Hand of Gork as it’s out of phase and preventing enemy redeploys for the same reason. (You could use the same trick with Brutes too, especially if you plan on calling the Waaagh that turn to get +1 to charge rolls in the charge phase, making it effectively a 7” charge.)
Honourable Mention: While Foot of Gork is hilarious, potentially causing enough wounds to one-shot a fully tricked out Gargant, second place goes to Bash ‘Em Ladz! It is quite tricky to get off, with a casting value of 8, but Touched by the Waaagh! can help with that and it gives a buff of +1 to wound for ALL Ironjawz units wholly within 16” of the caster. Bonuses to hit are fairly commonplace, but there’s a reason that Inspired is the best Triumph you can pick – often there’s no other way to get this buff. Now imagine this on a Mawkrusha and two units of 6 Gore Gruntas…Destruction Grand Alliance indeed!
Grand Strategies
Woehammer Winner: More so than with Kruleboyz, Waaagh is a fantastic Grand Strategy for Ironjawz by virtue of the fact that your general is probably flying around the place and looking to stomp enemies in their own territory anyway and, if you chose the Bloodtoofs Warclan, then a single Gore Grunta can score this for you.
Honourable Mention: For the second choice, if you are going GHB only, the Ironjawz best pick is the opposite to Kruleboyz with Take What’s Theirs as your whole battleplan involves getting right in your opponent’s face and killing their army in their own territory and this Grand Strategy plays right into these strengths.
Battle Tactics
Woehammer Winner: Continuing the theme of Battle Tactics with interesting spellings (or should that be spellinz?), Ironjawz have access to Squish Da Puny Gitz. There needs to be at least one Battleline unit left on the battlefield and there needs to be none left at the end of the turn. With the amount of output possible from Ironjawz, particularly Bounty Hunter Gore Gruntas doing up to 3 damage per attack against Galletian Veterans, this should a fairly straightforward one to get.
Honourable Mention: With such an absolute beat-stick as a Megaboss on Mawkrusha as your general, This One’s Mine is a total no-brainer. Find it. Kill it. Score points. ‘Nuff said.
Warscrolls
Woehammer Winner: This unit has been mentioned repeatedly throughout this review, so it has to be the Megaboss on Mawkrusha. Not only does he allow three uses of Mighty Destroyer a turn and have a huge base for sharing this command and other buffs (e.g. re-reroll charges), but he can be absolutely devastating in combat too. With the Warchanter buff and if the Destroyer relic is taken, he should do between 5-10 mortal wounds before even fighting and then, with All out Attack and Finest Hour (aka Best Day Ever) and the Ironjawz Waaagh, seven attacks that hit and wounds on 2+ at Rend -2 for 6 damage each followed by eight attacks from his mount that hit and wound on 2+ at Rend -3 with the Waaagh for 3 damage each. Add all those up and it’s a potential of 70+ wounds in a single combat from a unit that may have started over 50” away from you. You can close your jaw now.
Honourable Mention: A very important unit to Ironjawz is the Warchanter, but based on a lot of the combos discussed so far, I’m going to go for Gore Gruntas. They’re significantly faster than other troop options available and movement is absolutely key to this edition of AoS. They also hit pretty hard – not quite Fulminator hard – but plenty hard enough to clean up Battleline in short order and push more elite units too, particularly with the chip mortal wound damage they can do to help make any attack back pretty inconsequential.
Final Thoughts
Ironjawz are a really fun army and a pretty good first army to pick up as they’re relatively forgiving with their tough armour and relatively straightforward gameplay, resulting in quite a high skill floor for new players. There is still plenty of nuance in this army though, with Mork-like sneaky plays with Mighty Destroyers and the Hand of Gork and just because you can charge everything turn 1, it doesn’t mean that you should. Jiwan Noah Singh is a great American Ironjawz player who can be found on streams playing a more considered approach. The thinking being that if you can hold the Mawkrusha back a couple of turns then by the time it is committed, there’s nothing left that can meaningfully threaten it, allowing it to rampage around the board, destroying all it touches. Next up will be Part 3 of 4 of the Orruks book, the weird cousins of both Kruleboyz and Ironjawz that live on a commune to be in touch with nature, usually touching them with a massive stone spear: Bonesplitters.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Midtcon Grand Tournament that took place in Denmark on 3rd and 4th September. It involved 28 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: Astral Templars (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar (325)* Lord-Celestant on Stardrake (500)* – General – Celestine Hammer – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Scintillating Trail – Spell: Thundershock Slann Starmaster (265)* – Allies
Battleline 5 x Vindictors (130)** 3 x Vanguard-Palladors (215)** – Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins 3 x Vanguard-Palladors (215)** – Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins
Units 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)*
Danny: Beating off a tough slew of opponents is Casper’s slight variation on the new SCE hotness, aka ‘many mortals at range’.
The list, which is quickly becoming adopted world-over, does what it looks like. Allying in the Slann gives reliable access to the big frog’s warscroll spell for d3 mortals to up to d6 units, the C-Prime does them at range or starts in reserve to act as a missile-duelist. The Stardrake is a durable platform with 4 rend 3, 2 damage ranged attacks at 30″ AND gives ‘friendly wizards’ (aka the Slann) +1 to cast. The Longstrikes – you know what they do, and the Palladors act as teleporting guerrilla fighters for scoring and doing extra ranged chip damage.
It’s a brutal new archetype and I imagine we’ll see it do well for a while yet while people react – although it’s unclear how much you can react to such a reliable ranged barrage!
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Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty,Bloodthirsty
Leaders Bloab Rotspawned (300) – Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease Orghotts Daemonspew (300)* Lord of Afflictions (210)* – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench – Artefact: The Splithorn Helm Gutrot Spume (170)*
Battleline 5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)*** 5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)*** 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)** 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)**
Danny: Nurgle representing in Denmark with the increasingly popular ‘Double maggoths and mixed Blight troops’ archetype. It’s simple but effective, as both Maggoths offer a wide variety of mixed phase damage and utility, while the Blightkings tank all manner of punishment and the Blightlords fulfill the objective grabbing/pinning role.
Nurgle aren’t going anywhere fast, literally and figuratively.
Danny: It’s the Maw Krusha and 20-50 feral hogs. Honestly in this season it’s their only competitive build, which is sad, but hey at least it _can_ still compete, which is more than can be said for 90% of the Orruks book.
It’s also a seasonal issue – the damage bounty hunters can do to Brutes just renders them pointless. Same goes for Ardboyz, who offer plenty of utility as cheap screens in Big Waagh but again seem redundant for IJ. So, not blaming anyone for running this list other than GW for what has been proved in hindsight to be a real lack of imagination with the joint-first 3e Tome.
Leaders Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380) – Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour Neferata, Mortarch of Blood (365) – Lore of the Deathmages: Decrepify Vengorian Lord (280)** – General – Command Trait: Rousing Commander – Artefact: Fragment of the Keep – Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
Battleline 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)** 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)** 10 x Blood Knights (390)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Blood Knights (195)* 5 x Blood Knights (195)*
Danny: As predicted, the re-rise of SBGL is upon us! Double Mortarchs or MSU chaff with Coven Throne have proven effective, but this unusual list from Martin opts for Neferata and plenty of Blood Knights – if her spells go off she can make them insanely tanky, with ignoring rend and a command ability for a -1 to hit aura – she also brings some spike damage potential herself.
3x msu Deathrattle support as excellent grabbers who can pop out or back up from grave-sites, with the Vengo lord acting as a mobile, mixed phase general to be a home for artifacts/command traits.
A highly objective play focused list and good to see SBGL doing well again!
And we’re back! Sorry about the long hiatus. I’ve been on holiday for the last two weeks which has meant a lull in the posts. We’ll be trying to catch up on what we missed over the next couple of weeks, so on many days you can probably expect two top three articles per day!
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Nova Open 2022 that took place in the USA on 2nd, 3rd and 4th September. It involved 135 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5/8 game tournament. After the first 5 rounds the top 8 contested an additional 3 rounds in a seeded event to determine overall winner. There was a separate “renaissance winner” for the winner, including modelling scores, from the first 5 rounds. Separately those outside the Top 8 had the option of playing a 3 round RTT on the last day. Nova attracts a lot of the top ranked players in the US (and overall) and it’s an important place to get a feel for what is working at least for the best players.
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: Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Duplicitous – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Lord of Change (400)* – General – Bound To The Incarnate – Command Trait: Will of the Phantom Lord – Artefact: Brand of the Spirit Daemon – Lore of Change: Treason of Tzeentch Kairos Fateweaver (435) – Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch Changecaster, Herald of Tzeentch (140)* – Lore of Change: Tzeentch’s Firestorm
Battleline 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 10x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 10x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Tzaangors (175)* – 4x Savage Greatblade – 6x Savage Blade & Arcanite Shield
Behemoths (Spinedog) Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)* – Allies
Endless Spells & Invocations Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (60) Umbral Spellportal (70) Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
Brett: I caught up with his last of Kaleb’s games on a Season of War stream, he handled it masterfully and defeated his brother handily. The Incarnate provides some real impact in the early rounds allowing this list to avoid committing the Lords of Change too early (which he did against his brother) and maintain his screens for a while longer. No Horrors here to take advantage of the 5+ return 10 models once they are defeated. However the Will of the Phantom Lord command trait granting reroll casting and unbind’s within 9″. Backed up on the Lord of Change by a +1 to save (Brand of the Spirit Demon). That takes up the mandatory choices as well.
Between them there are 8 casts in the list, Kairos knows the spells of the other casters as well as his own and has 3 of them. That’s on top of his fate (dice) changing and automatic dispel (Purple Sun isn’t really an issue for Tzeetch). The Mortals are bringing their own, at least until some one hits them and drops a model or 2. The Lord of Change has a command ability to grant +1 to casting to a model within 18″ (often Kairos). The endless spells are 20% of the list but critical as well. The Purple Sun is included as much for the chance to eat something – Kairos can guarantee that will happen at least once per game. Umbral Spell Portal for that extra range and Gnashing Jaws – great into slow moving units (particularly punishing for infantry with a move < 6″).
The battleline aren’t combat power houses, although they can sting if you let them. Between the Tzaangors mortal wound on a 4+ for every wizard within 9″ (5 in the list alone), to the ability to add rend to their ranged attack both Tzaangors and Acolytes are very good at chip damage. The Greatblades on the Tzaangors can do more than chip. This list is mostly going to screen using the battleline and Incarnate to discourage charges while hitting you with mortal wounds from spells. Bolt of Tzeetch (D6 MW), Treason of Tzeetch (roll a die/model in a unit and 6s do MW) to Tzeentch’s Firestorm (9 dice, 6s do D3 MW). Ideally you want to deploy and let the screens take the damage, chipping away until it’s time for the coup de grace with the big chickens cleaning up.
Destiny Dice and summoning using Fate Points go a long way in helping Tzeentch (new screens from Turn 2?). They introduce an interesting game, you gain Fate Points if you don’t unbind your opponents spells. do you wan them to have the spell or do you what to deny it? All of this is at 18″ though so you can see how important Spell Portal is into longer ranged opponents. Once within that range there are spells and ranged attacks galore. The list is crafted to fit within a Battle Regiment to control the initial turn order with a general preference to go second. The list has all of the tools but is fragile as well in the right circumstances, it takes a lot of skill to take it to 8/0.
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Army Subfaction: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leader 1 x Orruk Warchanter (115) 1 x Fungoid Cave-Shaman (95) 1 x Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480)** – General – Command Traits: Mega Bossy – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts: Armour of Gork – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un 1 x Orruk Megaboss (140)** – Artefacts: Destroyer 1 x Orruk Warchanter (115)**
Battleline 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka 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)** – Jagged Gore-hacka
Core Battalions *Bounty Hunters **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (1965/2000)
Brett: A list showing there’s still life in Ironjawz yet, it’s not all Big Waagh. Kaleb’s brother, as I mentioned you can see the pair of them play. Single Mawcrusha with as many pigs (Gore Gruntas) as possible. Nick has swapped the Weirdnob Shaman for a Fungoid Cave-Shaman, costs 5 points for a chance to get an extra command point (on a 4+) and an extra spell in one round. The extra command points make it a great 5 point upgrade. Megaboss on Mawcrusha is the General, with Armour of Gork and bearing the Boss Choppa and Rip Tooth fist, for a 6+ ward and 3+ save. The Mawcrusha is still using Fast ‘un to maintain mobility. 2 Warchanters and a foot Megaboss complete HQs.
The foot Megaboss has Destroyer, he’s more than capable of being teleported to deal with an MSU on an objective or holding the rear and can issue Mighty Destroyers. Most of the Gore-Grunta’s are in Bounty Hunters, the advantage is blunted a bit by how many people don’t have Galletian Veteran’s in their lists at the moment. 2 big and 2 small units of pigs (possible when you don’t go double Mawcrusha) is a really good choice. You have the option of throwing the big units down range (with or without the Mawcrusha) or holding them and screening them with the smaller units. The Mawcrusha has a defensive build while maintaining speed (36″ move is possible with Fast ‘un). Nick only dropped the last game all weekend (7/1) , a fantastic result for Ironjawz.
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Allegiance: Seraphon – Constellation: Thunder Lizard – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Lord Kroak (430)* Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)* – Artefact: Fusil of Conflaguration Skink Priest (90)* – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Engine of the Gods (265)*** – General – Command Trait: Prime Warbeast – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Beastmaster – Spell: Hand of Glory – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse
Battleline 10 x Skinks (75)** – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (75)** – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 20 x Skinks (150)** – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers – Reinforced x 1 5 x Saurus Guard (115)*
Behemoths Bastiladon with Solar Engine (250)*** Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek (165)*** Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek (165)***
Brett: Gavin is currently the top ITC ranked player in the world so definitely a list worth paying attention to. Skinks as battleline with Bastiladons as the workhorses and Lord Kroak at the centre. Thunder Lizard for the 2 wounds on the big boys. Still a magic based list (with just 2 wizards and 2 priests) but Kroak with 4 casts, and a +2 dominates. He can shutdown endless spells anywhere on the board and use a Skink Wizard to cast through and extend the range of his mortal wound spell. He also knows the full Lore of Celestial Dominance and can very reliably provides Command Points throughout the battle. The Astrolith Bearer provides a 6+ ward wholly within 12″ and a +1 to cast (useful for the Engine of the Gods).
The Skink Priest is bringing a potential run and charge, +1 to save and + 1 to hit rolls and a Heal. Engine of the Gods for summoning, battleshock play and melee combat supporting the Skinks and backing the Bastilidons. Opting for the larger Skink unit gives them a lot more play, they have an extra attack and absorb buffs well. They don’t become as threatening as Fangs of Sotek but they are likely to do at least chip damage to even a 3+ save. With Horrorghast available that’s potentially very damaging. Skinks can also be summoned or teleported and as GVs they excel in grabbing uncovered objectives. All of the Skinks are Eternal Conquerors, making them much harder to clear away from objectives (you need to kill them all). The Skinks can achieve 2 or 3 battle tactics almost independently of the rest of the army or enemy.
The list has a lot of flexibility, strong melee punch of the Bastildons and Stegadon (Curse + free all out attack on a Ark of Sotek?) backed by artillery (Solar Engine) and magic. The bigger unit tends to need to castle to ensure short range buffs provide coverage. This isn’t an alpha strike army, it’s going to build up damage in the first few turns and hopefully force some moral issues. Once units are weakened the Bastildons, that are very hard to bracket initially, can go in. Some weakness to MW shooting (who doesn’t) but the teleport, Solar Engine with buffs with run and charge for Skinks makes it possible to play around the shooting. Really great tournament result for a favourite army, just pipped at the post.
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Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Tempest’s Eye – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Runelord (95)*** – General – Command Trait: Hawk-eyed – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Lore of Eagles: Strike of Eagles – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal – Bound to Incarnate Doralia ven Denst (115) – City Role: General’s Adjutant
Units 10 x Longbeards (105)** – Ancestral Weapons & Shields – City Role: Honoured Retinue (Must be 5-20 models) 10 x Darkshards (115)** 20 x Irondrakes (340)** – Grudgehammer Torpedo 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (155)*** – Main Gun: Sky Cannon 6 x Skywardens (210)* – 2 x Aethermatic Volley Guns – 1 x Skyhooks – 1 x Grapnel Launchers 2 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (230)* 3 x Vanguard-Palladors (215)* – Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400) – Allies
Brett: First of the armies from the regular rounds, Nick only dropped his second round match, otherwise scoring well throughout the tournament. Doing so with a less favoured battletome (Cities) that doesn’t even use the Storm Drake/SCE coalition is a fantastic effort. Instead he’s chosen to make it a KO heavy army (Tempest Eye’s coalition partner), light on HQs with a small SCE contingent. Slimming the HQ slot frees up space for units and in this case Krondspine without compromising too much. Also unusual with the lack of spells from the HQs, instead this is an anti magic cohort. The Runelord can dispell an endless and normal spell with a +2, Doralia can take aim at an endless spell. Doralia is a witch hunters with bonuses to hit and number of attacks if she doesn’t move, doing double damage to wizards (and Daemons).
The Runelord isn’t finished yet, he takes Arcane Tome to be bound to the incarnate, and cast Strike of Eagles (a very long range mortal wound spell). His artefact provides +1 to hit for ranged attacks (within 12″) and his warscroll provides with 6+ or an extra point of rend. All for 95 points. The coalition units are the Gunhauler and Skywardens, that’s a really cheap way to provide one of your ranged units with dedicated teleport. Skywardens can hitch a lift on any Skyvessel before it flies high to move themselves to a location 9″ from the enemy. The advantage with this method is you can drop the Gun hauler further back and land the within 6″ which may keep them safe or let them deploy more aggressively. Say put the Gunhauler in Shrapnel range (18″) and the Skywardens further back (24″ range).
The list goes on to have 2 more hammers, the Fulminators and Irondrakes. The Fulminators are well known, slightly fragile as a pair but it’s still 12 wounds at 3+ and they are still bringing 16 rend -2, 2 and 3 damage attacks on the charge (potentially 42 damage). With the Longbeards and Darkshards to screen the Irondrakes should have an extra attack and the Darkshards will be shooting earlier anyway making approaching them and charging either Longbeards or Darkshards costly. Palladors haven’t seen a lot of work lately, they are costly but they are extremely mobile and can potentially pick up exposed objectives or snipe out a character with their inbuilt teleport (Ride the Winds Aetheric). A more expensive prosecutor. All and all an innovative list with a high degree of complexity but plenty of tools.
Final Tournament Placings (Limited here to Top 32)
The following stats are for the week ending 28th August only, essentially GT’s that took place on the 27th and 28th August.
Rolling 4 Week Stats
The rolling stats includes all GT’s since the weekend of 30th/31st July to the 20th/21st August. This covers a total of 983 players (+152 players) across 24 Grand Tournaments (+3 GT).
As the new release of the GHB takes hold it looks as though the overall effect is a positive one, although the stats are starting to shift away from the 50% mark slightly again. With Destruction once again falling.
Its not been a good week for the Kruleboyz and this is also reflected in the four weeks stats with them falling to 35.0%. Come on GW, show them some love.
Here are the rolling four weeks win rates since we began tracking this information:
Faction Stats (Version)
The below stats are for every match in a grand tournament since the release of the new General’s Handbook.
A great week for Seraphon sees them extend a lead over the Daughters of Khaine with 9 clean sweeps to their 6.
Meanwhile at the lower end of the tables factions who have gone a whole tournament with five losses…
As for the win rates of each faction since the release of the new GHB:
In terms of faction popularity:
By rights, each faction should have an equal share of the player base, however we know this will not be the case due to either the appeal of the miniatures or the rules for the factions. Here we can see the most popular factions are Stormcast Eternals, Nighthaunt, Sylvaneth, Daughters of Khaine, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Seraphon and Skaven.
Currently it would appear that Seraphon players have the highest chance of going 5-0 at an even.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Nashcon GT that took place in the USA on 20th and 21st August. It involved 32 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
The format for this event was slightly different, in that every player built two lists and chose which of their lists to use based on the opponent before the round began. To keep this article short, we’re analysing their first lists only and the opponent’s first list has been used when showing their path through the 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 Slann Starmaster (265)*** – General – Command Trait: Arcane Might – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Spell: Stellar Tempest Skink Starpriest (130)* – Spell: Hand of Glory Skink Priest (90)* – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)* – Artefact: Serpent God Dagger
Battleline 10 x Skinks (75)** – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (75)** – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 30 x Skinks (225)** – Boltspitters & Moonstone Clubs – Reinforced x 2 5 x Saurus Guard (115)*
Units 2 x Salamander Hunting Pack (280)*** – Reinforced x 1 2 x Salamander Hunting Pack (280)*** – Reinforced x 1
Behemoths Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek (165)***
Endless Spells & Invocations Purple Sun of Shyish (70) Horrorghast (40)
Danny: Who can stop Ridge Hanna? The Season of War vet is a died in the wool Seraphon expert, and his Fangs of Sotek list is the one to beat.
We’ve covered it before, and no doubt we’ll be forced to cover it again… but on the off-chance you’re new to it, here’s how it works.
Unlike Thunder Lizard, who’re all about big beasties and Scaly Skin for the -1 damage, Fangs is all about tricksy movement and summoning. Units are able to come down from reserves near a Slann, and one unit per turn can teleport – this makes the Salamanders – free from giving up extra points since the latest GHB – a tactical nuke who can safely materialise near an enemy threat and nuke them. God forbid if they make the charge too.
Meanwhile, all the skinks have a small pre-game move for grabbing objectives, and can run away after unleashing hell on a 4+ once charged, meaning most of the time they’re incredibly hard to pin down – and with the buffs the various Skink heroes can throw out, they can end up doing serious damage too.
The reason the Slann has Arcane Tome is because of the Coalesced summoning mechanic – using up a spell slot grants an additional d3 summoning points, so the Tome allows him to rack those up and still use his super valuable normal spells into the bargain. On average, Ridge should be able to summon two more salamanders into the fray, or if, for some reason, he’s struggling with objective, a whole load more skinks.
A techy, frustrating to pin down list with some real teeth that proves Seraphon are far from a one trick-dinopony.
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Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Blessed Sons – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Lord of Afflictions (210)* – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Lore of Malignance: Rancid Visitations Bloab Rotspawned (300)* – Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease Orghotts Daemonspew (300)
Battleline 10 x Plaguebearers (150)** 10 x Plaguebearers (150)** 5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)** 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*** – 1x Dolorous Tocsin
Units 3 x Plague Drones (200)*** 1 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (110)* 1 x Mindstealer Sphiranx (95)* – Allies
Ethan: Writing analysis of this feels a bit like cheating. For those not in the know, Tyler Emerson is one of the illustrious regular guests of Vince Venturella of Warhammer Weekly and “being considerably better than ok at painting” fame. Tyler spoke about his list on their most recent show, make sure to check it out if you’re after a more in-depth dive!
Getting to it, there are a fair few elements of this list setting it apart from the drone spam we’ve all come over time to know and resent. Blessed sons provides a nice platform for a mixed arms list employing more of Nurgle’s toolkit than we’re perhaps used to. The Lord of afflictions eschews the usual splithorn helm, sacrificing some resilience in exchange for rancid visitations, one of the best anti-horde spells in the game though, without other casting support, this is by no means consistent. The two Maggoth lords are incredibly strong pieces, providing all the usual benefits of behemoth-lords with Nurgle resilience and a small amount of spell-dom play, or great combat play. Combined these two give the list a capacity to play broadly across the map with the core of the list holding one flank while the creatively named heroes hold the other.
Plaguebearers and Blightkings form a durable core for holding objectives and placing them in Expert Conquerors makes retaking objectives a real commitment from the opponent while the Plague drones and Pusgoyles in a Bounty Hunter Battalion provide a mobile cav hammer which hits hard and takes a hit well in return. The two really interesting pieces of tech taken by Tyler in this list are the Mindstealer Sphiranx which has an ability to make enemies fight last, winning him at least one game singlehandedly, per his view. The other is his Battalions, he’s taken an “all the toys” approach to his regular units but has eschewed the usually accompanying Command Entourage/Warlord in favour of a Battle regiment to lower his drops. This isn’t going to give him priority vs anyone taking a Battle Regiment+ setup but does ensure he outdrops anyone taking the abovementioned Entourage or Warlord. Very clever decision making here.
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs:
Leaders Guardian of Souls (150)* – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Krulghast Cruciator (150)* Spirit Torment (115)* Spirit Torment (115) – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist
Units 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)** – Reinforced x 1 9 x Spirit Hosts (375)*** – Reinforced x 2 10 x Chainrasps (110)*** 10 x Chainrasps (110)*** 4 x Myrmourn Banshees (105)**
Ethan: Nate Trentanelli has proven he can win with a variety of armies and so it is only fitting that he see success with current meta darling, Nighthaunt. This list relies on a central castle built around the Krulghast Cruciator and it’s aura of -1 damage. Throw in Shademist (-1 to wound) and Seal of Shyish (5+ ward save) and all of a sudden your charge-heavy, mortal wound spamming Nighthaunt units are a brick that the opponent will struggle to displace. This kind of list sees great success in the current GHB as it has the versatility to play for multiple areas of the board or, as many current battleplans demand, meet your opponent in the middle and win the brawl for objective scoring. Nate has run the increasingly prevalent triple battalion of Expert Conquerors, Bounty Hunters and Command Entourage meaning he’s capturing better than you with his durable units, hitting hard on your units designed to do the same, and has access to the tools required to build and maintain this kind of board presence.
Also worth noting in this list is the Midnight tome – Purple Sun combination, guaranteeing the purple sun will come out for the Nighthaunt. Nighthaunt don’t mind losing a ghost or two when they’re bringing back d6 + d3 per round and their unmodifiable saves form a perfect combination with the sun. Myrmournes provide a brutal capstone on this, giving an additional chance to unbind any spell or endless spell affecting the area nearby. In combination, your opponent is far less likely to affect the board state with their magic while you have utter certainty that your sun is coming out at a crucial moment, creating a brutal momentum swing.
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Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Lineage: Kastelai Dynasty – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Coven Throne (290) – General – Command Trait: Rousing Commander – Artefact: Fragment of the Keep – Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions Neferata, Mortarch of Blood (365)* – Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour Vampire Lord (140)* – Artefact: Grave-sand Shard Watch Captain Halgrim (80)*
Battleline 10 x Blood Knights (390)*** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)** 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)** 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)**
Units 5 x Black Knights (100) 5 x Black Knights (100)* 20 x Grave Guard (280)*** – Great Wight Blades – Reinforced x 1
Danny: Soulblight are slowly settling into their new competitive bracket of ‘close but no cigar’, it seems – the cool thing is, the breadth and relative internal balance of the book means that there’s plenty of variety between contenders.
This list is a nice, thematic looking balance of stuff, wrapped in Kastelai, which is edging out the others as Lineage of choice due to the strong selection of artifacts/command traits, the ability to make the excellent Blood Knights battleline, and the sub-faction trait that gives vampire units permanent, stacking buffs depending on what kind of unit they kill.
The Coven Throne is often a lynchpin of Kastelai lists, mainly due to its command ability, offering one unit +1 hit, wound _and_ save. Pretty bonkers value for 1CP although you are paying a fair whack of points for it, given it doesn’t do a huge amount else. Neferata is also starting to challenge Mannfred as Mortarch of choice due to her spell to make a unit unrendable – dicey in the current magic-dominance meta, but when it does go off, combined with the above…you can imagine the shenanigans. She’s also a decent, mobile beatstick in her own right and has a dagger with a chance to auto-kill a unit if it inflicts wounds that aren’t saved, so she’s an excellent mind-warfare pick.
Watch Captain Halgrim might look like an odd and rare pick, and he is – but he offers up to 3 skellies (and the list takes all 3, conveniently) a 4″ ‘auto-run’ for 1 CP, which is a good way of guaranteeing they get up the board together.
Outside of that is standard but useful fair – the currently ever-present 20 Graveguard brick who are also an excellent recipient of the Coven Throne’s CA, and 2 units of Black Knights who are cheap, fast, and summonable – meaning they can start in grave sites.
A nicely mostly-mounted list with a few tricks up its raggedy sleeves that clearly works!
