This is the top three AoS lists for War Under the Mountain that took place in Australia on the 25th and 26th of March. It involved 19 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
Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: Barak Zon – Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies – Triumphs: Inspired
Kharadron Code – Artycle: Honour Is Everything – Amendment: Prosecute Wars With All Haste – Footnote: There’s No Reward Without Risk
Leaders Arkanaut Admiral (125)* – General – Command Trait: Stormcaller – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha Aetheric Navigator (85)** – Artefact: Voidstone Orb
Battleline 6 x Skywardens (260)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Skywardens (260)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Skywardens (260)* – Reinforced x 1
Other Units 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (170)** – Main Gun: Sky Cannon – Gunhauler Modifications: Coalbeard’s Collapsible Compartments 3 x Endrinriggers (120)** 3 x Endrinriggers (120)*
Behemoths Arkanaut Frigate (300)* – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon Arkanaut Frigate (300)** – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – The Lore of the Damned: Chaotic Conduit – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
Battleline 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1
Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Zainthar Kai – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Hag Queen (120)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master – Prayers of Khainite Cult: Crimson Rejuvenation Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix (320) – Allies Slaughter Queen on Cauldron of Blood (300)* – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Shadows: Mindrazor – Prayers of Khainite Cult: Sacrament of Blood
Battleline 15 x Blood Sisters (450)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Blood Stalkers (360)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Blood Sisters (150)*
Units 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)* 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)*
Leaders Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (260)* Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (290) – Artefact: Mork’s Eye Pebble – Mount Trait: Mean ‘Un Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof (130)* – General – Command Trait: Supa Sneaky – Artefact: Eye-biter Ash Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)* – Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)* – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Murknob with Belcha-banna (80)*** – Aspect of the Champion: TunnelMaster
Battleline 20 x Gutrippaz (300)*** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Gutrippaz (150)* 20 x Hobgrot Slittaz (160)** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)**
Units 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1
This is the top three AoS lists for the Straigyt Edge Wargaming GT that took place in Sweden on the 11th and 12th of March. It involved 14 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.
Leaders Swampboss Skumdrekk (290)* Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)** – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)** – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Murknob with Belcha-banna (80)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Killaboss on Corpse-Rippa Vulcha (220)** – General – Command Trait: Supa Sneaky – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un – Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex Skragrott, The Loonking (160)* – Allies
Battleline 10 x Gutrippaz (150)* 10 x Gutrippaz (150)* 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)* 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)*
Units 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1
Endless Spells & Invocations Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70) The Burning Head (30)
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Mortal Realm: Hysh – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (355)* – The Lore of the Damned: Binding Damnation 6 x Varanguard (580)* – General – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1
Battleline 10 x Chaos Knights (460)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon – Reinforced x 1 5 x Chaos Knights (230)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 9 x The Unmade (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided
Allegiance: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Legion: Petrifex Elite – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
Leaders Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (340)* Mortisan Soulmason (120)* – Lore of Mortisans: Empower Nadirite Weapons Mortisan Boneshaper (110)* – General – Command Trait: Mighty Archaeossian – Artefact: Godbone Armour – Lore of Mortisans: Reinforce Battle-shields – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
Battleline 30 x Mortek Guard (420)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield – Reinforced x 2 30 x Mortek Guard (420)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield – Reinforced x 2 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (170)* 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (170)*
This is the top three AoS lists for the Norwegian Masters that took place in Norway on the 21st and 22nd of January. It involved 24 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Allherd – Grand Strategy: Protect the Herdstone – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – General – Command Trait: Dominator – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Artefact: Blade of the Desecrator – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage
Battleline 10 x Ungors (65)* – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)* – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)* – Shortspears & Half-Shields
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Tzeetch (360)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Tzeetch (360)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Tzeetch (360)** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Tzaangors (350)* – 20x Pair of Savage Blade – Reinforced x 1
Is Beasts the most metal faction? I always feel like it is (might be the horns), which might explain our first 2 lists, or maybe it’s just how strong they are at the moment. With solid summoning, quality attacks, and the number of bodies, it’s a challenging faction for anyone right now. And then there is the buffed Herdstone, granting -1 Rend board wide and -2 from round 3. Danny has gone all in for the Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc (dubbed TED from now), making their main attack a Rend 2, Damage 2 at (and 19 from the unit). That moves 16″ getting them just about anywhere. They have a quirk that improves their to wound to 2+ if they go second.
And really, that’s the list, 3 small heroes to max points for the TED units, 3 x 10 man(?) Ungor units, screens and scoring, and a big unit of Tzaangors. Those Tzaangors are a threat in their own right, but their most likely use if for generation of primordial points for summoning. It’s not hard to generate 3 points or another 10-man Ungor unit every turn with a little luck. Great approach with the leaders. They are all casters and equipped more for control than buffing damage. Ghost mist to hopefully restrict shooting and Hailstorm to protect a TED from being charged. With bounty hunters, Herdstone rend, and reroll wounds (Wild Rampage), those TEDs can be terrifying. The Dragon Ogre is a solid brick and can move up to support the TEDs.
This list starts with 162 and can bring more on throughout the game. With high-quality attacks and extreme mobility, it is very hard to stop it scoring and equally from denying you your scoring opportunities. With a relatively easy book Grand Strategy, it’s no surprise Danny was able to max his score in 2 rounds. He had the most trouble with Maggotkin, whose Mortal Wound output and durability hurt, and Lumineth. Rend reduction is great when that’s your opponent’s thing. It’s always fun. How will they go in the new book?
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Allherd – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – General – Command Trait: Dominator – Artefact: Horn of the Tempest – Lore of Dark Storms: Sundering Blades Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Vicious Stranglethorns Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)* – Artefact: Blade of the Desecrator – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy
Battleline 9 x Dragon Ogors (435)*** – 9x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 2 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields
Units 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)** 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)* 10 x Ungor Raiders (80) 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Tzeetch (360)*** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Tzeetch (360)*** – Reinforced x 1
It is very similar to the previous list with TEDs bringing the hurt, but this time, a big unit (double reinforced) of Dragon Ogres to synergise with the Ogre Shaggoth. The Shaggoth is built for damage this time with Sundering Blades to boost the Ogres. At the same time, there isn’t a big unit of Tzaangors for sacrificing, mostly likely Ungor Raiders were feeling the blade. Ungor Raiders aren’t a bad screen either, bringing the chance of chip damage via an unleash hell, except they only hit on 5+. In comparison to Danny’s list, this has a little less summoning (maybe), less mobility but a much bigger punch.
Although Kristoffer only maxed his score once, he was scoring better overall than Danny until the Lumineth struck. If I had to guess, I’d say the Dragon Ogors died to shooting fairly early, leaving the army without the ability to control scoring as effectively. That and the reduction of Rend -1 or -2 to 0 means most of this army hits Ymetrica Lumineth like wet noodles. Ungor Raiders and Ungors would be lucky to inflict more than chip damage all game. Solid performance overall and the punishment dealt to others, at least mean Kris won the war if not the Battle.
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Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords – Great Nation: Ymetrica – Mortal Realm: Chamon – Grand Strategy: No place for the weak – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Alarith Stonemage (120)** – Artefact: Molten Talisman – Lore of the High Peaks: Unbreakable Stoicism Scinari Enlightener (170)** – General – Command Trait: Loremaster – Artefact: Silver Wand – Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh, Protection of Hysh, Total Eclipse Avalenor, the Stoneheart King (420)**
Battleline 15 x Alarith Stoneguard (360)* – Stone Mallets – Reinforced x 2 10 x Alarith Stoneguard (240)* – Stone Mallets – Reinforced x 1 5 x Alarith Stoneguard (120)** – Stone Mallets
Units 5 x Vanari Dawnriders (140)* – Spell1: Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh 20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300) – Spell1: Lore of Hysh: Overwhelming Heat – Reinforced x 1
And here is the nemesis list for the 1st and 2nd place Beasts lists. With the new book (what’s with another book for the Lumineth already and not Seraphon or Kharadon?), we’ve seen the switch to Stoneguard from Wardens. This list has a bit of everything to support the 30 Stoneguard with Dawnriders, Sentinels, and even a Ballista (much more useful in Lumineth than Stormcast). The list works by overlapping buffs. The Stoneguard are best within 12″ of the Stoneking. He can grant each of the Stoneguard units with +1 attack. The Stoneking wants to remain within 12″ of the Stonemage, so he always fights on the top of his table. The Enlightener is freer with 18″ range on key spells to reach the Stoneguard with Speed or Protection of Hysh (double movement or 5+ ward). The Enlightener doubles up on his freedom with the Twinned Tether ability, which reflects wounds. He can only cast it (CV 6) if he has cast a Lore of Hysh spell. Once a turn, he can guarantee a cast of 9, situational but a possible defensive tactic. Of course, you can put him in the shrine and make sure he has rerolls.
Hate high elves yet? Those Stoneguard have rend reduction (better than a 3+ save since it turns of both Rend -1 and -2), a 4+ mortal wound save and can have a 5+ ward. The Stoneking grants them another attack, and the Stonemage can give one unit mortals in addition on a 5+ instead of the normal 6+. For the big unit, that is an extra 7.5 MW. And then there is the indirect mortal wound shooting of the Sentinals (still 30″ range due to the Ballista) and the swingy but potentially vicious 30/36″ range of the Ballista. It’s a great army that is active in all phases and very dangerous. It has a weakness, though, in that it is slow and it needs the buffs. Individually, the units can be brought down. We see that in the scoring, his first round was a max 20 against a relatively slow Stormcast List, but afterwards, solid but low scoring games. He was still only 2 points behind 2nd because his one loss was very close.
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Allegiance: Kruleboyz – Warclan: Grinnin’ Blades – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (290)* – General – Command Trait: Supa Sneaky – Artefact: Mork’s Eye Pebble – Mount Trait: Smelly ‘Un Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (260)** Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105)** – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105)** – Lore of the Swamp: Sneaky Miasma Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105)* – Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex
Battleline 10 x Gutrippaz (160)* 10 x Gutrippaz (160)* 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)**
Units 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1
This list is almost identical to the one I run. To be fair, there isn’t much variation in Kruleboyz lists. Usually, 3 units of Boltboyz inflict mortal wounds from afar. A snatchaboss who buffs nearby units with poison, allowing the Kruleboyz Orruk units to cause add an additional mortal wound on those 6+ rolls. A sprinkling of Shamans who can also buff Kruleboyz Orruk units, allowing them to cause mortals on 5+ as well as 6+ to hit. Then Hobgrots and Gutrippaz to act as screens and objective cappers.
The elephant in the room (or should that be vulcha) is Gobsprakk. This guy is great, I’ve had lots of success with him purely from his mortal wounds on dispels (D3 standard D6 with an unbinding roll of 10+). I almost took down a GUO with his dispels alone when playing against Ed. His ability is so good, you’ll often find that your opponent won’t even cast unless absolutely necessary. Especially after suffering those D6 mortals for the first time.
Gobsprakk may be a good choice in the new handbook. He’ll allow you to cause the mortal wounds on casters in the enemy army even if they’re Galletian Champions…. if they choose not to cast, they’ve wasted points on their casters. He’s not great in combat. He’ll do 4 damage on average to units with a 6+ save.
The whole lot is wrapped up into two big posionous Battle Regiment packages. Wirh a nice Grinnin’ Blades bow on top, preventing the opponent from seeing you from more than 12″ away.
As a Kruleboyz player, you’ll always want the choice of priority on the first turn, with most Krulebros choosing to go 2nd to try and neuter any opponent early doors with two rounds of poisonous bolts. Of course Alpha-Strike armies love Kruleboyz and eat them for breakfast.
I’m just hoping that the revitalised Gitz book will give the Kruleboyz some punch through their Allies.
Well done Christian on managing to put in such a great performance with Kruleboyz.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for Devon Destruction II that took place in the UK on 26th and 27th November. It involved 44 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.
Allegiance: Skaven – Grand Strategy: Arch-corruptors of the Mortal Realms – Triumphs:
Leaders Grey Seer on Screaming Bell (325)* – General – Command Trait: Diabolical Schemer – Lore of Ruin: Death Frenzy Plague Priest on Plague Furnace (335) – Artefact: Blistrevous the Living Cyst – Noxious Prayers: Rabid-rabid! Plague Priest (100)* – Noxious Prayers: Rabid-rabid! Plague Priest (100)* – Noxious Prayers: Filth-filth! Verminlord Corruptor (350) – Artefact: Blade of Corruption – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Units 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 30 x Plague Monks (270)*** – Foetid Blades – 3x Standard Bearers – 3x Plague Harbingers – Reinforced x 2 30 x Plague Monks (270)*** – Foetid Blades – 3x Standard Bearers – 3x Plague Harbingers – Reinforced x 2 Vermintide (40)
Declan: There’s still a few armies in Age of Sigmar that can genuinely run hordes… and thankfully Skaven remains one of them although it is rarely seen with Stormfiends being a more common choice.
Brandon has done very well to navigate this to a 5-0 helped by the 100 rats (40 Clanrats and 60 Plague Monks), but led by a complement of no less than 5 characters. As a horde player myself – I love this!
The Corrupter can hit like a ton of bricks:
From Games Workshop / Wahapedia
Sure it’s as swingy as a Mangler Squig but with 3+/3+ he’s definitely doing damage on the charge… and will be a good trading piece – especially if opponents forget the Gnawholes (allow teleporting between them – stand near them to stop this!)
Meanwhile the priests are trying to get the Pestilens +1 to wound… which conveniently includes the Corrupter. 2+/2+ with this and all out attack – that’ll make a mess. And in case you think the big characters are all he has, beware of the glass cannons of the Plague Monks. It’s not what it was back in AoS2 but it’ll still catch some people out.
Games Workshop & Wahapedia
With Filth-filth they are 3+/3+ – a good combat profile – and with +1 attack on the charge they are getting through 1.5 wounds each before saves – and whilst the rend ‘-‘ looks weak they get -2 rend on any 6s to hit.
So, to beat this you need to attack it first… simultaneously whilst hoping Brandon doesn’t know how to use his Clanrats as screens or objective holders – not much chance of that against someone who’s gone 5-0!
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Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Breaker Tribe – Grand Strategy: Show ’Em Who’s Boss! – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Gatebreaker (520)* – General – Command Traits: Monstrously Tough – Artefacts of Power: Glowy Shield of Protectiness Warstomper (450)* – Artefacts of Power: Amberbone Totem Kragnos (720)**
CORE BATTALIONS *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent **Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
Danny: Devon was a tournament close to home (literally – a whole bunch of my club were there) – and despite its small size there were some heavy hitting lists. New SoB definitely count as ‘heavy hitting’ too – even though their damage output with the new book got swingier overall, they gained some extra utility and tactical flexibility.
Now, Kragos isn’t exactly ‘new’ but why fix what ain’t broken? What’s cool is that the ‘little’ guys are viable now, and Jon makes good use of their new points cost as objective/battle tactic grabbers. Meanwhile, Kragnos gets escorted by a Warstomper with the Amberbone Totem for a run AND a 3d6 charge (thanks to Krag-daddy) – while the Gatebreaker packs monstrously tough (for +5 wounds) and the Glowy Shield for minus 1 rend to incoming attacks, making the heavy-hitter also extra survivable.
All in all, it’s a simple, but well thought out and clearly effective package, losing only to the shenanigans of LotP and taking down 3 very good armies in the meta right now. Gargants run by my club-mate Cam also finished 4th – proving the big boys are very much back (well, settling) in town! Kudos to Jon!
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Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: Enough Grub for All – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Frostlord on Stonehorn (445)* – General – Command Trait: Touched by the Everwinter – Prayer: Keening Gale – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder Frostlord on Stonehorn (445) – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Metalcruncher – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate
Alice: A classic style Beastclaw Raiders list, consisting of (mostly) mounted cavalry instead of foot troops. boulderhead is a natural choice as it adds 2 wounds to each model and hands out an extra mount trait to the leaders.
Leading the charge are two Frostlords on Stonehorns, which have an extremely nasty attack repertoire. Most notably the 4 attacks from the Frost Spear for Rend -1 Damage 3 and 6 Rock Hard Horns Rend -2 Damage 3 (With an extra point of damage on the charge). These guys also add +1 to charge rolls for any Beastclaw Raiders, which is most of this list, and they do stack if you’re within the bubble for both of them. Beastclaw Raiders live and die by the charge phase, either they all get in on turn 1 or they’re left out in the open to be picked off. If they get that charge, it’s usually going to be over real quick.
Each one is kitted out differently to aid the group as a whole. The General’s mount trait makes it much more hardy, granting it -1 to be wounded against all attacks, potentially saving it against alpha shooting or charging. Touched by the Everwinter lets him function as a priest, with Keening Gale adding 3″ of movement to the Mournfangs so they can keep up with their Masters. The other Frostlord is a Scalpel to take out high defense units. Metalcruncher does D6 mortals to units with a 3+ or better save, and Levitate allows it to bypass any would be screens trying to stop them from getting to the juicy targets in the back row. With the General using the Unstoppable Charge to make a 3D6″ move after charging, it becames damn near impossible to screen them out.
Rounding things off are a Reinforced unit of Mournfangs, Stonehorn and Thundertusk riders. Stonehorn are strong against tougher units, Thundertusk for hordes and Mournfangs for general purpose slaughter. The list struggle in battle tactics and missions requiring Galetian Veterans but solid at cracking through even strong foes. Of course, the meta darling Ironblaster also appears to rain down fire before the charge.
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Army Faction: Legion of the First Prince – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280) – Artefacts of Power: Armour of the Pact Great Unclean One (495)* – General – Command Traits: Ruinous Aura – Bilesword and Plague Flail – Artefacts of Power: Fourfold Blade – Spells: Flaming Weapon, The Master’s Command Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Hellforged Sword and Malefic Talons Changecaster (140)* – Spells: The Master’s Command Be’lakor (360)** – Spells: The Master’s Command
Alice: Quick disclaimer going forward, the new Slaves to Darkness book was not used in this tournament so any commentary will be referencing the old book.
The general design for Legion of the First Prince focuses on a strong core of Leaders and going lean on troops. Without their faction buffs, most rank and flank daemons struggle to do more than tarpit, but the faction’s strongest ability is to continuously to summon more so its ok to run a bit lean here. The Take What’s Theirs grand strategy starts making a lot more sense with that in mind.
So what do these heroes contribute? Be’lakor the man himself is an obvious staple, even without his bodyguard rule he’s still an excellent beat stick and The Dark Master is unmatched at locking your opponent’s most dangerous unit down for a unit. The Daemon Prince of Khorne serves one goal (remember we still have the old one here): to use its command ability to halve run and charge rolls. There’s no question why it was changed and I can’t blame someone for wanting to take it for one last run. The Changecaster is an extremely budget priced caster compared to the other daemon leaders and packs a spell that reduces Saves on a unit by 1, which is nice.
Both the Bloodthirster and Great Unclean One are meant to be beat sticks that are also difficult to take down. The Bloodthirster’s Armour of the Pact lets it reroll saves while the Great Unclean One has a 5+ Ward thanks to its command trait (Remember, you don’t get Disgustingly Resilient outside Maggotkin). The Great Unclean one can enflame its sword and use its artefact to do D3 mortals with its flail to do a surprising amount of damage with a hero most armies will struggle to kill. If you get stuck in fighting either of these Greater Daemons you likely will lose after a long, grinding fight
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for GAF Jamboree that took place in the UK on 19th and 20th November. 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
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Melusai Ironscale (115)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Mindrazor Morathi-Khaine (680)* The Shadow Queen (680)*
Joshua: Baz gives us a different look into Daughters, with a very interesting Khailebron list.
First, let’s talk about Khailebron since this isn’t a top pick of the temples. This temple allows you to spend a command point and target a friendly unit. Remove them from the battlefield, and set them up anywhere on the battlefield 9” away from enemy units. This is very valuable in the sense that it opens up easy access to battle tactics and getting key units out of combat. This also allows the shadow stalkers to become battleline. After becoming a battleline you also get a very mobile unit for objective grabbing and back line threats.
The first thing that we take away from this list is that Morathi is still involved and we all know she is a force to be reckoned with. Now to add to her threat level you can’t lock her into combat and bog her down. She just uses the Khailebron command ability to teleport out of combat and sets herself up for another charge. Which keeps the scary mindrazor spell giving the plus 1 to damage on the charge. Or getting away to safety, stopping the clock of three wounds on the queen for turn. And for lists that already have trouble getting those three wounds a turn, now struggle even more.
Ironscale being the general allows the Blood Sisters and Blood Stalkers to become battleline. Which is a key piece to this list allowing the stalkers to get up to a 15 man unit. Throwing 30 shots 24” across the table. With morathi on the table allowing the hero phase shooting a total of 60 shots, doing mortals on sixes to hit. Ironscale also lets the Bloodsisters run and charge which increases their threat range to a staggering 24”. Add in the Horrorghast which prevents inspiring presence, units are not staying on the table for long.
To add to all the mobility this list already has, it has two units of Khinerai Heartrenders. Having these two units allow to complete a DOK book tactic, Cruel Delight. Having these two units set in reserve there is nothing your opponent can do to prevent you from completing this tactic. Which gives you an edge in a generals handbook that tactics are not easy to come by.
This list gives you the mobility to threaten the entire board, making no objective safe from your taking. Also it gives you, as the pilot the ability to control your targets a little easier. With the Rites Table giving you a Plus 1 to charge it makes those 9” charges a little easier to come by. Looking at this list it’s clear that it has many, many threats and can easily see it going 5-0 in the upcoming events.
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) – Allies
Declan: With the points increase from 400 to 480 points there was clearly a hope in the AoS design studio that it would reduce it’s appearance. We can’t tell yet, but Tom doesn’t seem to mind. He’s added in a Maw Krusha and 3 Warchanters! No doubt this is so he can power up the Maw Krusha and both 6 Gore Gruntas units. This is an alpha strike army of the highest order.
Add in the Ironjawz ability – Smashing and Bashing – you’re going to need big screens to stop this one steamrollering over you. It’s very, very quick; gets to you in turn 1, and hits like a freight train.
To stop it, you need to take out the bonded Warchanter or hit the Maw Krusha when it doesn’t have finest hour or Mystic Shield on. Shooting armies will definitely have a chance here, but I’m not surprised that Tom got a 4-1.
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Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords – Subfaction: Ymetrica – Grand Strategy: Alarith Aftershock – Triumph: Inspired
Declan: Well this is different. Starts off with Teclis but then has none of the rest of the usual LRL army. Indeed in Ed’s absence I needed to look some of these units up… and that’s a great sign of an off-meta list.
Joe has done well to get to 4-1 with it built around Avalenor and Stoneguard although with Teclis doing his usual heavy lifting of course.
From Games Workshop / Wahapedia
Avalenor is designed to not die – not quite in the same way as Morathi, or a Bastiladon but he can still take some damage and the 3+/3+ combat profit shows he is expected to do some work in combat. At 420 points he’s not cheap but he’s not very slow and counts as 5 on objectives as well.
Meanwhile the Stoneguard and (arguably) more defensive with a 4+ ward if contesting an objective you control with Fortitude of Faith.
Games Workshop / Wahapedia
This will give even Orruks a run for their money and makes them very survivable as anyone who has fought Pheonix Guard will attest to. If they are on an objective, not much is shifting them. Well done to Joe and thanks for getting me to look at 2 different warscrolls!
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Army Faction: Blades of Khorne – Army Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Exalted Greater Daemon of Khorne (580) – General – Command Traits: Mage Eater – Artefacts: Deathdealer 1 x Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (295)* 1 x Skarbrand (380)** 1 x Bloodsecrator (125)** – Artefacts: Skullshard Mantle 1 x Skullgrinder (90)**
Alice: Most Khorne lists rely on 3, sometimes 4 bloodthirsters. It’s one of the actually really good heroes in a faction that is struggling really hard. So Skarbrand and Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury are not surprising here.
What is surprising is the Exalted Greater Daemon, the Resin terror from Forgeworld. At 580 points this thing is not cheap, but it has power when your opponent is facing off against something they’ve probably never seen, let alone played against before. 20 wounds is hard to cut through, and the axe is incredible at 8 attacks at Rend -2 (rend -3 in this case, due to the command entourage’s extra artefact), Damage 3. The fun doesn’t stop there, either. It can nominate a unit in combat to be unable to retreat, able to function as an excellent tarpit. With 20 wounds it’ll be able to hang around a bit. The final perk is in the form of its command ability which lets any daemon unit pile in 6″, anywhere on the field. If your opponent thought he was being clever staying outside of 3″, it’s going to be a bad time.
Most of the roster rounding things off is pretty predictable. Bloodsecrators can help neuter enemy Wizards, and grant an extra attack to every unit within 16″.
The Skullgrinder helps support the foot troops, able to deal some mortal wounds to Enemy Heroes and Monsters on a 2+. Bloodreavers are a workhorse battleline, suitable for capturing objectives and sacrificing to opponents, while Wrathmongers can actually put in some work with their Flurry of attacks and mortal wounds on death.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the TCC: Age of Sigmar 2 Day Event that took place in Australia on 12th and 13th November. It involved 24 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Army Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand strategy: Blessed Desecration
LEADER 1 x Lord of Afflictions (230)* – General – Command Traits: Overpowering Stench – Dolorous Tocsin – Artefacts: The Splithorn Helm 1 x Be’lakor (360)*
BATTLELINE 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (250)* – Dolorous Tocsin 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (250)* – Dolorous Tocsin 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (250)* 4 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (500)* 10 x Plaguebearers (150)*
TERRAIN 1 x Feculent Gnarlmaw (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1995/2000)
Danny: Maggotkin are still good after the flies went up a few points, who’d a thunk it! We got drowned men here for the pre-game move with 10 flies, and a cheeky Be’Lakor to stop your main thing from doing whatever it does that MIGHT kill some flies for a turn (or two if they give away/lose the double).
Oppressive pinning list and attrition through disease points is the name of the game here. Be’Lakor is a cheeky inclusion but makes plenty of sense, given it’s a nightmare to claw back points from fly spam – and let’s be honest, it’s still fly spam – after a turn of your biggest piece sitting on their arse.
We’ll see how it goes – initial feelings are Drowned Men, not the price of flies, is the real problem. But in the meantime, gratz to Thomas for rolling with the punches and taking down some tough armies along the way.
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Allegiance: Sylvaneth – Glade: Heartwood – Mortal Realm: Ghyran – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
LEADERS Alarielle the Everqueen (840)* Spirit of Durthu (370)* – General – Command Trait: Gnarled Warrior – Artefact: Greenwood Gladius
UNITS 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)* 6 x Spiterider Lancers (420)* – Reinforced x 1 Spiteswarm Hive (40) *Battle Regiment
Ethan:One of the real pillars of Sylvaneth currently is Alarielle + good stuff and this list fits it to a Tree (Sorry). Alarielle is a large, fast and durable beatstick that comes back after you deal with her the first time. Her durability is well supported by Durthu as a backup, teleporting spiteswarm recipient, using his warscroll teleport and the additional +3′ to charges to gain consistency on this hammer. Combined with gnarled warrior, durthu becomes quite durable making the 90 wounds of the list slightly misleading. Throw in 15-20 summoned wounds from alarielle and you’ve got quite the beefy core with which to gain board control and threaten across objectives.
Tree revs fill out the middle to complete battle tactics well but the more interesting unit here is the Spiterider Lancers. At 1 damage some people question their staying power after Bounty Hunters rotates but Mitch must think they don’t need the help, taking them in a battle regiment – absolutely key with this kind of list – controlling game flow is invaluable without durable anvils or notable shooting. The Spiteriders always strike first on the charge, allowing for some flexibility with Strike and Fade and giving the Matt a chance to make an educated call about whether he needs to make like a tree (Sorry, Sorry) before a reprisal happens or whether he can use his successive activations to clear an area and hold it safely.
I can see this list being quite swingy in some matchups, Alarielle is notoriously weak to MWs and shooting, but Matt has obviously piloted it well to a 4-1, only losing in the final game to a Maggotkin list. Perhaps Alarielle’s reputation of being pillowfisted coming to the fore against the extremely durable Nurgle units, though he has taken out great competition along the way with Snakes, Ogors, Rats and Bravery bombs under his belt. Well done Matt!
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Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Zainthar Kai – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs:
Leaders Bloodwrack Medusa (130)** – Artefact: Shadow Stone – Lore of Shadows: Mindrazor Slaughter Queen on Cauldron of Blood (315)** – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Crown of Woe – Prayer: Sacrament of Blood Hag Queen (110)** – Prayer: Blessing of Khaine Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix (315)** – Allies
Battleline 10 x Blood Stalkers (360) – Reinforced x 1 15 x Blood Sisters (420)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Witch Aelves (115)* – Pairs of Sacrificial Knives
Units 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (95)** 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (95)**
Danny: If you don’t take Spinedog, you probably take…. double takes a Frostheart on Phoenix allied in!? That’s some interesting tech – it’s not inconsiderably killy but I think the idea behind it is a mobile platform for a 9″ aura of -1 to wound in melee, which will obviously go a long way to keeping a fragile army like DoK alive. Combine that with the 12″ Heart of Fury aura for -1 damage, and a Cauldron of Blood for +1 save within 18″ and Blessing on Khaine prayer on the Hag Queen for re-roll ward saves and, funnily enough, you just make the glassiest of cannons into something resembling a…porcelain cannon! Hell, maybe even a solid oak cannon.
The rest of the list is normal enough – a nice big 15 blob of Blood Sisters for putting out eye-watering mortals after they fight, and the obligatory 2x Khinerai for battle tactic scoring. But love to see the Frostheart tech for a really interesting alternative to the tankiness Morathi brings (to herself) – instead spreading it over a key unit or two.
On the way to 3rd. Liam lost only to the winner, and managed to beat out Fangs of Sotek, SCE and Slaves, who can all put some serious melee hurt, so the list clearly performed. Kudos!
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Allegiance: Kruleboyz – Warclan: Big Yellers – Grand Strategy: Demonstration of Strength – Triumphs:
Leaders Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180) – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof (150) – General – Command Trait: Supa Sneaky Murknob with Belcha-banna (95) – Artefact: Mork’s Eye Pebble
Battleline 10 x Gutrippaz (160)** 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80) 10 x Gutrippaz (160)** 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80) 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120) 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120) 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120) 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120) 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)* 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)* 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)* 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120) 20 x Shootas (120)**
Kieron: So, with the new Battlescroll buffs and the existing staples for almost all Kruleboyz lists, we’d be expecting Joel to write a list to make the most of these, yeah…well, maybe not! With most Kruleboyz lists focusing on some degree of castle, Joel decided to go all Realmstone Cache with his Boltboyz and spray them all over the battlefield.
There’s some logic to this though as Big Yellers means the Boltboyz are battleline, making Demonstration of Strength a solid Grand Strategy choice as you need to kill 11 of the 13 battleline units to prevent it. Big Yellers also get to re-roll one of the hit rolls in the first battle round. Combined with the extra shot from the Boltboy Boss that’s 32 shots, re-rolling 8 of them.
The Mirebrute is probably thrown forward with Supa Sneaky and then opponent has to take first turn to kill it (though with Noisy Racket for -1 to wound, Best Day Ever for +1 to save and then All out Defense) that might not be as easy as you think OR give the turn away and have the Breakaboss rampage through your lines.
All in all, a really interesting take on Kruleboyz that Joel clearly played extremely well in some very tricky matchups.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Proving Grounds that took place in Canada on 22nd and 23rd October. It involved 15 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: Hammers of Sigmar (Scions of the Storm) – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Lord-Imperatant (175)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Spell: Celestial Blades Lord-Commander Bastian Carthalos (300)* Lord-Relictor (145)* – Prayer: Translocation Knight-Judicator with Gryph-Hounds (205)*
UNITS 3 x Annihilators (200)*** 3 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (240)*** 2 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (230)*** 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)* 5 x Vindictors (130)** 5 x Vindictors (130)**
ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS Holy Command: Call for Aid Holy Command: Thunderbolt Volley
TOTAL: 1995/2000 WOUNDS: 83 DROPS:10
Brett: Now we’re talking, 1 of almost everything really good in the SCE book, drops be damned. The result is some really powerful mortal wound projection and good mobility with Translocation, Annihilators and Fulminators. That combined with Bastian and 30″ shooting is punishing. He’s only lost to a list that could get close enough in the early rounds. With the Annihilators only coming in from reserve the Idoneth could really get an advantage in early rounds. We never see 2x Holy Commands, but I think they are underrated. Here they are giving an extra round of shooting and an extra 10 wounds.
This is just a fun list to play with and has some of the best or most interesting units SCE can bring.
Declan: Small tournaments are great in that you can win with a good 4-1 result, and it means the number of 0-5s is hopefully limited — in this case zero! But Matthew has come out on top with a SCE list that has teleporting, armour saves, and good shooting. It’s also a list we’ve seen before but Translocation has gone out of favour recently – so it’s good to see it still being good enough to get success.
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Army Faction: Idoneth Deepkin – Army Subfaction: Nautilar – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Eidolon of Mathlann Aspect of the Storm (355)** – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Arcane Corrasion 1 x Akhelian King (250)** – General – Command Traits: Unstoppable Fury – Bladed Polearm and Falchion – Artefacts: Armour of the Cythai – Mount Traits: Voidchill Darkness 1 x Lotann (115)**
BATTLELINE 1 x Akhelian Leviadon (500)* – Mount Traits: Ancient 10 x Namarti Reavers (170)** 10 x Namarti Thralls (130)*** 10 x Namarti Thralls (130)***
TERRAIN 1 x Gloomtide Shipwreck (0)
OTHER 2 x Akhelian Allopexes (330)* – Alpha Allopex – Razorshell Harpoon Launcher – Barbed Hooks and Blades
Brett: This is a very interesting top 3, this list beat the one in first and was beaten by the list below in third. I haven’t seen that before. Idoneth is still throwing up a lot of variety, they haven’t taken a lot of tournaments so there is no “net list”. Here there is a return to the Allopexes/Leviadon with a supporting cast of infantry. Of course Eidolon and the Ahkelian King are here as hammers. Turn priority is important for Idoneth and would have worked in Pendelton’s favour against first place. The heavy hitters here and Reavers could do devastating damage to the small SCE units in the first turn and then deal with Annihilators. Pretty much every other list would have suffered exactly the same way, unless they had Gotrek or a Big Dragon.
Declan: Good to see IdK still doing well – even if they are Aelves. This is a relatively ‘normal’ list since the new book with Leviadon (big turtle), some sharks, a king and a Eidolon. It’s an interesting list which seems to rely on the characters, sharks and turtle… although don’t underestimate the Thralls. I prefer them in bigger units, but they can still contribute to the game.
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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hallowed Knights (Scions of the Storm) – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADERS Gardus Steel Soul (150)** Lord-Relictor (145)** – Prayer: Translocation Lord-Celestant on Stardrake (500)** – General – Celestine Hammer – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Celestial Instincts – Spell: Thundershock Gotrek Gurnisson (485)** – Allies
UNITS 5 x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield 5 x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield 5 x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240) Everblaze Comet (100)
Brett: And so here is an army you don’t want to get close to, Gotrek , 5+ wards and fight on death for all of those enticing Liberators. Long range shooting and a dragon are always pretty effective. This list is really banking on Everblaze, Stardrake and the Longstrikes to weaken you at range (30″ to 36″). If there is a weakness it’s the crippling lack of mobility in this force. You can teleport (or translocate them) but their scoring opportunities are going to be fewer with only 4″ to 6″ on everything other than the dragon. You really want the enemy to be coming to you which looks like what happened. His only loss was to another fight on death army. Zainthar Kai is brutal with so many attacks and they get to you fast so it makes sense.
Declan: 2 big characters! We’ve not seen Gotrek in a while and the little dwarf is here to provide a big bubble that the enemy doesn’t want to go into. He’s still a monster in combat and can safely kill most things in the game if he can roll normally.
It’s also great to see a Stardrake doing well – it’s seen as overcoasted by most players but the model is great – even I own one. It’s also a great centre piece for drawing attention to the army – something Gotrek just can’t do.
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Army Faction: Cities of Sigmar – Army Type: Living City – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Doralia ven Denst (115)** Freeguild General (100)** – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Lifesurge Freeguild General on Griffon (290)*** – General – Command Traits: Ironoak Artisan – Sigmarite Runesword – Artefacts of Power: Spear of the Hunt – Mount Traits: Soaring Guardian Galen Ven Denst (115)*** Haskel Hexbane (180)***
Brett: Is this someone that also plays Warhammer Fantasy battles? This looks a lot like a Fantasy army (also if you are checking on Best Coast Pairings this is listed as Beastclaw Raiders but as you can see, it isn’t). Good to see the Underworlds here with Hexbane, now go see if you can find his warscroll. Huge number of rank and file combat and shooting hampered only by it’s short range. And that’s what’s happened by the looks of it, every army that needed to charge died to a hail of fire. Even the Lumineth list which was Stoneguard following their glow up in the new book. Lists with long range shooting to hit those crossbow men did a lot better. This is the first of the 3/2 lists and scored really well in all rounds (that he won) other than the last. Stoneguard are really good now.
Hard to disassemble a castle like this without shooting or spells, your best option is to play the mission and try to get tactics where you can avoid engaging. Either way try to get rid of the Demigryph Knights as soon as possible to limit his movement and remove them as a threat to your smaller units.
Declan: I’ve not reviewed a Cities of Sigmar list in a while and this one’s interesting. With both the Ven Denst’s making an appearance and with Freeguild Crossbowmen there is a ranged threat here that is not to be ignored. I’m interested in the Greatswords though.
3+/3+ is the stat-line Games Workshop are using for models and units they want to be good in combat. So the Freeguild are going to hit, and the 4+ armour save is not to be ignored. They are not cheap at 150 points for 10, but with a unit of 10 and 20, they will be able to push out some damage. It’s not seen often, as they’re probably not good enough for a 5-0, but they are great if you want to have fun and have a good paint scheme.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for Hammerfest 2022 Grand Tournament that took place in Texas, USA on the 17th and 18th September. It involved 88 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: Sylvaneth – Glade: Harvestboon – Season: The Dwindling – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Warsong Revenant (305)* – General – Command Trait: Spellsinger – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Deepwood: Treesong – Bonded to Incarnate
Battleline 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)* 6 x Spiterider Lancers (420)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Spiterider Lancers (420)** – Reinforced x 1
Units 5 x Skaeth’s Wild Hunt (110)* – Lore of the Deepwood: Verdurous Harmony
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)* – Allies
Danny: A big win for Sylvaneth at a time they’ve still got something to prove on the competitive circuit! Some patterns are beginning to emerge for the evil trees – Warsong Revenant is rooted in place, and Skaeth’s Wild Hunt (a good value and mobile wizard+retinue with a tasty +1 to wound spell) have come out of retirement – if you can find them!
Zach here however eschews evilest single tree Durthu for 2x 6 Spiteriders, again slightly unusual given the tanky and self-healing Revenants were seeking the position of ‘meta bug cavalry’. It makes sense though – Spiterider Lancer’s 14″ movement and fight first on the charge allows for a devastating weight of rend 2 attacks. In Harvestboon they gain a 12″ pre-game move too, which is huge for establishing board control or setting up the alpha.
With the usual brace of Tree revs for teleport based scoring and the unfortunately ubiquitous Spinedog to pin stuff in place while the Warsong bombs you with MWs, this is a potent list that took down some very challenging armies en route to first. I think even with the Spinedog nerfed into oblivion (or, at least, a shallow hole) it’s still a capable core – kudos to Zach for leafing with gold!
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Army Faction: Legion of the First Prince – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Kairos Fateweaver (435)* – Spells: The Master’s Command 1 x Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280)** – General – Command Traits: Ruinous Aura – Artefacts: Armour of the Pact 1 x Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210)** – Hellforged Sword and Malefic Talons – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 1 x The Contorted Epitome (245)** – Artefacts: Fourfold Blade – Spells: Flaming Weapon, The Master’s Command – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
BATTLELINE 5 x Flesh Hounds (105)* – Gore Hound – Burning Roar 10 x Bloodletters (110)* – Gore-drenched Icon Bearer – Hornblower – Bloodreaper 5 x Flesh Hounds (105)*
BEHEMOTH 1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Umbral Spellportal (70) 1 x Chronomantic Cogs (40)
Danny: Legion are enjoying a bit of a twilight resurgence since their nerf – although ‘rumour’ (i.e. leaks) have it that their current format will drastically change in the new year.
In the meantime, this is a still-excellent version of the army that employs the favoured combo of Kairos (for spellz!) a Bloodthirster (for many MWs in an 8″ aura on 6s!) and a Daemon Prince – who until the new Slaves book is still rocking Blood Slick Ground for that really quite sweet halves-charges aura. Flesh hounds provide great value screening and utility – their free unbind/dispel attempt is an added bonus – aaaaaaaaand of course there’s a Krondspine for even more of that sweet, sweet control.
You may also notice there’s no Be’lakor in this list – I guess he’s learned to delegate? Taking down DoT, Nurgle, NH and the board control of SBGL is no mean feat so big up to Matt for this swan song – this list is not long for this world.
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Allegiance: Sylvaneth – Glade: Heartwood (The Burgeoning) – Mortal Realm: Ghyran – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Alarielle the Everqueen (840)* Arch-Revenant (120)* – General – Command Trait: Warsinger – Artefact: Seed of Rebirth
Battleline 6 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Scythes (500)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230)* 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230)*
Danny: These successful Sylvaneth lists are sprouting up everywhere eh? And this one brings big ol’ thunder thighs herself! She’s backed up by the obviously strong combo of 2×3 Kurnoth bows backed up by Arch-Rev for +1 to wound even to their shooting – and in Heartwood they’ll also be naturally at +1 to hit three chosen targets meaning you don’t lose out by splitting the squads as AoA isn’t necessary. A big blob of Scythes absolutely blend and survive most attacks before getting a model or two back from Rally or the Verdurous Harmony spell.
That’s it really – a hugely tough and killy Kurnoth core escorting Alarielle for all sorts of spell casting and utility, screening and turning terrain into Overgrown for teleporting shenanigans. I’m happy to see a list with her in do well as, personally I think they did her scroll dirty but she deserves to be seen on top tables.
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Allegiance: Kruleboyz – Warclan: Big Yellers – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (280) Killaboss with Stab-grot (110)* – Artefact: Mork’s Eye Pebble Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105)* – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (315)* – General – Command Trait: Egomaniak – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Smelly ‘Un – Lore of the Swamp: Sneaky Miasma
Battleline 20 x Gutrippaz (360)** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Gutrippaz (360)** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)** 9 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (360)* – Reinforced x 2
Danny: Those plucky Kruleboyz! Sitting pretty in the bottom 3 of win-rates, going 4-1 – meaning it was actually in a tournament winning position – and losing only to Sylvaneth who an army like this just can’t really interact with at all is really impressive and cool to see.
James here opts not to use the recently buffed Grinnin’ Blades to go all in (ish) on Boltboyz in Big Yellerz – bringing a big blob of 9 which really should punch through an awful lot of targets in the game. They’re commanded by no less than Gobsprakk himself – an ever-controversial pick who can nevertheless play mind games with enemy casters and generally fly around issuing double-commands to stuff and casting from the actually great Kboyz lore.
Wonderfully, he’s joined by the humble Killaboss on FOOT (not to mention his trust stab-grot, the real MVP of any list) – presumably a budget way to access All Part of Da Plan – to essentially make the 2x 20 blobs of Gutrippaz immune to battleshock. The shaman and Sludgeraker round off the ‘fishing for 5s/6s’ synergy package, with the latter rocking Egomaniak (essentially turning the hobgrotz into ablative bodyguard wards) making it super durable, with Arcane Tome and Sneaky Miasma for casting a hero-phase move on himself.
It’s a lovely list that can put out an eye-watering number of MWs up close and actually packs some real board control chops. It’s got overlapping synergies and plenty of movement options, and about as much durability as Kboyz can manage. Real big up to James for coming so close – can’t wait to see what he does with the faction after the Battlescroll!
P.s. according to the new Woehammer scoring metrics that take army win-rate into account, this was the winning list of the event!
I’ve often visited the idea of creating unit stat cards for reference purposes. These would show things like a units resilience (i.e. How much damage should be allocated to it on average before saves are made to have a chance of destroying it in the battleshock phase). What the units threat range is and how much damage it does on average.
I’ve knocked a few designs up over the last few months but have started to settle on the ones below.
Eventually I’m hoping to do these for each unit in the game……
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Hobart Hammer On Grand Tournament that took place in Tasmania, Australia on 1st and 2nd October. It involved 26 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Ethan: Bit of a fun one here. I was at this GT! I came second, first GT ever to boot! Let’s get into the lists and keep an eye out for the GT writeup soonish when I find some time to put thoughts to keyboard but in case that is delayed somewhat a massive shout-out to Mitch the TO and our venue of Good Games Hobart for getting AoS kicking in good old Tassie again!
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
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The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Hagg Nar – Mortal Realm: Ulgu – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Morathi-Khaine (340)* – Lore of Shadows: Mindrazor – Lore of Shadows: Shroud of Despair The Shadow Queen (340)* High Gladiatrix (90)* – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Crown of Woe – Incamate Bond
Battleline 20 x Witch Aelves (230)** – Pairs of Sacrificial Knives – Reinforced x 1 10 x Witch Aelves (115)*** – Sacrificial Knives and Blade Bucklers 10 x Witch Aelves (115)*** – Sacrificial Knives and Blade Bucklers
Units 10 x Doomfire Warlocks (290)** – Spell1: Universal Spell Lore: Levitate – Spell2: Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon – Reinforced x 1
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400) – Allies
Endless Spells & Invocations Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
Ethan: Congratulations to Luke Stone of Cinderfall gaming (check him out on YouTube) on his first GT victory. He achieved this with a DoK list which seems to be the new and improved iteration of Morathi and her pesky bow snakes, along with a Spinedog. This list presents you with lasting problems to which many armies don’t have an answer. Both Morathi and the Spinedog are fighting and murdering things for the first 2 battle rounds under ideal conditions, even more if you don’t have units to handle them and weather the storm. Backing this spine up, a high gladiatrix and 40 witch aelves sit as a mobile block ready to delete anything which makes it past the front lines. One block of 20 is in Bounty hunters, adding to their powers of deletion while the other two MSU units are in Expert Conquerors adding to this army’s prodigious scoring capabilities.
An interesting piece of tech for this list is the inclusion of the 10 Doomfire Warlocks, creating an additional hypermobile threat to assist either Morathi or the Spinedog or to create pressure in the parts of the field that they can’t cover. Add in a Purple Sun and the Doomfires running near your lines becomes rather ominous as you’re forced to deal with them or play hero roulette for the turn (We played this GT under old Purple Sun rules but the statement remains true!). The one critique I hold for the list is it puts a great deal of points into a limited number of models so anything with the capacity to go wide (a rarity in the current meta) or to pin it, rather than vice versa can present it with some difficult questions to answer. That aside, Luke performed admirably throughout the tournament, only losing in the fifth round and only dropping a single battle tactic over the course of the entire event!
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Allegiance: Sylvaneth – Glade: Gnarlroot – Season of War: The Dwindling – Mortal Realm: Ghyran – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Warsong Revenant (305) – General – Command Trait: Spellsinger – Lore of the Deepwood: The Dwellers Below Treelord Ancient (360) – Lore of the Deepwood Treesong Arch-Revenant (120)” – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Lore of the Deepwood: Verdurous Harmony
UNITS 10 x Dryads (100)* 5x Tree-Revenants (110)* 5x Tree-Revenants (110)* 6x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatswords (500)* 3x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)* – Alles
Ethan: This list is a masterpiece of tasteful design, whoever made it must be both a savant of the game and incredibly good looking to boot…
I’ve been informed that I should stick to writing the articles from here forward so, full disclosure, this is my list! This list runs Gnarlroot for the 3d6 casting once per turn, usually invested into the Warsong bomb to maximise Mortal Wound output. Combined with The Dwindling for re-rolls and the intrinsic +1 to cast of the Warsong Revenant and you have a considerable backline ranged threat active from turn 1. The TLA acts as an enabling piece for this, placing a single tree anywhere on the field and acting as a decent combat beat stick. Throw in a Vengeful Skullroot and there are very few support heroes surviving the first turn as the endless spell is cast from the summoned tree, right into the midst of the enemy army. Horrorghast provides the army a means of evening the wound differential Sylvaneth often suffers from, acting as a great anti-horde tool over a wide area in combination with the warsong bomb and creating great threat against reinforced elite units.
The only other spicy aspects of the list are the Kurnoth Swords as a 6-block, unusual in its difference from the usual scythe block found in Sylvaneth lists. Swords hold the unique advantage of being more effective after taking 5 wounds (even surpassing 6 scythes in damage output) and being significantly more damaging without supporting pieces, lessening the need to play a terrifying game of chicken with the Archrevenant and avoiding the antisynergy present in the allegiance abilities’ limitation of a single unit strike and fading per turn. In review, and especially against Nighthaunt (Sorry Steve) this worked as planned and provided a durable and dangerous mortal wound output into the broadest possible variety of units. The other tech piece is allied Longstrikes. We all know what Longstrikes do. I refuse to pay 230 points for mediocre shooting on a 15 wound chassis (Get in the bin, Kurnoth Bows). They help force battleshock tests and ensure if the opponent had any hope of using any of their heroes, it’s snuffed out. This list also went 4-1 (no 5-0s in the event!), dropping game 4 to a 10-Protector Hammer of Sigmar list.
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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hallowed Knights (Scions of the Storm) – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Demonstration of Strength – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Gardus Steel Soul (150)* Lord-Relictor (145) – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Spell: Celestial Blades – Prayer: Translocation
UNITS 5 x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1x Grandweapons 5 x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1 x Grandweapons 5x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1 x Grandweapons 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)* – Drakerider’s Warblade 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)* – Drakerider’s Lance
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS Holy Command: Call for Aid
Ethan: In third, this Hallowed Knights list from Kaine presents the opponent with two massive threats (1st and 3rd sharing a theme there) in the form of two blocks of 4 x Stormdrake Guard. Call to aid and MSU liberators provide battleline requirements and durable deck-chair sitters at a point premium while Gardus and the standard Lord-Relictor set-up provide durability and mobility in equal parts. Much like Luke’s List, Kaine’s list asks the opponent a key question of “Can you deal with 36 wounds of Mortal Wound outputting, 3+ armour save, 5+ ward save, flying cavalry counting as 5 each on objectives?”. If the answer is no, congratulations you’re not playing Big Stabbas. With the exception of the Spinedog (which I think Kaine managed to dodge in this GT) treating them like a sectioned-up protein bar, dragons haven’t lost any of the power they once enjoyed, even if they have lost automatic 3” charges the moment your opponent puts down their dice. This creates brilliant pressure all game long and a strong primary-scoring advantage which most armies will struggle to match.
Gardus is an interesting tech-piece here, adding to the Dragons’ and Liberators’ durability massively with the 5+ ward but obligating the use of the Hallowed Knights subfaction, which is often overlooked compared to other Stormcast offerings. The list does suffer when it comes across something which can either kill the dragons quickly or withstand the storm of damage they put out but with a lack of both present in this tournament Kaine was able to execute consistently with his two big-threat units to carry himself to a 4-1, only losing to Sylvaneth in round 2.
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Allegiance: Skaven – Grand Strategy: Arch-corruptors of the Mortal Realms – Triumphs:
LEADERS Thanquol on Boneripper (415)* – 4 Warpfire Projectors – Lore of Ruin: Death Frenzy Warlock Bombardier (115)* – Artefact: Esoteric Warp Resonator – Lore of Warpvolt Galvanism: More-more-more Warp Power! Plague Priest (100)** – General – Command Trait: High Priest – Noxious Prayers: Rabid-rabid Plague Priest (100)** – Noxious Prayers: Filth-int Plague Priest (100)** – Universal Prayer Scripture: Guidance
UNITS 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 6 x Stormfiends (640)* – 2x Windlaunchers – 2x Rating Cannons – 2x Doomflayer Gauntlets 20 x Plague Monks (180)* – Foetid Blades – 2x Standard Bearers – 2x Plague Harbingers
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS Warp Lightning Vortex (80) Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
Ethan: Freddie Berryman: Our local protagonist and rat-man enthusiast was the favourite for many of our locals. A Skaven Savant, Freddy utilizes a wide variety of army-specific strategies in this list, with the Grand Strategy “Arch-Corruptors of the Mortal Realms” providing an alternative to many of the swingier options available in the current GHB. This only requires any three of Thanquol and the three Plague Priests to survive until the end of the game.
Freddy has gone wide with his list, investing for the full Pestilens package, including Great Plagues while dipping his toe into Masterclan and Skyre for perks for their respective units. Thanquol forms the backbone of the list with a massive +3 casting bonus baseline ensuring dominance in spellcasting while the 4 Warpfire Projectors, properly screened, create a strong deterrent for anyone thinking of quickly lifting a unit of Clanrats. Thanquol has the ability to issue the same command twice so, positioned properly alongside the Stormfiends, any army without the chaff requires to eat the unleash hell will have a miserable time cracking open the Skaven Castle.
Outside of this, the Plague Monks – buffed to the nines by the Plague Priests and Death Frenzy – are one of the punchiest units in the entire game. Kragnos? Archaon? 20 rats with little swords and more attacks than can be reliably attributed to the entire united states military. Were you previously against dice-rolling apps? You won’t be after spending 10 minutes watching your opponent obliterate your favourite unit through the sheer power of “eventually you will roll enough 1s to die”. Safe to say, if your opponent has a scary looking unit, you can point Plague Monks at it and assume its death is imminent.
One of the more interesting aspects of Freddie’s list is taking a compact Skyre package of Bombadier and 6 Stormfiends, allowing the projection of a powerful shooting threat to “encourage” opponents to approach the castle. Throw in Warp Lightning Vortex and Purple Sun and you’ve got a truly terrifying list.
Freddy finished Best in Chaos with a respectable 3-2, falling to both 4th and 5th place. Having played every Orruk army at the event I can only feel for his Clanrats, who must feel like they’ve been hit by a car or at a minimum, a stiff breeze.