This is the top three AoS lists for the Total Escape Games Winter Warhammer Smash that took place in the US on the 3rd and 4th of November. It saw 14 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
With less than 20 players we won’t be commenting on each list individually.
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: Seraphon – Army Type: Starborne – Subfaction: Fangs of Sotek – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Skink Starpriest (130)* – Spells: Cosmic Crush, Merciless Blizzard Slann Starmaster (290)* – General – Command Traits: Lord of Celestial Resonance – Artefacts of Power: Spacefolder’s Stave – Spells: Hoarfrost, Stellar Tempest Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)** Lord Kroak (410)** – Spells: Comet’s Call, Stellar Tempest Skink Starseer (150)** – Spells: Hoarfrost, Speed of Huanchi
OTHER Beasts of Chaos Tzaangor Enlightened (180) – Aviarch Dragon Ogors (420) Beasts of Chaos Tzaangors (170) – Icon Bearer – Brayhorn Blower – Twistbray – Pair of Savage Blades – 2 x Tzaangor Mutant
CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
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Army Faction: Seraphon – Army Type: Starborne – Army Subfaction: Fangs of Sotek – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Skink Starseer (150)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Cosmic Crush 1 x Skink Starseer (150)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Speed of Huanchi 1 x Lord Kroak (410)** 1 x Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)** 1 x Slann Starmaster (290)** – General – Command Traits: Lord of Celestial Resonance – Artefacts: Spacefolder’s Stave – Spells: Drain Magic, Hoarfrost
BATTLELINE 5 x Saurus Guard (140) – Saurus Guard Alpha – Icon Bearer – War-drummer 10 x Skinks (90) – Skink Alpha – Boltspitter – Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler 10 x Saurus Warriors (180) – Icon Bearer – War-drummer – Saurus Warrior Alpha – Celestite Club 5 x Raptadon Chargers (150)**
BEHEMOTH 1 x Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek (180)
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Malevolent Maelstrom (50) 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30) 1 x Aethervoid Pendulum (40)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Andtorian Acolytes **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Kruleboyz – Subfaction: Big Yellers – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Gobsprakk (240)* Killaboss on Corpse-rippa Vulcha (200)** – General – Command Traits: Supa Sneaky – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un
The Six Nations AoS Teams Tournament is coming up soon, where England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Sweden and Wales will compete against each other and the lists have just been released. To give you an overview of the kinds of matchups that will be coming up and what we can learn from the submissions of these national teams, we’ve come up with six takeaways from the lists.
Of the Six Nations, all countries took a Khorne variant apart from Scotland, underlining how powerful Khorne are in the current meta with their ability to march across the board and stomp their authority on any game. Prayers are clearly going to be a key part of the Khorne strategy alongside the ubiquitous Murderlust for those out of phase movements. Only one Skarbrand out of the five lists, but lots of Wrathmongers and Flesh Hounds with one Bloodlords list with waves of Bloodletters. Other popular lists included Soulblight Legion of Night with Manfred appearing in three of the four lists; Seraphon Fangs of Sotek with double Ark of Sotek Bastiladon; three King Brodd’s Stomps, with three bigs and three littles and three Disciples of Tzeentch Guild of Summoners lists with 12 Enlightened on Discs.
Give me ALL of the Primal Dice!
While there are lots of battle regiments in the lists as expected, the next most common battalion is Andtorian Acolytes for those extra Primal Dice. In most cases, the lists in question could not fit into a single battle regiment, but rather than going for a second battle regiment, those extra Primals seemed to be worth going to a three drop list minimum. Alongside a high frequency of Merciless Blizzard, the potential for a single hero phase to turn around what should be an easy win to a loss (or vice-versa) is definitely there. Even just being aware of the threat will impact on the opponent’s strategy, which might be enough to get a positive result for your team.
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Fight me, you coward!
We are clearly in a combat-heavy meta at the moment, with the vast majority of lists focusing on winning the battle by fighting in combat as opposed to relying on ranged shooting attacks. Both Daughters of Khaine lists have eschewed the Bow Snakes for the Fighty Snakes; there are no Lumineth Sentinels at the event; even Kharadron Overlords are much more focused on fighting out of a Frigate rather than Thunderers blasting away from range. There are a couple of exceptions, with all of the Idoneth lists having a healthy amount of shooting, with even the Namarti-heavy list having 40 Reavers and the Shark lists having a huge number of attacks that will also explode on 6s. It will be interesting who these will be matched up with because the lack of return shooting from their opponents could really swing the matchup in the fish-elves favour!
OB – Where?
One of the more underrepresented armies of the top echelon recently are Ossiarch Bonereapers, with only two nations choosing to collect the Bone Tithe and both of these being Null Myriad lists. The points increases on Immortis seem to have done the trick as there are only two units at the event, with Deathriders and Mortek picking up the slack. Perhaps this isn’t surprising as only a quarter of the armies at the event are heavy magic-users and the pairings process can potentially avoid a single anti-magic army. Other notable missing armies include Beasts of Chaos, Ogor Mawtribes and Kruleboyz – just kidding! As recently as a few months back, there would be less variation than we have represented, with nineteen of twenty-four battle tomes in attendance, showing how healthy the meta currently is.
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An Age of Heroes.
Across the lists, there is definitely a flavour of what unique heroes can bring to an army, not only narratively, but competitively too. Named characters who will be fighting it out include Gobsprakk, Katakros, Skarbrand, Brokk Grungsson, Kairos Fateweaver, Manfred Von Carstein, The Glottkin, Severith, Morathi and everyone’s (least) favourite angry dwarf, Gotrek. One of my favourite aspects of AoS is how cool it looks on the tabletop to have these centre-piece models battle it out and there will be ample opportunities for epic showdowns across the event with this array of heroes.
Skewl List, bro!
Most of the lists submitted are relatively close to a take-all-comers singles list too, but there are a couple of more skew lists that look really interesting that will cause absolute headaches for whoever gets paired into them. The IDK shark lists come close to this, but they’ve become a bit more mainstream, with several players running this list successfully. What might become more of a meta-list after this event and with the arrival of Belthanos on the scene is Andreas Angermund’s 18 Spiterider and 6 Seeker list. Firstly, respect to Andreas if he is transporting that many models with fragile and awkward wings but then to also give your opponent the dilemma of having these 24 flies be able to pre-game move 12″ before the game even starts…yikes! Another interesting list that could very quickly get across the table and punch you in the mouth is Greg Shelton’s 30 Black Knight list. Black Knights appear in several of the Soulblight lists, but no-one has gone as hard in as Greg has. If all three Black Knight units make a charge, Greg will be rolling 60 dice and expecting at least 20 mortal wounds as his return – scary stuff indeed.
So that’s six takeaways from the Six Nations lists. Best of luck to all competitors at what I’m sure will be a great event. Are there any interesting combos that I’ve missed? Please comment below if I have and let us know which list(s) you think will do the most work!
This is the top three AoS lists for the End Times Grand Tournament 2023 that took place in Czechia on the 7th and 8th of October. 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.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Kruleboyz – Subfaction: Grinnin’ Blades – Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
LEADERS Gobsprakk (240) Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof (120) – General – Command Traits: Supa Sneaky – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (100)* – Spells: Hoarfrost Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (100)* – Spells: Sneaky Miasma Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (290)** – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un Swampboss Skumdrekk (280)***
Aaron Newbom: This is a nice balanced list that has take all comers energy. Gobbsprakk is amazing in this meta and a real all star of the list. It’s hard to leave home without him right now.
The same goes for a single unit of hobgrotz. It’s just so much utility for 80 points
My favorite bit here, though, is the gnashtoof. It’s such a great pinning piece and incredibly annoying to kill for its cost.
In the current GHB sacrificing, your general can be a boon as it opens up tactics. Previously, I would’ve recommended against making the dog general, but it makes sense in this context
Army Faction: Flesh-eater Courts – Subfaction: Hollowmourne – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Abhorrant Archregent (240)* – General – Command Traits: Grave Robber – Artefacts of Power: The Dermal Robe – Spells: Hoarfrost Abhorrant Ghoul King (170)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (450)** – Artefacts of Power: Corpsefane Gauntlet – Mount Traits: Gruesome Bite – Spells: Blood Feast Crypt Haunter Courtier (110)** Crypt Haunter Courtier (110)**
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Chalice of Ushoran (50)
TERRAIN 1 x Charnel Throne (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Andtorian Acolytes **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: 1985/2000
Hanna Leppänen: This list is a Hollowmourne 99 archetype, with core of the army being 2 units of 9 Crypt Horrors, who of course hit like trucks when buffed. Joachim decided to go with extra artefact for the Spellcasting Savant GS General, picking up the Dermal Robe for better spellcasting, instead of more spells. He has only one Archreagent, which is not typical and has a Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist instead of the more common Zombie Dragon King. Terrorgheist is more offensive piece and does have a good spell that gives the target unit a 5+ ward. He also picked 2 Haunter Courtiers to have reliable mustering for his 2 blocks of 9 Crypt Horrors. Weirdly the list lacks one of the best spells the 99 -lists have, Deranged Transformation, but Hollowmourne CA offers some additional mobility to the big blocks of Horrors.
Chalice of Ushoran is a very unorthodox pick, usually seen more in old Morgaunt lists. For Horror lists it doesn’t return models to the meat and bones of the army (Horrors), but you can use it to heal the Terrorgheist King and basically anything within the range of the Endless Spell. One small unit of Royal Beastflayers is a nice tech piece to counter possible Roars preventing feeding frenzy CA’s on the important pieces.
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Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Subfaction: Jaws of Mork – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Fungoid Cave-Shaman (110)* – General – Command Traits: The Clammy Hand – Spells: The Hand of Gork Madcap Shaman (70)* – Artefacts of Power: Moonface Mommet – Spells: Hoarfrost Squigboss (110)** Skragrott, the Loonking (230)***
Lodivicus: Sharing a lot of the same core units as the list that won the London GT just a week earlier, Laszlo’s list supports that this core may be the new normal for Jaws of Mork lists (as opposed to the double max Squig Herd and Squig Hoppers lists that preceded it a few battlescrolls ago).
The core of the list consists of Skragrott, one doubled reinforced Squig Herd, a Madcap Shaman (with Moonface Mommet and Hoarfrost), a Squigboss, Boingrot Bounderz, Sneaky Snufflers, Gobbapalooza and, of course, the Bad Moon Loonshrine.
Rather than just regurgitating all of the same information about the core, I’ll direct you to read that commentary here. It was so well written by two experts, that there isn’t much that I could say to expand upon it. So what makes this list different from the one that won the London GT just a week earlier? Two significant changes.
First, the decision to select the Fungoid Cave-Shaman as the general makes getting his Grand Strat pretty reliable. The Spore Squig ability reducing visibility to 12” (even against spells) can be huge for his survivability since he’ll be camping near the Loonshrine for the Clammy Hand command trait benefit. As a second source of Hand of Gork, he can still contribute from the back and can get himself out of dodge if necessary to secure the three points.
Second, Laszlo chose to include two Moonclan Shootas units (as opposed to more Bounderz) to provide some level of ranged support. They are primarily there to be model count for objective control but also serve the purpose of adding extra wound count to the army.
It will be exciting to see what other variations on the remaining points around the core will be in the future. And if the core of list does, as I suspect, become the new normal for Jaws of Mork lists going forward.
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Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Cabalists – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Inspire
Leaders Exalted Hero of Chaos (90)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Cabalists 2nd Spell: Binding Damnation – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Cabalists 2nd Spell: Chaotic Conduit – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate Chaos Lord (110)* – General – Reaperblade & Daemonbound Steel – Command Trait: Idolater Lord – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (180)** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed
Battleline 10 x Chaos Warriors (180)** – Aspiring Champion – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Murderous Weapon – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon 10 x Chaos Warriors (180)** – Aspiring Champion – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Murderous Weapon – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 10 x Chaos Warriors (180)** – Aspiring Champion – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Murderous Weapon – Mark of Chaos: Undivided 5 x Chaos Knights (220)** – Doom Knight (Cursed Lance) – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh
Units 6 x Ogroid Theridons (300)** – Thorakon – Banner Bearer – Charge-Caller – Goroan Great Axe – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1
Roland Rivera: Now here’s a list you don’t see very often. In fact, I think this is a list you wouldn’t see at all prior to the latest Battlescroll. Conventional wisdom in Slaves to Darkness listbuilding is to go light on Heroes so that you have more points to spend on their devastating power-punching troops. This list has chosen a very different approach – support lots of efficiently-priced bodies with lots of Heroes and a bit of long-range shooting.
Notably, this list features 4 Heroes with the rarely-seen Mark of Tzeentch, which can give the list a lot of positional flexibility when combined with the spellcasting power of Cabalists. With so many potential landing spots if the Heroes spread out, Warp Reality starts to function more like a conventional teleportation spell, which in turn makes it very useful. It also features a unit of Nurgle Warriors to hold the line, a unit of Undivided Warriors to pressure objectives, and a unit of Slaanesh Knights for reach. Speaking of reach, 2 Mutalith Vortex Beasts can combine with Tzeentch Heroes to give this list a bit of long-range damage potential that Slaves to Darkness lists typically lack.
The punch in this list comes from Merciless Blizzard (carried by a semi-expendable Exalted Hero) and a unit of 6 Khorne Ogroid Theridons, which hit like a ton of bricks. It’s a style of list we don’t often see out of Slaves to Darkness, but it clearly has some potential.
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Final Tournament Placings
To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings
Compared to Gutrippaz, they’re comparatively slightly more expensive at nearly 17pts per model as opposed to the Gutrippaz 15pts per model. But there’s some very good reasons for this. While you don’t receive the Skareshields for the -1 to hot from enemy units (non-Hero or Monster), you do gain extra attacks over the Gutrippaz (23 attacks with -1 rend on 22 of those for the Monsta-Killaz, where you get 21 with no rend for the Gutrippaz), making fishing for 6’s slightly easier to get those venom-encrusted mortals.
You also have the ability to turn off Monstrous Rampage on a 2+ for an enemy Monster within 6″. As well as that, you can cause that Monster to have Strike Last.
Whenever I’ve taken Kruleboyz Monsters, I’ve found them susceptible to enemy Monsters, now you have the option to bodyguard your Sludgeraker with Monsta-Killaz, they’ll not only give your own Monster an advantage in the duel but they’ll also do some reasonable damage themselves if necessary.
What’s key is that you could lead the charge with the Sludgeraker and have your Monsta-Killaz put of combat behind it but within 6″ of the enemy Monster to use their abilities.
A more risky strategy may be to use the Supa-Sneaky command ability on them to try and get them into combat with an enemy Monster on the first turn. Or if there is no enemy Monster, you could Supa-Sneaky them jnto a soft target or use them as an objective grabber or even a screen at a push.
Either way, for only 135pts, it opens up a couple more tactical options for the Kruleboyz.
Let me know below any potential uses you can see for the Monsta-Killaz.
This is the top three AoS lists for the Thunderstrike GT that took place in Canada on the 25th and 26th of August. It involved 18 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Wurrgog Prophet (170)* – Artefacts of Power: Glowin’ Tattooz – Spells: Hoarfrost Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)* – Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Gobsprakk (240)** Orruk Warchanter (120)** – Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Warchanter (120)** – Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat Megaboss on Maw-krusha (450)*** – General – Command Traits: Hulking Brute – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts of Power: Destroyer – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un
BATTLELINE Orruk Ardboys (80)** – Ardboy Boss – Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer – Waaagh! Drummer – 2 x Orruk-forged Shield Orruk Ardboys (80)*** – Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer – Waaagh! Drummer – Ardboy Boss – 2 x Orruk-forged Shield Orruk Brutes (280)*** – Brute Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka – Boss Choppa – 2 x Gore-choppa
OTHER Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)*** – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
OTHER Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Boltboy Boss CORE BATTALIONS *Andtorian Acolytes **Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
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Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz – Gittish Horde: Glogg’s Megamob – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Dankhold Troggboss (210)*** – General – Command Trait: Loonskin – Artefact: Glowy Howzit Fungoid Cave-Shaman (110)** – Lore of the Moonclans: Itchy Nuisance – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost Madcap Shaman (70)** – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork – Lore of Primal Frost: Rupture Skragrott, The Loonking (230)*
Battleline 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (340)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Rockgut Troggoths (170)* 3 x Rockgut Troggoths (170)*
Units 5 x Gobbapalooza (170)* – Spell1: Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork – Spell2: Lore of the Moonclans: Nikkit!Nikkit! 2 x Dankhold Troggoths (380)*** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (140)*
Kruleboyz are one of the few armies which enjoy dishing out mortal wounds in buckets. It’s also the one Orruk army which enjoys a tonne of shooting attacks. They are a glass cannon however, and suffer from the odd breeze. They lack any serious screening but enjoy a surfeit of monsters that both dish out the damage and buff your troops attacks.
What’s in the Vanguard Box?
In the box you get:
Killaboss on Great-Gnashtoof
Murknob with Belcha-Banna
10 Gutrippaz
3 Man-Skewer Boltboys
1 Beast-Skewer Killbow
All for £85 at Games Workshop. Unless you wanted to buy it through our affiliate Element Games, in which case it would cost you £72.25.
The total points of these units under the current battlescroll comes to just 540 points, so we’ll need to buy a fair few more units to get up to the 1,000 point mark.
Next go and pick up the Age of Sigmar Harbringer Set, it’s great value and you’ll get the difficult to source Swampcalla Shaman as well as 10 more Gutrippaz and 10 Hobgrots to act as a screen. This brings us up to 870 points. For the final spend, pick up another set of 3 Man-Skewer bolt boys.
Your total spend through Games Workshop will be £215 (if you include the Orruk Battletome which you’ll need for the rules). But as mentioned, if you use our affiliate link with Element Games, you’ll get all of this for just £176.25 (including the Battletome).
Don’t forget though, you can probably get at least £20 back for selling the Stormcast half of the Harbringer box. So consider this 1k army as £150ish with the Tome.
OTHER 3x Man-Skewer Boltboyz (120)* 3x Man-Skewer Boltboyz (120)*
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 990/1,000 Wounds: 89 Drops: 1
First off, we’ve chosen Grinnin’ Blades to nullify your squishy army from getting popped outside of 12″.
We’re then wrapping them all up into a single drop Battle Regiment. In theory this should give you control of the first turn. If you’re facing another ranged army like Kharadron Overlords or Lumineth Realm-Lords this can mean you actually opt to give them the first turn, force them to move closer but stay outside of their ranged attacks, then on your first turn have your Man-Skewers and Killbow take down some fools. If you’re lucky you may even get th priority into the second turn…
The Units
Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof
Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof Painted By Woehammer Peter
This fella is great, and it’s a model I personally love. With a 10″ move, he’s not particularly fast, so we’ve given him the mount trait Fast ‘Un to get that one extra hero phase move. Meaning, in theory you could potentially pull a move and charge off against an enemy 27″ away.
Rather than the traditional Supa Sneaky you often see on a Kruleboyz warboss, we’ve gone for Slippery Skumbag. This is to maxmise the Savage Hound ability which gives the unit +1 to its hit rolls if it made a charge in the same turn. This means if you’re locked in combat, you’ll be able to retreat out, and then charge once more in the same turn.
Swampcall Shaman and Pot Grot
Painted by Woehammer Peter
This guy is going to be key to maximising the amount of damage your units can kick out during the battle. Using his Poison ability means that the unit you buff will cause mortal wounds from their venom-encrusted weapons on a 5+ instead of the usual 6+. During the early stages of a game, you’ll want him giving poison to your ranged Man-Skewer Boltboyz. Follow this up late game with the Gutrippaz when they make combat and watch the colour drain from your opponent’s face.
We’ve also given him the spell Nasty Hex, so if you do come up against any armies with ward saves, he’ll have a chance of turning them off before your Poison enhanced units pick them apart.
As a last little gift, this guy will sticking close to either your Man-Skewer Boltboyz or your Gutrippaz, so we’ve given him the artefact Mork’s Eye Pebble. Meaning once per game in a single phase, the Swampcalla Shaman and all units within 12″ will have a 5+ ward save. Not bad for a bit of extra survivability.
Murknob with Belcha-banna
Credit: Games Workshop
Under the current General’s Handbook (Season 23/24), this model has improved in value. With the amount of Wizards now able to cast various spells without too much difficulty, it helps to have a source of ward saves against them. Make sure you keep him near your key damage dealers like the Gutrippaz and Man-Skewers so they benefit from that 5+ ward save against spells.
On top of that he can dish out some mortal wounds alongside the Gutrippaz with the Breath of the Mire-drakes ability. Just don’t rely on it too much.
Gutrippaz
Painted by Woehammer Peter
I hope your woman loves you like Woehammer Pete loves Gutrippaz
It’s true, I love these guys. I’ve found so many times that people underestimate the amount of damage that they can kick out (that’s why I have a list with 60 of them…).
With Poison from the SwampcallaShaman a unit of 10 of these boys they dish out the following damage on average:
v Save
Gutrippaz (Wicked Stikka + Poison)
2+
7.29
3+
7.58
4+
7.88
5+
8.17
6+
8.46
–
8.75
At only 150 points a unit, they’re great. Their downside is their lack of bravery, but this can be compensated for by the Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof‘s ability All Part of Da Plan.
Hobgrots
Painted by Woehammer Peter
These are here as a simple screen, but to be honest they’re not even too great at that. They won’t stick around and they won’t do too much damage. They’re not bad for protecting your Man-Skewer Boltboyz and Beast-Skewer Killbow, or for claiming home deployment area objectives. But otherwise don’t expect a great deal from them.
Beast-Skewer Killbow
Painted by Woehammer Peter
It’s a lot cheaper than it used to be, but don’t expect great things from it. Really, it’s only use is against multi wound monsters and even then you have to pray that it hits. IF it hits, and IF you roll a 6 on that to hit roll, you’ll be laughing though as every wound caused will be mortal…
Man-Skewer Boltboyz
Painted by Woehammer Peter
These are your early game damage dealers while the enemy struggles to get to grips with you. Get the Poison on them from the Swampcalla Shaman and fire at long range at first. If you have your target within 12″ though, make sure you shuffle them to ensure you’re using the hasty shot. Doubling the amount of shots means you’re fishing for those all important 6’s for the mortal wounds (5’s if you’ve given them Poison from the Swampcall Shaman).
As an idea as to what just 3 can do in terms of damage:
v Save
Aimed Shot (+Poison)
Hasty Shot (+Poison)
2+
3.56
5.19
3+
4.00
5.44
4+
4.44
5.70
5+
4.89
5.96
6+
5.33
6.22
–
5.33
6.22
What Next?
When you’ve had a few games and you’re looking to expand your list up to 2k, I would seriously consider purchasing Gobsprakk. In the current meta with his Mork Sez No abilty and Primal Dice being able to enhance this he’s an absolute menace to enemy casters.
You may also want to look at getting a Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker, they’re beasts in combat and their Sludgeraker Venom means that the venom-encrustd weapons of any units nearby will be causing one additional damage each. That means your Gutrippaz could be causing 2 damage and your Man-Skewer Boltboyz 3 damage.
Most lists also run 2 Swampcalla Shamans to maximise the Poison output. If you also like running lots of Gutrippaz, I’d consider buying a Killaboss with Stab Grot or two for the bravery benefits.
This is the top three AoS lists for the Sydney GT that took place in Australia on the 9th and 10th of September. It involved 103 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament. One of the premier events in Australia run by AoS Coach, there is a lot more at the event than just the games. Take a look at the players pack which is a great example of how to create a fantastic event.
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: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Lord Kroak Lord-Emperor Palpatine (410)*** Skink Starseer Cad Bane (150)*** – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard – Spell: Speed of Huanchi Skink Starseer Greedo (150)* – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard – Spell: Cosmic Crush Slann Starmaster Grogu (275)* – General – Command Trait: Lord of Celestial Resonance – Artefact: Spacefolder’s Stave – Spell: Drain Magic – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost Saurus Astrolith Bearer Empire Standard Bearer (140)*** Gotrek Gurnisson Anakin SkyWalker (480)** – Allies
BATTLELINE 10 x Skinks Ewoks (90)** – Moonstone Clubs & Star bucklers 10 x Skinks Ewoks (90)** – Boltspitters & Moonstone Clubs 5 x Saurus Guard (140)***
CORE BATTALIONS *Andtorian Acolytes **Wizard-Finders of Andtor ***Warlord
ENHANCEMENTS Spell
Total: 1985 / 2000
“Hi List Enthusiast,
Post event it was identified that Gotrek was not eligible to be placed in the GHB23 Wizard Finders battalion due to being unique. This unique ruling has unfortunately has been missed by us TOs, the public when all lists were unlocked, and the five 5 opponents over the weekend. It was not raised as a complaint until post-event.
I’ve reviewed the list in full and it does have both the right units to interchange that makes this list legal, and it’s impacts were minimum at best when you review his opponent match ups and kill list. Game 4 was IDK and Game 5 against OBR which did not impact his most critical games. Gotrek’s kill list over the event was Avalanor, 10 Stoneguard, 20 Deathrattle Skeletons, Incarnate of Ghur, Arkhelian Allopex, and 6 Immortis Guard.
Reviewing 120 lists is no easy feat, and based on all the information above, we will keep the victories as it stands. It’s a shame we didn’t catch it earlier and we will review how we can improve our processes including an extension from the current list submission window to allow additional time for TO & peer review.
– Anthony | SGT TO”
Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Subfaction: Legion of Night – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: The Danse Macabre – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Queen blizzard wizard. (140)* Vampire Lord – General – Command Trait: Shaman of the Chilled Lands – Artefact: Morbheg’s Claw – Lore of the Vampires: Spirit Gale – Bonded to the Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Vlado lezechiar (140)* Vampire Lord – Lore of the Vampires: Spirit Gale My boy (380)** Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night – Lore of the Deathmages: Waste Away
UNITS Carrion corps (300)** 30 x Deathrattle Skeletons Meat (120)** 20 x Deadwalker Zombies Nat, Cat and Pat (80)** 3 x Fell Bats Krell’s Black Guard (300)** 20 x Grave Guard – Great Wight Blades
BEHEMOTHS Bones (480)** Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur – Allies – Bonded to the General, Vampire Lord, (Queen Blizzard Wizard)
This is the top three AoS lists for the Nova Open Age of Sigmar GT that took place in the UK on the 1st and 3rd of September. It involved 165 players vying to be crowned champion in a 8-game tournament. After the 5th round players were split into 8 pods for the final 3 rounds. Players could choose to play either 5 or 8 rounds.
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: Soulblight Gravelords – Subfaction: Legion of Night – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (900)* Vampire Lord (140)* – Artefact: Morbheg’s Claw – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard Vampire Lord (140)* – General – Command Trait: Unbending Will – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost
Battleline 40 x Deadwalker Zombies (240)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)* 6 x Fell Bats (160)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Fell Bats (80)*
Leaders Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis (460)* Mortisan Boneshaper (140)* – General – Command Trait: Diversionary Tactics – Artefact: Artisan’s Key – Lore of Ossian Sorcery: Reinforce Constructs Mortisan Ossifector (120)* – Lore of Ossian Sorcery: Soul Release
Battleline 6 x Immortis Guard (440)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (220)* – 1x Dread Falchions 5 x Kavalos Deathriders (180)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield
Units 2 x Morghast Archai (220)* – Spirit Halberds 2 x Morghast Harbingers (220)* – Spirit Halberds
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Total: 2000 / 2000
Walter Brock: Today we are looking at a tough cookie of a list. Running Petrifex Elite instead of the common Null Myriad we are used to seeing this season lately. This sub faction will allow the already tough units to be even harder to take out.
Spell casting savant works well with the Immortis guard. Making it very difficult to Deny the OBR grand strat.
Katakros alongside with Petrifex turns the toughness up to 11. Giving everything +1 to save and reducing enemy wound rolls by 1 in melee makes it very hard for things to go down.
The Boneshaper helps reinforce the hard to kill aspect of this list. Artisans key bringing back stalkers and Immortis guard is very efficient. That already nearly impossible to kill model just came back. Diversionary tactics reducing enemy charges by 3 within 12 can cause some charges to fail, deny battle tactics and make things difficult for the opponent all together. Reinforce constructs helps provide some protection from mortal wounds. One of the few sources of damage that can take out these tough units reliably.
The Ossifector is mostly here to buff the Morghasts. The primary buff going on them will be the +1 rend. A strong support piece to keep things going.
6 Immortis Guard are seen a lot. That’s because they are very good at what they do, not dying and bodyguarding your characters that are reviving the Immortis guard. With a once per game fight twice Immortis Guard have very respectable damage.
Deathriders are the Heros of Bonereaper lists. These can do pretty much anything. From screening to doing a simple battle tactic. This player opted for a single unit of Deathriders to open the battle tactic option mostly. The real meat and potatoes of the list is in the tough elite infantry and Morghasts.
A unit of 3 stalkers is interesting. A small, fast unit that can take out key targets or run around harassing the opponents’ sides. They aren’t as survivable as Immortis guard but gain speed and hit harder in return. A very strong unit for any situation.
lastly is the two Morghast units. Archai get a 5+ ward while wholly within 12 of a hero and Harbingers get the option to deep strike from off the board. Putting both units in adds for some powerful tactical flexibility. Both units when they roll and 8 or higher on the charge get fight first. Letting the list pile on more damage before the main threat of a unit has even attacked. The main strength of these guys is their ability to turn off commands within 3. This ability can throw a wrench in an opponent’s plan and help swing things in favor for the Bone Reapers play.
All this fits into a Battle regiment. A powerful list that is incredibly hard to kill the models, and lots of tactical flexibility. Well done to this player.
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Army Faction: Flesh-eater Courts – Subfaction: Hollowmourne – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (450)* – General – Command Traits: Grave Robber – Artefacts of Power: Corpsefane Gauntlet – Mount Traits: Gruesome Bite – Spells: Flaming Weapon, Spectral Host Crypt Haunter Courtier (110)* Varghulf Courtier (160)* Abhorrant Archregent (240)** – Spells: Hoarfrost, Merciless Blizzard Abhorrant Archregent (240)** – Spells: Deranged Transformation, Hoarfrost
This is the top three AoS lists for the Gateway Open 2023 that took place in the US on the 19th and 20th of August. It involved 46 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Null Myriad – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Arkhan the Black (380)* – Spells: Drain Vitality Mortisan Boneshaper (140)** – General – Command Traits: Diversionary Tactics – Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key – Spells: Empower Nadirite Weapons Mortisan Boneshaper (140)** – Spells: Merciless Blizzard
We’re lucky enough at Woehammer to know Mrigank and the Stormkeep guys fairly well. So it seemed natural to ask Mrigank for a breakdown of his list.
Mrigank Jha: To no one’s surprise, Null Myriad is one of the hottest picks in the Summer of Death. The ability to disregard ye olde magical dominance of Tzeentch and Seraphon’s Mortal wounds spam pummeling traditional melee armies into the ground is held in check by this subfaction and so that was the pick. That being said, Katakros + Arkhan is all the rage now. Save stacking, recursion, negative bonuses, The list with 6 Immortis Guard and Katakros matched with Arkhan’s magical abilities is very good, very oppressive…….and incredibly boring. So I went in a slightly different direction.
I wanted to take advantage of extra primal dice for casting and unbinds so I went with dual Boneshapers to add a bit of recursion as well. One unit of Immortis guard to protect Arkhan from 15 Thunderers or 44 Blissbarb Archers if need be. And instead of the 6 Immortis Guard route, I went with the more damaging Hammer unit 6 Stalkers, who also have better mobility overall. I used the extra points from not taking Katakros towards a Morghast Archai for the OBR mirror and two spells Aethervoid Pendulum for more MWs and Hero assassinations and Soulstealer carrion to help me take objectives against the cheap SBG hordes of skeletons and zombies.
I faced Gloomspite Gitz, the OBR Mirror (the ones with Katakros + Arkhan + 6 Immortis Guard) Twice (once in round 2 and then in round 5). Blades of Khorne, and Soulblight Gravelords. Andtorian Acolytes was indispensable in making sure I always had a bank of primal dice to either cast my own spells or hold off to cancel out theirs. Instead of the usual Aura of Sterility (-1 to hit and wound in shooting) I went with Diversionary tactics (-3 to charge in a 12 inch aura) as the command trait on my Boneshaper to help with the OBR mirror and also against Legion of Night and Khorne. Mannfred and SBG units found it very difficult to counter charge with that aura affecting them and a key redeploy from my Boneshaper often messed up my opponents 6 or 7 inch charges. The extra units like Morghast Archai, with their ability to turn off commands within 3 and the damage of 6 Stalkers was enough to chew thru Trolls, Bloodthirsters and even 6 Immortis Guard. I felt like the extra units gave me more play on the board than the traditional Arkhan + Katakros list. Moreover having Merciless Blizzard and Pendulum to hit Katakros who isnt affected by a 2+ spell ignore, did make opponents nervous
As for the recursion, I don’t believe any opponent could have dealt with 30 wounds of Immortis Guard or Stalkers outside of a well placed double turn. I think recursion in OBR should probably be limited to 10 wounds for the health of the game, as I did find myself playing for a nervous double turn often in the mirror match to be able to fully wipe a 30 wound block of Immortis Guard/ Necropolis Stalkers before they all came back.
Overall I think this list has potential and a great toolset in the current meta. I’ll tweak it further after the battlescroll and its changes.
Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Null Myriad – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Arkhan the Black (380) Katakros (460)* Mortisan Boneshaper (140)* – General – Command Traits: Aura of Sterility – Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key – Spells: Merciless Blizzard
Army Faction: Hedonites of Slaanesh – Army Type: Pretenders – Grand Strategy: Selfish Desire – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Contorted Epitome (210)* – General – Command Traits: Strength of Godhood – Artefacts of Power: The Crown of Dark Secrets – Spells: Flaming Weapon, Hoarfrost Lord of Pain (140)* Glutos Orscollion (480)* – Spells: Born of Damnation, Phantasmagoria
OTHER Slickblade Seekers (210) Slickblade Seekers (210) Blissbarb Seekers (210)*
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Dreadful Visage (60)
CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Laron Roberts: Thanks for highlighting my list! I’ve been playing Slaanesh since second edition and I’m having tons of fun taking them to tournaments recently. Stick with me while I try to dissect my list here first. Hedonites of Slaanesh in its current form pretty plays its own game without to much regard for what your opponent is doing. Ive foundI only care what their doing to find reasons to use my Temptation Dice.
In my list I use Glutos to form a durable center that helps deter alpha strikes on my vulnerable units. While using the Pretenders Hosts ability to use the same ability more then once to put out alot of damage with anyone who does try for the Alpha. With this season I’m able to reliably use buffs to turn my Contorted Epitome into a Depravity farming creature of destruction with Hoarfrost and Flaming Weapon. Slick blades are in the list to push to get to 12 Debravity as soon as possible to really seal the deal on making my opponents army inefficient.
All right… Let’s dive in. This list does so many things well for me, but it has pretty key changes compared to other list that you’ll see for slaanesh. First only three min squads of blissbarbs… oh no! How could he possibly win with only 33 blissbarbs? Well, I think blissbarbs are obviously amazing, but at their current cost (appropriate cost, no more nerfing them!) and their vulnerability to lots of lists out there, they are pretty susceptible to getting blown off the table turn one if that’s all you have in your list. 33 is great – if you tried to alpha for me first turn, you’re getting unleashed hell times three; they’ll shoot down any screens pretty effectively; and really, with only 33, people still seem to freak out over them but they aren’t oppressive like other mass shooting lists.
You’ll notice that I also took two minimum size squads of slickblade seekers. Side note—I’m so glad they don’t suck anymore, they are one of my favorite models ever. This does mean that I cannot take a battle regimen for my list… And that’s totally OK. At gateway open, people seemed super concerned I would alpha them down turn one, so they opted to take first turn even though I was lots of drops. I’m not sure what the right answer for them is, but I did not feel like I was at any serious disadvantage going second. Second, I think 2×5 slickblades is the way to go. They are five up save and die at the slightest breeze. I feel pretty confident with two units of five that I can get my 12 depravity turn one pretty much every game. But then, unlike lists with a single reinforced unit, I have another squad for tactics, eliminating threats, getting me to 24 points, whatever I need. Having a second unit makes me a constant threat on turns two, three, four, or five.
Contorted is great. Some people think she (they? There’s two of them…) should be like 350 points, which is ridiculous. She’s perfectly fine at her points, I think people are actually just sad about crown of dark secrets and Warlord Supreme. Despite the haters, she’s actually super fragile and one misplay loses her, and without her I lose a ton of my power. Not much to say about the Lord of pain. While in some ways you don’t need him, being able to give out all out attack x3, his synergy with my blissbarbs and seekers regardless of my command points or other factors is just consistently awesome. I wasn’t taking him in lists for a while, but I really see his value now.
Lastly, the big man, Glutos! I see him in a lot of list, but I. He’s a damage threat, he heals like soulblight hunger heroes, and oh, -1 to hit is still really good. I find that most opponents don’t know what to do with Glutos, contorted, slickblades, and blissbarbs—there’s a lot of target priority confusion. This is especially true for Glutos where people aren’t sure if they should commit to him or avoid him. But they all feel really sad when they run in against him and his minus 1 to hit aura. I miss some of the things he had before the new tome, but he’s still just an incredible piece, and so hard for people to counter. And personally, I think my model has the sickest paint job out there.
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Kruleboyz – Army Subfaction: Grinnin’ Blades – Grand Strategy: In and Out, Ladz – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Gobsprakk (240) – Spells: Da Black Pit 1 x Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (100)* – Spells: blizzard 1 x Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (100)* – Spells: blizzard 1 x Killaboss with Stab-Grot (90)** – Boss‑hacka and Skareshield 1 x Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (290)*** – General – Command Traits: Egomaniak – Artefacts: Amulet of Destiny – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un
BATTLELINE 20 x Gutrippaz (150)** – Gutrippa Banner Bearer – Gutrippa Drummer – Gutrippa Hornblower – Gutrippa Boss – Wicked Stikka 20 x Gutrippaz (150)** – Gutrippa Banner Bearer – Gutrippa Drummer – Gutrippa Hornblower – Gutrippa Boss – Wicked Stikka 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)***
OTHER 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)*** – Boltboy Boss 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)*** – Boltboy Boss
CORE BATTALIONS: *Andtorian Acolytes **Wizard-finders of Andtor ***Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)
Austin Timesch: There are 3 things in this list design that I have found to work best in the several two day events I have played kruleboyz.
Egomaniak on the sludgeraker is so important to making sure the buff to your armies damage and keeping the grand strat intact. Using 2 big blocks of gutrippaz is a huge wound sponge for your general to abuse. ( I have not lost my sludgeraker since the change to 2 big blocks of gutrippaz) Gobsprakk and abusing the primal dice for dispels. The ability to just say nope and do damage to small foot casters or a neferata or arkhan is amazing. Huge attrition and denial piece to armies.
Killaboss- I know everyone is used to playing order or the new death factions so they don’t really understand this mechanic of bravery. However playing this inferior grand alliance known as destruction we have to play in a phase of the game most people just skip. The killaboss allows you to act like one of those try hard grand alliances and just lose 1 model instead of your entire unit from chip damage.
To build on these 3 pillars of success The locus battalion really helps you maintain an opportunity to dispel with gobsrpakk and or cast blizzard from one of your shamans Also the wizard finder battalion really makes gutrippaz slap into the big bads of this meta like the VLOZD or neferata etc. Getting a potential 61 attacks on a unit at a time is really a tipping point.
The main Strat of the list is to find as many objectives in the center or near each other as possible and maintaining hold more and hold 2 every turn.
Second, as you maintain your castle and what I mean by castle is your killaboss is within 3 of both big blocks of gutrippaz, your sludgeraker is wholly within 12 of your bolt boyz and your 1 exposed block of gutrippaz you want people coming into, and lastly your shamans are within 3 of boltboyz and both units of gutrippaz to ensure the options of MAXIMUM DAMAGE!!!!!
As you move your castle up I like to set up the mighty waaaagh turn. What this entails is mostly charging in with the general, and both units of gutrippaz which are poisoned at the time. This allows my general and 2 units to fight after the general fights. Most times this cripples or absolutely deletes the current targets. This 1 turn a lot of times is when your opponent will go “kruleboyz are not that bad” or “I didn’t expect this much damage from Kruleboyz”
In all fairness when people ask me how I have had success with kruleboyz it comes down to playing them to specifically counter the current meta. And right now kruleboyz is spectacular into OBR and some SBGL lists. (we wont talk about how anyone can pilot these armies to 4-1/5-0)
Back to reasons why this list is fun and in a good spot. Your main sources of damage come from poisoned gutrippaz and or poisoned boltboyz. Rolling a slot machine every time adds to both the banter and enjoyment of the game with your opponent. With this being said as you go through your games the main reason of playing your game is to have fun and enjoy your time with your opponent. I have had the pleasure of playing the top of the game in the likes of gavin, and nate T ghosty pants. At that level even then the main reason is to play a good game and enjoy it. I hate the stigma on how competitive games cant be enjoyable. They can be and just make it a priority in your game on a personal level and it will happen.
Feel free to message me if you have any questions but, in all honesty, if I can find success with kruleboyz you can too! Roll 6’s and lets grow this community.
