This is the top three AoS lists for A Score to Settle that took place in Australia on the 16th and 17th of September. 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
Allegiance: Big Waaagh! I can’t believe it’s not order! – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs:
LEADERS Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (240)* Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)** – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (290)*** – General – Command Trait: Supa Sneaky – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Wurrgog Prophet (170)** – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)* – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard – Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery – Triumphs:
Leaders Lord-Relictor (150)* – General – Command Trait: High Priest – Prayer: Translocation – Nullstone Adornment: Pouch of Nulldust Lord-Imperatant (160)** – Artefact: Luckstone
Battleline 5 x Liberators (110)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1x Grandweapons 2 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (240)** 2 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (240)**
Units 3 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (220)* 3 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (220)* 6 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (460)** – Reinforced x 1 5 x Vanguard-Hunters (100)** – Boltstorm Pistols and Shock Handaxes 5 x Vanguard-Hunters (100)** – Boltstorm Pistols and Shock Handaxes
This is the top three 40k lists for the Grand Clash 2023 event that took place in the Canada on the 22nd and 23rd of April. It involved 47 players vying to be crowned champion in a 6-game tournament.
As we head into 10th edition and beyond we wanted to start providing a source for lists that are being used successfully in tournaments around the world. The size of the 40k community and the sheer number of events means we won’t be commenting.
Before I jump into the Top Three 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 40k Lists
Iron Hands Successor (Custom Chapter, Master Artisans, Whirlwind of Rage) Unbound Army (Faction) 0 CP, 1997 pts, 130 PL
HQ
Primaris Lieutenant [65 pts, 5 PL, -1 CP] – Neo-volkite pistol – Master-crafted power sword and Storm Shield – Rites of War, Stratagem: Warlord Trait, Warlord Primaris Techmarine [70 pts, 4 PL, -1 CP] – Stratagem: Hero of the Chapter – Target Protocols
With the release of the Battlescroll: Galletian Reinforcements I’ve been able to go back through the data from the release of the General’s Handbook and tidy everything up. In doing so, I though it may be cool to give you a run-down of how each faction performed under the current General’s Handbook until the Battlescroll took effect.
The data used for analysing these results was taken from 110 Grand Tournaments between 3rd July 2022 and 6th November 2022.
Cities of Sigmar
Region Comparison – Popularity
Cities of Sigmar saw their highest popularity in Europe with 3.5% of players choosing the faction for tournament play, while their close neighbours in Scandinavia had the lowest take-up with only 0.3%.
Region Comparison – Win Rates
They may not have been popular in Scandianvia but their win rate there was the top of the pile at 60.0%. While players in Europe could only manage 43.2%.
Cities of Sigmar saw their only 5-0’s in the UK & Ireland and North America.
Subfaction Analysis
Subfaction
Players
Win Rate
Excelsis
1
80.00%
Phoenicium
7
66.13%
Hallowheart
40
57.21%
Hammerhal
8
50.00%
Har Kuron
1
50.00%
Tempest’s Eye
24
49.17%
Living City
14
43.57%
Misthavn
1
40.00%
Anvilguard
3
33.33%
Greywater Fastness
4
28.95%
None/Unknown
14
44.20%
Faction Total
117
50.77%
Out of the many, many factions that Cities have available to them, Hallowheart and Tempest’s Eye were the most popular with win rates of 57.21% and 49.17% respectively.
Top 10 Cities of Sigmar Players
You may notice that some players have a better World/Nation ranking than players above them in this table. This is due to players playing with multiple factions. These players have been ranked on their top 4 faction results only.
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 Warhammer World: Matched Play Event that took place in Nottingham, UK on 24th and 25th September. It involved 72 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: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Drowned Men – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Lord of Afflictions (210)* – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench – Artefact: The Splithorn Helm Orghotts Daemonspew (300)* Bloab Rotspawned (300) – Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease
UNITS 10 x Putrid Blightkings (500)** 5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)** 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)* – 1 x Dolorous Tocsin 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)* – 1 x Dolorous Tocsin
Declan: Maggotkin of Nurgle are appearing at the top of many a tournament at the moment with Blightkings and Pusslords distributed as wished. Marco’s list has two of the special characters – Daemonspew and Rotspawned. This gives him a little punch and a little range, but must also help in the mirror match; as Marco beat Nurgle at the beginning and the end of the tournament.
Finishing 1st with 5-0 is always a good result and particularly special at Warhammer World!!
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Gavespawn – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Beastlord (95)* – Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)** – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of Dark Storms: Sundering Blades Great Bray-Shaman (100)** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Savage Dominion
Battleline 6 x Dragon Ogors (250)*** – 3x Paired Ancient Weapons – 3x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 1 6 x Dragon Ogors (250)*** – 3x Paired Ancient Weapons – 3x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 1 10 x Ungors (65)**** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)**** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)**** – Mauls & Half-Shields
Units 20 x Bestigors (250)*** – Reinforced x 1 5 x Centigors (85)* 5 x Centigors (85)** 1 x Mindstealer Sphiranx (95)*
Declan: Well Beasts have well and truly made it, with some of the top players in the UK taking them and doing well with them… and Freddie is doing very well with them as well. He got his last win on the top table but was just pipped to the post by Marco.
Freddie’s version of the Beasts of Chaos army has a bit of everything… and lots of Dragon Ogres. Whilst they don’t hit too hard with the Paired Ancient Weapons (no rend), they have volumes of attacks over a relatively small area. The mix with the War Glaives (2″ reach) likely allows Freddie to get a few more of them into combat as they are on large bases. Being in Bounty Hunters doubles the damage against Galatian Veterans as well so be careful what you send against them.
From Games Workshop & Wahapedia
If you’ve not seen the Beasts of Chaos in your local area their other trick is summoning – with the Dragon Ogre Shaggoth taking damage from the herdstone and then healing most of it back – the summoning racks up quickly and just when you’ve started to make progress more appear. This makes the Beasts of Chaos army difficult to shift and with 194 wounds and summoning it’s a true DPS (Damage per Second) check. You need to do the damage!
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Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Scions of the Storm – Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Knight-Draconis (300)* – General – Command Traits: Heroic Stature – Artefacts of Power: Mirrorshield – Mount Traits: Celestial Instincts Knight-Judicator with Gryph-hounds (205)*
OTHER Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)* Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)*
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment **Bounty Hunters
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Declan: They may have lost the first game, and the Stormdrake Guard scroll may have been rewritten (and again), but they are no longer giving away extra points and so they are back on top! The dragons are doing +1 damage to Galatian Veterans with incredible moving and mortal wounds at range (no +1 damage on these!), and the Liberators provide a single GV unit in case it’s needed for scenarios or Battle Tactics.
This is quick… I mean really quick! And anything that might survive gets shot off. Eagle eyed readers will notice that the teleport has gone, but the Vanguards are in smaller units to give some flexibility, so it’s not really needed.
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Kruleboyz – Army Subfaction: Skulbugz
LEADER 1 x Gobsprakk (280) 1 x Killaboss on Corpse-rippa Vulcha (240) – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un – Spells: Flaming Weapon 1 x Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (105) – General – Command Traits: Supa Sneaky – Spells: Choking Mist 1 x Breaka-boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180) 1 x Kragnos (720)
BATTLELINE 10 x Gutrippaz (180)* – Gutrippa Hornblower – Gutrippa Banner Bearer – Gutrippa Boss – Wicked Stikka 10 x Gutrippaz (180)* – Gutrippa Hornblower – Gutrippa Banner Bearer – Gutrippa Boss – Wicked Stikka 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x The Burning Head (20)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Bounty Hunters
TOTAL POINTS: (1985/2000)
Declan: Well Kruleboyz are bottom of the pile with Gitz, making Eddie’s 4-1 a great achievement — and done without an Incarnate. Take A Bow! This is all about the characters and Kragnos charging monsters off the board… take it off!
Games Workshop & Wahapedia
Whilst Kraggy is doing his thing, Gobsprakk is scaring (or killing) enemy casters and the Mirebrute & Vulcha are charging alongside Kraggy. Of course a double turn might be the end of this army, but Eddie must have had a few against him to still get 4-1 — that doesn’t happen by accident with this list. A great wildcard.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Mancunian Carnage: Summer 2022 that took place in the UK on 20th and 21st August. It involved 73 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: Ironjawz – Grand Strategy: – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)* – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Command Trait: Master of the Weird – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Smelly ‘Un – Lore of the Weird: Bash ‘Em Ladz Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90) – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480) – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist
Battleline 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)* 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)* 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*
Behemoths Rogue Idol (430)*
Endless Spells & Invocations The Burning Head (20)
Brett: Two variants of this list have had some discussion recently, 2 x Mawcrusha and either the Rogue Idol or Krondspine. Great to see a pure Ironjawz list at number one. That takes both skill and luck Both Mawcrushas have the durable build with 3+ saves. The general has the Arcane Tome, becoming a wizard and able to take Master of the Weird for an extra spell and only 2 spells are shown, Bash ‘em Ladz (+1 to wound within 16”) and Green Hand (teleport). His mount trait grants -1 to hit rolls targeting the general.
The Ardboyz are a useful screen but preserving at least one for a mid/late game teleport is equally useful. As a single drop this list is going to decide whether to go first or not, allowing Byron to play for the double on 1. With the Ardboyz as screens and the resilience of the Mawcrushas the list should handle the output in Turn 1 from your opponent. After that go hard and play for the double, assuming you can kill enough in Turn 1 you are in good position even without the double. The game is effectively decided by Turn 2. Shooting and redeploy can mess with you but if the dice are rolling hot there is little to stop this list.
With relatively few units this list might be better scoring early and trying to clear the opponent. In later turns it might be more of an issue to find Battle Tactics. A really well thought out tight list that shows melee is still alive; fantastic result against some pretty strong opponents.
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Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Knights of the Empty Throne Varanguard x 6 (560)** – General – Daemonforged Blade and Warpsteel Shield – Command Trait: Inescapable Doom – Artefact: Grasping Plate – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Knights of the Empty Throne Varanguard x 6 (560)** – Daemonforged Blade and Warpsteel Shield – Artefact: Corrupted Nullstone – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spell: Mask of Darkness Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spell: Mask of Darkness
Battleline 8 x Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 8 x Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 8 x Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 8 x Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
Units 1 x Mindstealer Sphiranx (95)*
Behemoths Chaos Warshrine (215)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Prayer1: Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal
Brett: A Tzeentch devoted Slaves to Darkness army (+1 to save and 5+ against spell damage) with 4 battlelines but still fitting tight in deployment with only 4 drops. Knights of the Empty Throne with 2 x 6 Varanguard headline this act, terrorising their enemies with a 2+ save. Their damage is swingy with exploding 6s but D3 damage for each wound with the sword. There can sometimes be issues getting all of those weapons in but if they do, on average, that’s 15 x D3 hits before the mounts strike and before saves. Inescapable Doom, units within 3″ can’t retreat, Grasping Plate, 6″ fight envelope and extra 3″ pile in, and an extra unbind (Nullstone).
The Chaos Sorcerers are relatively cheap sources of denies but more importantly both have a teleport and provide rerolls to hits and wounds rolls for a selected unit with their warscroll spell. That increases the mobility of the Iron Golems, although they are mostly a screen, objective campers. A unit of 8 with only a single wound each (except for the Ogor) it’s possible for them to enjoy a 2+ save (+1 from Tzeentch, and one from staying still). That makes them one of the best screens/campers in the game. That’s without considering the Warshrine (which can grant another +1 to save as well as rerolls). The Sphiranx is a cheap source of Monstrous Rampages, mobile and won’t die to stry damage (with it’s 10 wounds). It can also provide some Bravery play and cause a fight last although they are probably are more situational.
Another 5/0 list (both 1st and 2nd finished 5/0 but didn’t meet of course) that creates a lot of dilemmas. This isn’t a faction that is seeing a lot of play so people might not know what it can do and mobile blocks of 30 wounds that can put out solid damage are always a menace.
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Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
LEADERS Lord of Afflictions (210)** – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench – Artefact: The Splithorn Helm – Incubatch Orghotts Daemonspew (300) Morbidex Twiceborn (320) Bloab Rotspawned (300)** – Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease Lord of Afflictions (210)** – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Lore of Malignance: Rancid Visitations – Incubatch
UNITS 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)* – 1 x Dolorous Tocsin 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)* – 1 x Dolorous Tocsin 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)* – 1 x Dolorous Tocsin
Brett: No real surprises here with what’s become a very popular list in the last couple of months. Sometimes referred to as the Flies list it combines reasonable mobility the resilience Maggotkin are known for. WIth their consistent Mortal Wounds (MW) output and that resilience they can outlast and wear down most opponents. Except, as happened here, extremely durable armies with massive punch (the 2nd place list above). Drowned Men for the pregame move, Lord of Affliction as the General, both with incubatch for additional mortals, to make Blightlords battleline.
Very little magic (Bloab has a cast and Arcane Tome) the army is really looking to get close and stay there to share their charms. Damage output is concentrated in the Greater Daemons, unfortunately even with a 4+ save and 5+ ward they degrade pretty quickly. With so few Blightlords it’s hard to screen them from anything that charges (fights first), this is a potential weakness. On the plus side they hit very hard, each at least 5 (degrading) attacks -2 rend 3 damage attacks and between 3 and 7, -1 rend, 2 damage attacks. That power lets them deal with a lot of hammer units if they survive the first engagement. 6 x Varanguard with 30 wounds will generally survive though.
Flies is a very solid list, this is another great performance where Max has dealt with some of the more common threats pretty well just falling to won of the toughest lists in the game right now (not winningest, just hard to deal with).
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Army Faction: Flesh-eater Courts – Subfaction: Morgaunt – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Abhorrant Archregent (245)* – Artefacts of Power: The Dermal Robe – Spells: Spectral Host Abhorrant Ghoul King (165)* – Spells: Miasmal Shroud Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Zombie Dragon (430)* – General – Command Traits: Savage Chivalry – Artefacts of Power: Decrepit Coronet – Mount Traits: Razor-clawed – Spells: Flaming Weapon Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (445)*** – Mount Traits: Gruesome Bite – Spells: Spectral Host Crypt Ghast Courtier (70)*** Crypt Ghast Courtier (70)***
Brett: A return to the more common Flesh Eater Courts list with the Dragon’s as the main damage dealers and the handfuls of cheap Crypt Ghouls for board control and objectives. But underestimating the Ghouls would be a mistake, both the 20 and 30 unit will have an additional attack due to their size. They get a 4th attack if a Courtier kills a model within 16″ and reroll their hit rolls of 1 within 18″ of an Abhorrant (4 in this list). The unmounted Ghoul King can grant another attack as well, there might be no rend but 150 attacks are going to do something. The Courtiers returns a model (serf) on a 2+ in the hero phase. 2 damage into any Galetian Veterans. Take that Nighthaunt.
Morguant is a core choice here, allowing any serf unit (Crypt Ghoul) to be returned on a 4+. You are going to fight one of those Crypt Ghoul units twice.The recent update also lets you return either a Serf or Knight model as an heroic action. Each of the Abhorrants is a wizard granting 5 casts/dispels. However the warscroll spells on the Archregent and the Ghoul King on Zombie are taking 2 of those casts, one to provide up to D3 attacks to a unit (Ferocious Hunger) and the other reroll wounds (Malefic Hunger). Each of the Abhorrants can summon an additional unit depending on their rank once per battle (and only one each round). This includes 1 x Courtier, 3 x Knights (includes Flayers) and 10 x Serfs. Extremely mobile and guaranteed to take 2 battle tactics each game (Against the odds and Desecrate the land)
I’m only scratching the surface here, as a faction it’s heavily dependant on their casting and buffs. If you can deny enough spells they are more vulnerable. Ideally you want to remove some of the bigger units before they summon, difficult to do with the depth of the screens in this list. 4/1 is a great result with a lesser seen faction.
Final Tournament Placings
Full tournament placings can be found on tabletop.to.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Southern Fried Open that took place in Georgia, USA on 16th and 17th July. It involved 18 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament. A small tournament often means interesting results and that’s true this time with a pair of Cities of Sigmar lists and Fyreslayers. Peter sensibly included an Orc list, there haven’t been enough of those recently.
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Brett: There is so much happening in this army, it’s hard to keep this short. Really demonstrates how much is smashed into the Cities of Sigmar book. Thematically it’s exciting as well with Dwarves allied with Humans and Aelves. Tempest Eye brings additional movement and +1 save in the first turn as well as allowing a ranged unit to shoot even if it ran. Irondrakes are slow and have a shorter range (16″) than most ranged units but with this combination you can easily get within range on most maps. If they are more than 3″ from enemy units that’s 40 R-1 D1 shots.
The Hammerers are the hammer in this army though, the shooting of the Irondrakes and the mobility of the Pistoliers play a supporting role. The Hammerers with Aura of Glory are easily capable of putting out 62 R-1 D2 attacks a turn. This isn’t the only synergy, the Sorceress can boost either the Dreadspears or Black Spears but equally can use either to fuel her spells reducing the Purple Sun to a CV6. Even though this is a Tempest Eye not Hallowheart army it’s still built around spells and prayers. Curse is there to increase the lethality of the Black Guard and in a pinch the Irondrakes. Hammerers already have MW on a 6.
We have 3 wizards with Aura of Glory, only one is going to be used but that allows a lot of flexibility in positioning. With the 2 Endless spells to get out there are still 2 casts available, most likely on the Battlemage and Hurricanum. The Sorceress and Battlemage are both casting at +2 fairly easily so are the best for casting the Endless Spells. Ghurian Battlemage so Wildform is his spell, a great boost to a melee unit leaving the Hurricanum to cast Aura of Glory. In the perfect round. Not least is the Seerstone Amulet giving a CP per turn for nothing, a very powerful ability.
This is still an army full of one wound, low save units that can die easily so a 4/1 is a great result. A high risk, high reward army that delves deep into the Cities book and capable of some amazing action unless the dice turn.
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Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Lofnir – Grand Strategy: Masters of the Forge – Triumphs: Inspired
Brett: Really great to have a Fyreslayers list on the podium. It’s been a bit of a surprise that the new book didn’t lead to more podiums but for a range of reasons they seem to have been held back. Kevin has chosen the Magmadroth lodge (Lofnir) that makes Runeson on Magmadroth battleline. It also gives them an extra 2 wounds and up to 3 may have mount traits. No accident that this army has 3 Magmadroths all with mount traits. Magmadroths are the books strongest unit with 18W and 12″ movement giving Fyreslayers much needed mobility. I should mention that Kevin has been restrained, there are Fyreslayers armies with 5 Magmadroths.
That isn’t all though, the prayers, traits and artefacts all combine to make this a very hard to kill army. It’s a great army for frustrating high damage but fragile opponents (DoK). They want to lure you in and then hit back hard. Even the Runelord is a good inclusion bringing a ward aura and increasing rend.
Looking at his journey through the competition it’s difficult to see a good counter to the magma lizards. The Incarnate would on the surface seem to be a solid choice but if you don’t feed it endless spells then it will struggle to level. Morathi would have been an obstacle but again she would struggle to clear the Hearthguard with Battlesmith support and the Magmadroths will clear the Blood Sisters quickly. We have 3 Priests and the Battlesmith to provide buffs (wards) and heals as well as denies. In Fyreslayers endless spells are actually invocations and summoned by the priests. The army has all 3 pumping out mortal wounds or making nearby units very tanky. All of the top armies went 4/1 and this army scored very well throughout.
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Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Excelsis – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
Leaders Freeguild General on Griffon (290)*** – General – Greathammer – Command Trait: Cunning Foe – Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm Anointed on Flamespyre Phoenix (290)*** Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290)** – Lore of the Ghurish Heartlands: Cower Runelord (95) – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Ghurish Heartlands: The Amber Spear – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Runelord (95) – Universal Prayer Scripture: Guidance
Battleline 6 x Demigryph Knights (350)* – Lance and Sword – Reinforced x 1 6 x Demigryph Knights (350)* – Lance and Sword – Reinforced x 1 3 x Demigryph Knights (175)* – Lance and Sword
Brett: I just like this list, honestly anyone that brings a battalion of knights to a competition deserves to win. They are paired with some very killy leaders on Behemoths for the most part and protected by Runelords with their wards. Two wizards and two priests (one of the priests doubling down with the Arcane Tome). This is an army that wants to move fast and charge in most cases. However there are some interesting choices still, Cunning Foe, allows the General to retreat and charge. But he is equipped with the Greathammer that doesn’t receive a buff from charging.
Unfortunately the Knights aren’t benefiting from the Phoenix as much as some units. This is a conscious choice to allow access to the Lore of the Ghurish Hearthlands and the 2 potent spells included in the army. The Phoenix is 50% chance of returning with full wounds the first time it is killed. In a tournament that is huge, you are potentially using a 2290 point list.
The battalions are interesting with the rarely seen Monstrous Kill-Pack and overall choosing Excelsis is innovative. This is the city within Ghur introduced in Broken Realms. It has interesting mechanics that can grant +1 to hit rolls per phase for a unit (it doesn’t have to be the same unit in different phases) and there is a chance that a saving throw will cause a mortal wound to the attacker. Everything in the army moves at least 10″ except the Runelords giving them extraordinary threat range. A most impressive run including beating Thunder Lizards (twice) and only losing to the ultimate winner. A good looking list that would be a hoot to play (but maybe not against).
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Kruleboyz – Army Subfaction: Grinnin’ Blades – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (315) – General – Command Traits: Supa Sneaky – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un – Spells: Sneaky Miasma Killaboss with Stab-Grot (110)** – Boss‑hacka and Skareshield – Artefacts: Mork’s Eye Pebble Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (105)** – Spells: Choking Mist Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (105)** – Spells: Nasty Hex
Brett: An unusual take on Kruleboyz for your entertainment, I think that like Nighthaunt for most of AoS 2nd edition Kruleboyz haven’t really met our expectations. But for those who like something different the faction offers a lot of choices and a different style of play. This army defeated Thunder Lizard and Soulblight both considered stronger factions (one of them amoung the best) and includes the almost never seen Hobgrots. Really importantly, I think, this whole 2000 point list is made of 2 Dominion Launch Sets with the addition of a Snatchaboss. What a great way to quickly and cheaply build an army that has some competitive chops.
Alexander has chosen Grinnin’ Blades instead of the more common Big Yellerz (Boltboyz as battleline). This negates shooting very well; Grinnin’ Blades units aren’t visible if they are more than 12″ away. Additionally the Kruleboyz have a lot of “tricks” at the start of a battle giving surprise mortal wounds, mortal wounds on 6s, forcing redeployment and debuffing wound rolls as well as making themselves invisible in cover. Unfortunately most of these based on chance so you might not get everything you need from Battle Traits.
The Snatchaboss is a great inclusion providing a lot of punch in an army that is more of a witherer. His trait allows a redeploy before first turn so you can place something really aggressively and move it if you don’t go first. His mount trait and spell (thanks Arcane Tome) allow him to move twice in the hero phase and once in the movement phase – 24″ move without charges. A very aggressive play but a nightmare to screen against, it can also get him isolated and focused if the rest of your army is hiding. A lot of strong attacks, mortal wounds due to his belly slime and the once a game ability to one shot a small hero.
The Shaman highlight one of the issues you have in Kruleboyz, they have great spells which reduce the number of attacks of a unit (Choking Mist) or strip ward rolls (Nasty Hex) but they also hand out Poison/Elixirs if they don’t cast or dispel. They offer either MW on a 5+ or +1 to saves. In the current meta you can’t really have no dispels available so it is hard to decide how to use the Shaman in a given situation. The 2 Shaman let you choose to have one cast and the other use Poisons/Elixirs based on the situation. On the offence you want poison and Nasty Hex for one of the Gutripper units. Defensively you can switch.
Otherwise the units aren’t exceptional, Gutripper’s are fishing for 6s or 5s to make up for their poor weapon skills. Hobgrots are a screening speed bump and the Boltboyz are fun but limited by range, in Grinning Blades the profile you want (Hasty Shot) is only a 12″ range and they can’t last in combat. Kruleboyz have poor moral and poor saves so they struggle against sustained pressure. The army struggled with armies that got close and pushed in to melee and performed better against shooting based armies with the exception of the Soulblight.
2/3 isn’t really indicative of how strong this army can be but it is a very well conceived army with a lot of play if a bit too dependent on terrain and some lucky dice rolls.
