This is the top three AoS lists for the Dwellers Below AoS GT that took place in Canada on the 15th and 16th of July. It involved 20 players vying to be champion.
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The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers
– Subfaction: Null Myriad
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS
Mortisan Boneshaper (140)*
– Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key
– Spells: Merciless Blizzard
Mortisan Soulreaper (110)*
– General
– Command Traits: Show of Superiority
– Spells: Hoarfrost
Katakros (460)**
BATTLELINE
Mortek Guard (450)**
– Mortek Hekatos
– Nadirite Blade
– 2 x Necrophoros
– 2 x Soulcleaver Greatblade
Immortis Guard (440)**
Kavalos Deathriders (180)**
– Nadirite Blade
Immortis Guard (220)**
CORE BATTALIONS
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Roland Rivera: A new season is upon us, and the Ossiarch Bonereapers are off to a great start with a tournament win. This list showcases one of the Bonereapers’ competitive advantages in this Wizard-focused season in Null Myriad, which gives units a 2+ spell ignore when within 9″ of Arkhan or one of their Mortisans. While this benefit might require some positional fiddling with some of the larger unit, it combines with the buffs and recursion provided by Katakros (who notably does NOT benefit from the Null Myriad spell ignore) and the Mortisan Boneshaper to make a potent defensive bulwark that covers the army’s advance (which is important, as this list is on the slow side).
And once they get into melee, they are quite formidable. A 30(!) man unit of Mortek Guard with the aforementioned buffs and recursion backing them up can own the middle, Immortis Guard are formidable on offense and defense, and Kavalos Deathriders are a very efficient utility unit that can screen or provide reach to threaten Heroes or finish off wounded units. Of course, any combat army worth its salt has access to some strong buffs, and this list is no exception. Katakros’ +1 to hit and +1 to save bubble is the bedrock most Bonereapers lists are built on, and Hoarfrost is very nice on large blobs of Mortek, as it is a way to make them wound on 2+, which is something that a mere +1 to wound could not accomplish.
An interesting choice in this list is the use of the Andtorian Acolytes Battalion. While this Battalion increases the drop count for the list, the extra primal dice are very important because both the Boneshaper and the Soulreaper are pretty mediocre casters, so they need all the help they can get in getting some of the tougher spells off (Hoarfrost casts on an 8, and Blizzard needs a whopping 12 to go off). All in all, Null Myriad Bonereapers lists look to be strongly positioned into the coming metagame, and I expect to see more of it going forward.
Army Faction: Cities of Sigmar
– Army Type: Hallowheart
– Grand Strategy: Mighty Beachhead
– Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER
1 x Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290)*
– Spells: Roaming Wildfire, Elemental Cyclone, Sear Wounds
1 x Battlemage (100)*
– General’s Adjutant
– Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Ignite Weapons, Elemental Cyclone
– Magic of the Realms: Pha’s Protection (Hysh)
1 x Battlemage (100)*
– Spells: Crystal Aegis, Warding Brand, Hoarfrost
– Magic of the Realms: Wildform (Ghur)
1 x Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix (320)**
– General
– Command Traits: Veteran of the Blazing Crusade
– Artefacts: Whitefire Tome
– Spells: Ignite Weapons
1 x Sorceress (90)**
– Spells: Rupture, Ignite Weapons, Sear Wounds
BATTLELINE
20 x Phoenix Guard (340)*
– Keeper of the Flame
– 2 x Standard Bearer
– 2 x Drummer
20 x Phoenix Guard (340)**
– Keeper of the Flame
– 2 x Standard Bearer
– 2 x Drummer
30 x Darkshards (330)**
– Guardmaster
– 3 x Standard Bearer
– 3 x Hornblower
ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Malevolent Maelstrom (30)
1 x Horrorghast (60)
CORE BATTALIONS:
*Warlord
**Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Codrin: The new Cities of Sigmar battletome is getting close, and the pheonix guard are sadly going away when this book arrives, but Matt Kowalyk’s Hallowheart list is putting the Aelves to good use.
This list builds on a core that has been actually quite popular during AoS 2.0 – beginnings of 3.0, and seems well adapted to the new GHB rules.
This army is very synergistic, and almost all of its pieces benefit from being close to each other.
The backbone of the army are the two big blocks of Pheonix Guard that can get buffed to the heavens. They fare well in big formations due to their 25mm bases and 2″ reach halberds. A 4+ save and 4+ ward makes them quite durable while also packing a punch.
Potential buffs that could go on a unit like this are as follows:
- Reroll wound rolls from a command ability coming from the Anointed on Frostheart Pheonix
- -1 to be hit (Battlemage’s Pha’s protection spell) and – 1 to be wounded (from the Pheonix’s aura)
- Dish out mortal wounds on a 4+, each time a model from this unit dies (ability coming from the Warding Brand spell)
The Hurricanum plays a very important role in this list, using it to suffer wounds in the hero phase for buffing the casting rolls of friendly wizards, while dishing out a significant number of mortal wounds through its shooting attacks, warscroll spell and the faction spells he’s been granted.
Sorceress and Darkshards are yet again an example of good synergies exploited to the maximum in this list. Thus this shooting unit can be given run and shoot (command ability of the Sorceress) and can potentially imbue their attacks with +1 to hit (if in the aura of the Hurricanum) and +1 to wound (from Ignite Weapons spell).
To sum it up, we are looking at a unit with a range of 28″ that will put out 61 attacks, hitting on 3+ and wounding on 3+.
The malevolent maelstrom and aethervoid pendulum are very good and reliable additions that add to mortal wounds output this list has.
In a nutshell, we have an amazingly durable castle with walls made out of super buffed halberd wielding elves all while a storm of spells, mortal wounds and arrows are hitting enemies with surgical precision.
Army Faction: Hedonites of Slaanesh
– Army Type: Pretenders
– Grand Strategy: Selfish Desire
– Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS
Contorted Epitome (210)*
– General
– Command Traits: Strength of Godhood
– Artefacts of Power: The Crown of Dark Secrets
– Spells: Hoarfrost
– Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
Glutos Orscollion (480)*
– Spells: Born of Damnation
Sigvald (200)*
BATTLELINE
Blissbarb Archers (160)*
Blissbarb Archers (160)*
Blissbarb Archers (160)*
BEHEMOTH
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*
OTHER
Symbaresh Twinsouls (140)*
CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
Joshua Bennett: Welcome readers to another event, Dwellers below, where we take a look at Slaanesh in the new GHB. Mitch Khwaja took 3rd in this event with the Pretenders subfaction. (not much has changed it seems) but with a breath of fresh air even though there are still three units of them its not a mass amount of the archers. This list likes models that are very hard to take down. The contorted is the general in this list. Even though losing Fueled by Gurish Rage hurts her effectiveness in combat, she still packs one heck of a punch. This list has her listed with the new hoarfrost spell that we can safely assume will be in every list that has a wizard that can take it.
The interesting part about this list is the Incarnate that is bound to the contorted. Where typically your opponent wants her dead as soon as possible this becomes a little more problematic when doing so causes the incarnate to go wild. Which is already going to be doing well with the obvious rise in endless spells that we are going to be seeing in this new GHB. The issue with the incarnate is that you can not pick it up in one turn, you have to wait at least two combats to kill it and by that time it may have already caused too much damage to your army.
Now the third issue you have to deal with when going up against this list is the Glutos. Not only is he super tanky with the ability to heal a ton of wounds, he also scales in power as the turns progress. Gaining new abilities at the start of each turn alongside the ever growing abilities of the Slaanesh army the more depravity the army gains. The other issue with him is that he is a great support for any Slaanesh army as he gives a minus one to hit for any enemy 12 inches around him. Stack that with the -1 to hit caused by depravity not even All out attack can help you.
Then the ever faithful blissbarb archers. Even at MSU you’re still looking at 60 shots at a thirty inch threat range hitting on twos wounding on threes. These units will still punish an army and can cripple hammers giving the list the edge that it needs. You also have to worry about not getting caught up into glutos and the incarnate which allows two units to tank your main hammers while the archers chip away from afar.
Last but not least you have the twin souls that reduce the number of attacks that you can throw into this army, tag that alongside the potentially -2 to hit your not having fun as a melee army trying its best to chew through this list.
Army Faction: Nighthaunt
– Army Subfaction: The Emerald Host
– Grand Strategy: Dismantle the Brave
LEADER
1 x Guardian of Souls (150)*
– Chill Blade
– Spells: Hoarfrost
1 x Guardian of Souls (150)*
– Chill Blade
– Spells: Merciless Blizzard
1 x Spirit Torment (120)**
– General
– Command Traits: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts
1 x Spirit Torment (120)***
– Artefacts: Beacon of Nagashizzar
BATTLELINE
10 x Chainrasps (100)**
10 x Chainrasps (100)**
6 x Spirit Hosts (260)**
20 x Grimghast Reapers (300)**
BEHEMOTH
1 x Black Coach (270)***
– Reaper Scythe
OTHER
2 x Chainghasts (90)***
10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (170)***
10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (170)***
CORE BATTALIONS:
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Battle Regiment
***Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Kel Pigg: Going into the new ghb with nighthaunt is something that should be applauded. While the army recently received some love in the form of some internal balancing that made some underutilized a touch cheaper the problem is that nighthaunt lost a lot going into this GHB. From the loss of galatian veterans in all forms, the recent arcane tome change, and even the loss of the previous ghb heroic action most players do not have a positive outlook going into this ghb. Michael here plans to prove that wrong!
His list follows a standard infantry hammer list that was common in the previous edition and has to make some concessions for the things we lost that I listed above. Using chainrasps and grimghast reapers Michael can get around needing galatian veterans and still fighting in two ranks. He also brings two units of harridans but they are left in 10 mans as it is still manageable to get that many into melee range using different methods. His big switch up here is bringing the black coach. A unit that nighthaunt players have all been dying to take off their shelf and put back onto their table it just now might be it’s time to shine. The black coach has dropped recently in points again but really it’s value to any nighthaunt list is in its tactic. It allows nighthaunt players to have one solid book tactic that they can rely on in any game and possibly one they could get on turn 1, albeit not the easiest turn 1 tactic.
2 spirit torments might be the standard for an infantry based nighthaunt list but 2 guardian of souls is something new. Likely a change to match the season the guardian of souls is the only nighthaunt wizard that isn’t unique, meaning he can get those juicy lore of frost spells, and that’s just what Michael did opting for hoarfrost and blizzard and hoping those primal dice will carry those spells home.
All in all the list is a modern ghb version of a recognizable nighthaunt standard and one we are likely to see other variations of. Only time will tell.