This is the Top Three AoS Lists for Realm of Geddon 2023 that took place on the 4th and 5th February. It involved 14 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
As a reminder, as this tournament has less than 20 players, there won’t be any comments from the Woehammer guys here. This frees up their time for the bugger tournament write ups.
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: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs:
Leaders Kairos Fateweaver (440)** Curseling, Eye of Tzeentch (180)** – General – Command Trait: Cult Demagogue – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Fatemaster (140)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate Fluxmaster, Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (170)** – Lore of Change: Fold Reality Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist
Battleline 10 x Tzaangors (180)** 10 x Tzaangors (180)** 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (110)** 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)*
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Despoilers – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (220)* – General – Command Trait: Idolator Lord – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Prayer: Heal Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – The Lore of the Damned: Chaotic Conduit Exalted Hero of Chaos (100)*** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (195)* – Axe – Wings – Command Trait: Bolstered by Chaos – Artefact: Helm of Many Eyes – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
Battleline 5 x Chaos Knights (230)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 5 x Chaos Knights (230)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Splintered Fang (100)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Splintered Fang (100)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields
Units 10 x Chaos Chosen (480)*** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Ensorcelled Banner: The Banner of Screaming Flesh – Reinforced x 1
Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Khailebron – Mortal Realm: Ulgu – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Melusai Ironscale (120)* – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Crown of Woe – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Morathi-Khaine (350)* The Shadow Queen (350)*
Battleline 15 x Blood Stalkers (540)** – Reinforced x 2 10 x Blood Sisters (300)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Witch Aelves (120)* – Sacrificial Knives and Blade Bucklers
Units 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)** 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)**
I recently asked Baz Norman Jr if he’d care to comment on his list from Blood in the Snow on 14th and 15th of January. I also asked him if he’d like to give a run-down of his games as part of that.
As always Baz’s response blew me away, and I thought it deserved an article in it’s own right. So thank you once again Baz!
Peter! Thank you once again for having me on the site. I attended Mark Ward’s Blood in the Snow at Hull’s Angels Gaming Club on the 14th and 15th January 2023. This was my second two day event already of 2023.
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Melusai Ironscale (115)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Mindrazor – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Morathi-Khaine (680)* The Shadow Queen (680)*
BATTLELINE Witch Aelves (115)* – Hag – Death Pennant Bearer – Hornblower – Paired Sciansá Witch Aelves (115)* – Hag – Death Pennant Bearer – Hornblower – Paired Sciansá Blood Sisters (420)* – Gorgai
BEHEMOTH Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Horrorghast (40)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1965/2000
I have hit the competitive scene a lot, running Daughters of Khaine (DoK) over the last year so running them again at this event was no surprise to anyone, but what might be a surprise was that it isn’t my usual list.
The list above is a slight variation to the DoK list I ran last weekend on the 7th and 8th January, where I had the absolute pleasure of playing alongside the legends that are Team England at Brotherhood III at Firestorm Games in Cardiff, on Team England’s South team.
So let’s delve into it…
SUB-FACTION – I love my manoeuvrability. I’ve said on previous posts that movement is king, and I wholeheartedly stand by this. Being able to get into positions to threaten enemy units, objectives and push for future turns is huge, so Khailebron was a staple.
GRAND STRATEGY – This list revolves around being in combat, so Bloodthirsty Zealots matched perfectly.
TRIUMPH – At 1,965pts, +1 to wound when I wanted to hit hard just worked.
LEADERS Melusai Ironscale– Having Khailebron as the sub faction doesn’t make Blood Sisters battleline, and knowing I wanted to run 15 of them meant that it would have to be the Melusai Ironscale as general. The Command Trait was a given at Zealous Orator. Who doesn’t love a 4+ rally? My Artefact of power being Arcane Tome and knowing the spell, Mind Razor. The bonding to the Krondspine provides a +1 to cast within domination range.
Morathi – because its Morathi.
BATTLELINE Witch Aelves – Two units of 10. These give a decent screen, but also with the run and charge, reroll failed battleshock test, and buckets of attacks, they can still threaten wounded units or chip wounds off when needed. Not to mention being objective grabbers whilst the rest of the army is doing the heavy lifting.
Blood Sisters – One unit of 15. Yes they’ve only got a 5+ save and the DoK 6+ ward save, but that’s where the negatives stop in my opinion. Three attacks base (+1 for the Gorgai), 3’s to hit, 3’s to wound, -1 rend, damage 1, and then the turned to crystal effect after the unit has fought for the first time in a phase. This attack profile alone is spicy, 46 attacks base from this unit. Now we add in and start tuning this unit to another level. Factor in the blood rites table, run and charge from the Ironscale, all out slaughter, mind razor and Fury of the Shadow Queen ability, this unit can suddenly end up having 61 attacks, 2’s to hit with exploding 6’s, 2’s to wound, -2 rend, and 2 damage a piece, then the crystal touch on top… not much can come away from this to be honest.
BEHEMOTH Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur – You’ve probably all heard about it, 480 pts that can’t be auto killed, doesn’t allow retreats, is good, but not broken as there are some easy ways around it, but is still strong, especially coupled with the units above.
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS Horrorghast – I had points left over, easy to cast, can certainly help finish off units if you’ve fluffed a couple dice rolls and left a few models alive.
CORE BATTALION Battle Regiment – Works for this list, as I normally govern who takes 1st turn.
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Game 1 vs Kruleboyz / Mike Chadderton and Head-on Collision.
Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Kruleboyz – Army Subfaction: Grinnin’ Blades – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof (150) 1 x Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof (150) 1 x Killaboss on Corpse-rippa Vulcha (220)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un – Spells: Nasty Hex 1 x Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (290)** 1 x Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (105)** – Spells: Choking Mist 1 x Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (105)** – Spells: Sneaky Miasma
BATTLELINE 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)* 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)* 10 x Gutrippaz (160)** – Wicked Hacka 10 x Gutrippaz (160)** – Wicked Hacka
OTHER 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)** 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)**
Mike (of Goonhammer fame – Peter) is a great player, we regularly converse over Twitter and I’ve had the pleasure of playing Mike before at Sheffield Slaughter 2022; one of my first bigger events. The result ended in his favour before, so he had that psychological benefit.
I deployed just over 24” away, and being a gentleman, I gave Mike turn 1.
Mike made a few little movement wiggles, buffed up his units with elixirs from the Swampcalla Shamans ready to receive the DoK threat.
My turn 1, and I moved my whole army up to threaten his position and to give him too many threats to deal with all at once if Mike got the priority for turn 2.
Turn 2 dice off. I won priority.
Taking the turn, I knew this was the opportunity I needed to hit his army hard, so I prepped for it. Mind Razored the Shadow Queen, withered key units, Black horrored a Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof, cast the Horrorghast and then at the end of the movement phase, teleported the 15 Blood Sisters 9” away from his Killaboss on Corpse-rippa Vulcha and a unit of Gutrippaz.
The shooting phase came and went, with a couple more wounds going onto the already wounded Gnashtoof. Big charge phase inbound. Started with Morathi who was 4” away; into the 2 Gnashtoofs. Krondspine going into a unit of Gutrippaz. 9” long bomb charge required for the Blood Sisters, needed 8 on the dice, due to the Blood Rites table, rolled a 9. Big charge phase ticked off.
The combat phase followed, having Morathi curb stomp the already wounded Gnashtoof, killing it, and making room for her to pile round into some tasty Boltboyz. I started the combat phase with the Blood Sisters to ensure maximum damage. The unit was split between the Vulcha and a unit of Gutrippaz, a couple of Blood Sisters went into the Vulcha, chipping 5 wounds off it, whilst the rest went into the Gutrippaz. Turned to Crystal, which is what I was wanting, all went into the Vulcha, killing it. I did take some damage from other units piling in, and with the misplay of the Horrorghast, 12” is huge! I lost 5 Blood Sisters to battleshock…. lesson here for sure lol
The dust settled from that turn and Mike calculated just over 1000pts lifted in one turn. Solid turn for me.
Being pinned in by Morathi, Krondspine and the Blood Sisters and losing all those units made it really hard for Mike to come back so he played for points and got what could. With me winning turn 3 priority again, the nail in the coffin. We ended the game 32-5 to DoK. So that’s 1 game a piece now Mike….until next time! 😉
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Game 2 vs Sons of Behemat / Rob Anderson and Battlelines Drawn.
Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Breaker Tribe – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Gatebreaker (520)* – Artefacts: Amberbone Totem 1 x Gatebreaker (520)* – General – Command Traits: Monstrously Tough – Artefacts: Vial of Manticore Venom 1 x Warstomper (450)** 1 x Warstomper (450)** – Artefacts: Glowy Shield of Protectiness
CORE BATTALIONS: *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent **Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent
TOTAL POINTS: (1940/2000)
So no “remove from battlefield and set up again”, but I was playing into the Sons of Behemat; an army that just wants to get in your face and ‘Triple H Pedigree’ slam enemies, which, I am weirdly okay with. I screened out with Morathi-Khaine, the Shadow Queen and the Krondspine. And with the Witch Aelves on the flanks, I gave turn 1 away as before.
Rob moved his 4 big boys up to capture objectives (table quarters in this mission), capped the centre terrain piece with Desecrate and charged one of his Warstompers into a unit of Witch Aelves I had on the flank. He rightfully killed them and chipped 3 wounds off Morathi-Khaine.
My turn 1, I chose Gaining Momentum and committed to lifting the giant that had just slapped Morathi-Khaine and the Witch Aelves. Turn 1 finished, and I had lifted 2 giants.
Turn 2 priority was won by Rob, where he continued with the points increase and reducing Morathi to 6 wounds, and did enough damage to reduce the Krondspine to level 1. Another 5 points for Rob. Seeing the work that happened from the DoK turn 1, turn 2 was no different.
Game 2 finished 26-10 to DoK.
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Game 3 vs Skaven / Duncan Woods and Turf War.
Army Faction: Skaven – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumph: Inspired
Duncan is a loyal member of the GAF gaming group and has been to several of our events run by the Warrior Lodge, and every interaction with Duncs is….how can I describe it….erm….lets just say that he is a character and a gentleman to boot, so I knew this game would be laugh regardless.
Skaven is an army that I’ve not played a lot of to be honest, and with him rocking up with two Warp Lightning Cannons and 6 Stormfiends, I knew I had to be on him asap.
No surprises here when I gave Duncs turn 1 and with me deploying out side of his shooting range, he moved some units up to cap objectives. I was surprised that he didn’t go through the Gnawholes with his 6 Stormfiends and try to shoot off the Blood Sisters turn one….maybe he knew something I didn’t…? My turn 1 was simple, move up, and prep for later turns.
Turn 2 priority went in my favour, meaning that Morathi and the Krondspine could get into position for a charge. I also teleported the Blood Sisters for a supportive charge. Dice rolls went back and forth. Duncs killing his own general and bombardier through Skaven antics finished the game 28-9 to DoK.
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Game 4 vs Hedonites of Slaanesh / James Mackenzie and The Silksteel Nests.
Allegiance: Slaanesh – Host: Lurid Haze Invaders Host (Host of Chaos) – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders The Contorted Epitome (245)* – General – Command Trait: Feverish Anticipation – Artefact: Oil of Exultation – Lore of Slaanesh: Hysterical Frenzy Sigvald, Prince of Slaanesh (205)* Glutos Orscollion, Lord of Gluttony (440)* – Lore of Pain and Pleasure: Battle Rapture
Battleline 22 x Blissbarb Archers (280)** – Reinforced x 1 22 x Blissbarb Archers (280)** – Reinforced x 1 5 x Hellstriders with Hellscourges (135)*
Units 5 x Blissbarb Seekers (220)* 5 x Centigors (85)* 5 x Centigors (85)*
Endless Spells & Invocations The Burning Head (20)
Having not played Hedonites of Slaanesh before, meant I had had to do some homework the previous evening. High manoeuvrability, lots of units, a lot of shots, buffs from Glutos, the hindrance that Sigvald can bring meant this would be new to me, not to mention the 8 available objectives.
I set up so that each of my 4 objectives, had models touching it and gave James turn 1. He was on me straight away, his Blissbarb Archers being screened by the Centigors lifted both units of Witch Aelves that were on either flank. I had to play super aggressive and hit his key units right from the get go, as I was behind on points. Morathi moved up to just behind a building, being 9” from Glutos and the Krondspine moved up ready to ‘eat’ from Centigors. Charges were made and the Warrior Lodge dice rolled well, meaning that my turn 1, Glutos was dead, the Krondspine was in combat doing its thing.
Turn 2 priority was won by James and he played big for points scoring 7 points his turn 2. Bottom of turn 2 the score was 9 to me, 12 to James…
Turn 3 priority was again won by James and he kept on racking up the points, although he was behind with model count, if he could keep scoring points though, that could see him win overall. Turn 3 finished 15 to me and 18 to James.
Turn 4 priority was won by….James again…I must have used up all my priority rolls on day 1! Again more points racking up in James’s favour finishing turn 4 on 20 to me, 24 to James.
Turn 5 priority came and went….finally in my favour. I managed to get into positions in the previous turns to eventually pin him in and lift the pesky Hedonites which were so quick. Game 4 finished 29-24 to DoK. Phew.
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Game 5 vs Sylvaneth / Peter Twigg on Won’t Back Down.
Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Subfaction: Harvestboon – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Warsong Revenant (305)* – General – Command Traits: Spellsinger – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Treesong, Verdant Blessing Celestant-Prime (325)*
BATTLELINE Tree-Revenants (110)* Tree-Revenants (110)* Revenant Seekers (705)** – Revenant Soulwarden – 3 x Seeker Banner Bearer – 3 x Seeker Hornblower Spiterider Lancers (420)** – Spiterider Scion – 2 x Spiterider Standard Bearer – 2 x Spiterider Hornblower
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment **Bounty Hunters
TOTAL POINTS: 1975/2000
A little birdy had mentioned to me that Pete wanted revenge from our last meeting from across the table where we were both on table 1, game 5. That last game was also played over Won’t Back Down so things felt similar, even if our lists were different.
Sylvaneth have historically been a challenging match up for me as they’re really nimble and I struggle to pin them down, so knew this match up would be tough, not to mention the fact that Pete had 9 Revenant Seekers and 6 Spiterider Lancers…oh and the Prime!
I did my thing with deployment ensuring that the Witch Aelves were snaked (pun intended!) round the Blood Sisters at 3” just in case the Prime was to come down turn 1, and gave Pete turn 1.
Against the Odds was chosen and he moved units up to threaten, but also to take objectives for a solid 5 VP round.
My turn 1, I did some hero phase shenanigans as usual and ran the buffed Blood Sisters up so they were 5” away from the 9 Revenant Seekers and their pool of 45 wounds. There was no redeploy which I was expecting, even though I had explained the abilities at the start. Charge phase started and the Blood Sisters failed their 5” charge. CP reroll… then I rolled a 8. Here we go! Spending a CP for all out attack and burning my triumph for +1 to wound saw them lift the Revenant Seekers to the wound, nothing more nothing less…. a big dent made.
Turn 2 I got the double turn, which allowed me to move up into position again ready for another charge. The Shadow Queen failed her charge, but the Blood Sisters got another charge off, this time into the 6 Spiterider Lancers but without the Mind Razor buff. Lifting 4 of them meant that Pete could retaliate and then in his turn nip through the woods far away…. Far, far away to the other end of the board…. i.e., my deployment zone lol.
I slowly managed to take the lead with a couple of points difference but at the cost of Morathi dying and we shook hands finishing the game 26-21 to DoK.
Peter: What a result. Thanks again to Baz for sharing his tournament review. Hopefully we can get him on again in the future.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for Blood in the Snow that took place in the UK on 14th and 15 January. It involved 30 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: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Melusai Ironscale (115)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Mindrazor – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Morathi-Khaine (680)* The Shadow Queen (680)*
BATTLELINE Witch Aelves (115)* – Hag – Death Pennant Bearer – Hornblower – Paired Sciansá Witch Aelves (115)* – Hag – Death Pennant Bearer – Hornblower – Paired Sciansá Blood Sisters (420)* – Gorgai
BEHEMOTH Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Horrorghast (40)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1965/2000
EDIT: You would think that I – a DoK main – would not get Blood Stalkers and Sisters mixed up – but there’s an interesting case study in assumptions tricking your brain into reading things wrong! To be fair, it doesn’t really change much but either way, my bad – commentary amended accordingly (less Pin-Cushion and more Pins-Needles)
Baz Norman is one of those names you really don’t want to see on your pairings sheet – and he’s ending the old season on another high here with a list that, with the forthcoming points changes and GC rules, is likely dead from here on.
Essentially it’s a riff on the good old fashioned pin-and-cushion list, with two timed-unkillable giant bases in Morathi and Spinedog to back you up while 15 Stab charge in behind them with their huge MW output. I call it, the ‘Pins-and-Needles’ list!
That’s it really. It’s done the business before, it’s done it here again and in the new season this list will be nearly 100 pts dearer and have only the one useful Galley Champ – so hopefully we’ll see DoK lists getting a mix up at least!
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Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Subfaction: Harvestboon – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Warsong Revenant (305)* – General – Command Traits: Spellsinger – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Treesong, Verdant Blessing Celestant-Prime (325)*
BATTLELINE Tree-Revenants (110)* Tree-Revenants (110)* Revenant Seekers (705)** – Revenant Soulwarden – 3 x Seeker Banner Bearer – 3 x Seeker Hornblower Spiterider Lancers (420)** – Spiterider Scion – 2 x Spiterider Standard Bearer – 2 x Spiterider Hornblower
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment **Bounty Hunters
TOTAL POINTS: 1975/2000
Peter Twigg here showing that Sylvaneth are starting to put some deep roots down – and that’s before their forthcoming points cuts.
It’s a nasty list – tripling down on Revenant Seekers, those bastards tricky flying cavalry who can feel nigh on indestructible by dint of healing up after they kill something and their ability to bring a model back by themselves – including one of their own. They’re backed up by Lancers – the less tanky but killier ones, all wrapped up in Harvestboon for the pre-game move (for EACH flying-cav unit) of 12″. The threat projection is obvious – you’re likely to start turn 1 swatting more bugs than you’d find at an al fresco jam tasting in August.
Then, just to make your life truly miserable, there’s a Celestant Prime.
The list has the speed to take down tanky targets like SCE and Slaves in the first two games, and also has the recursion and mobility to deal with DoK, losing only to Baz. Another list that may suffer in the new season due to lack of scoring GCs but honestly, when you can just pin and kill everything in the first battle-round, does it matter?
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)
Points: 1,955/2,000
Elite in that special Orc way, Mawcrusha with 3 Warchanters for lots of Violent Fury (+1 damage), 12 pigs and a token 5 Ardboyz. And the Krondspine. It produces a quadruple threat, all hammers list that can be all Alpha strike but has some potential to play for a double if you hold it back until Turn 2/3. The change to -2 Rend boosted Goregruntas a lot and blocks of 6 can remove most threats in a turn. Even better they will usually (being 30 wounds) tie up whatever they charged for a 2nd round where the unreinforced unit can be taken out in 1 turn. This is a multi drop army (2 artefacts) so it probably isn’t going to get first turn unless their opponent thinks they can delay outside of 25”+, the threat range of the Goregruntas with Mighty Destroyers and Get ‘em beat.
But wait there’s more – Get ‘em beat on a Goregrunta unit with the Green Hand of Gork is a very good sniping tactic. You drop outside of 9” (no redeploy) with a 3D6 charge or better than 50% chance of making the charge. Then there’s the Krondspine, a handy addition to Ironjawz who are lagging a little in the win rate. Quadrulple threats with the potential to remove units quickly and restrict your scoring. But at the same time if the opponent is too mobile or spreads then other army lacks the units to pursue. If they Orks get to dictate play you are in trouble but they are vulnerable to mortal wounds (or spells really) and archers. And with so few units it’s hard to score Battle Tactics. High risk high reward list for a High risk high reward army – very orkish.
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Allegiance: Slaanesh – Host: Lurid Haze Invaders Host (Host of Chaos) – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders The Contorted Epitome (245)* – General – Command Trait: Feverish Anticipation – Artefact: Oil of Exultation – Lore of Slaanesh: Hysterical Frenzy Sigvald, Prince of Slaanesh (205)* Glutos Orscollion, Lord of Gluttony (440)* – Lore of Pain and Pleasure: Battle Rapture
Battleline 22 x Blissbarb Archers (280)** – Reinforced x 1 22 x Blissbarb Archers (280)** – Reinforced x 1 5 x Hellstriders with Hellscourges (135)*
Units 5 x Blissbarb Seekers (220)* 5 x Centigors (85)* 5 x Centigors (85)*
Endless Spells & Invocations The Burning Head (20)
Peter published these meta stats earlier this week, and according to it the Hedonites are…. *searches through list*… sleeping in. Apparently they are sick in bed with a terrible case of old book-itis, and would prefer not to have to have their names added to anything, thankyouverymuch.
In reality, Slaanesh is in a tough spot right now. They are stuck with Hero-hammer being the best way to field their most effective units while dealing with a GHB that rewards armies with good troops. They want to kill their opponents, but if they do it too well they break their own summoning mechanic. They want to get their heroes stuck in, but on a good day Sigvald is still going to fold under the weight of a decent opponent (there is only so much a 3+ save and 4+ ward can do when you’re starting out with 6 wounds).
All that said, what this list seems to want is to place as many threats on the board in as many places as possible. Blissbarb archers aren’t going to stand up to dedicated fire, but are fast enough to place bodies where you need them, potentially stealing an objective right out from under their opponent. The Seekers, Hellstriders, and Centigors are also present to make use of those relatively fast movement speeds to tie up and harass their opponents. The heroes waver between support (Glutos) and damage (Sigvald), both of which can very effectively support the other.
I expect once the new GHB is released and adopted by more tournaments we will see drastically different list-building styles from Hedonites. Whether those modified lists will see top 3s remains to be seen.
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.
Daughters of Khaine
Region Comparison – Popularity
Daughters of Khaine saw their highest popularity in UK & Ireland with 6.7% of players choosing the faction for tournament play, while over the Atlantic the uptake was only 5.0% in North America.
Region Comparison – Win Rates
Oceania led the win rates with 57.8%. While players in Europe could only manage 47.3%.
North America, UK & Ireland and Europe saw the Daughters claim 5-0’s in all those regions. While in Scandanavia and Oceania they managed 4-1’s
Subfaction Analysis
Subfaction
Players
Win Rate
Khailebron
53
55.26%
Hagg Nar
49
55.25%
Zainthar Kai
102
54.60%
Draichi Ganeth
13
52.31%
Kraith
2
40.00%
None/Unknown
17
40.59%
Faction Total
238
53.59%
Although the Daughters of Khaine in general fall below the 55% upper bracket, both Khailebron and Hagg Nar breach that with 55.26% and 55.25% respectively.
Top 10 Daughters if Khaine 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 Daughters of Khaine results only.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Trouble at the Mill that took place in the UK on 1st and 2nd October. It involved 23 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Bloodgullet – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Frostlord on Stonehorn (430)* – General – Command Trait: Nice Drop of the Red Stuff! – Artefact: Splatter-cleaver – Mount Trait: Metalcruncher Slaughtermaster (140)* – Bloodgullet 2nd Spell: Molten Entrails – Lore of Gutmagic: Ribcracker
Battleline 2 x Mournfang Pack (160)* – Culling Clubs or Prey Hackers with Iron Fists 2 x Mournfang Pack (160)* – Culling Clubs or Prey Hackers with Iron Fists Stonehorn Beastriders (320)* – Weapon: Blood Vulture Stonehorn Beastriders (320)* – Weapon: Blood Vulture
Units 2 x Frost Sabres (55)*
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)* – Allies
Brett: A real surprise with Ogor’s taking out a smaller event, 5/0 is a fantastic effort. Along the way Peter beat the next the other podium armies and took all 25 of his battle tactics, missing just 2 Grand Strategies. Only one caster with a single cast knowing 2 spells, -1 to an opposing unit’s save (Ribcraker), and +1 damage for an Ogor Monster’s mount’s attacks (Molten Entrails). FrostLord is the general and has the mandatory trait and artefact for Bloodgullet. Grand Strategy is to clear the opponents battleline, Krondspine is along for the ride. Lastly the Krondspine is probably bonded to the Slaughtermaster and the Stonehorns have the Blood Vulture (very long range Mortal Wound (MW)).
The Slaughtermaster is here for his cauldron and is the only slow moving unit ( 6″). The Frost Sabres move 9″ and everything else is moving 12″, all Ogor units count as 2 on objectives and the Stonehorns (because they are Ogor monsters) count as 10. Together that gives them a lot of scoring potential, especially when there aren’t a lot of Expert Conquerors. Combined with their capacity to do mortals at range, impacts mortals and generally a lot of damage minimum size units are especially vulnerable, even 20 clanrats, and let them charge onto an objective for extra movement. Mobility and hitting power also gives an ability to score several Battle Tactics and play into the Grand Strategy (typically Objective holders are Galletian Veterans/Battleline).
Shoot the Stonehorns off the board if you want to win against this list (min 30″ range is suggested). In the current meta though, 3 fairly tough monsters that have mobility and damage is a good choice similar to the 2 and 3 Mawcrusha lists we are seeing. Without Hunters of the Heartland most armies are exposed to the Monstrous rampage abilities with devestating consequences.
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Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Morathi-Khaine (680)** The Shadow Queen (680)** Melusai Ironscale (115)** – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Mindrazor
Brett: Morathi-Khaine led Daughters of Khaine list, Kahilebron for command ability teleports (so one unit a turn). Khainite Shadowstalkers is a less common choice, here they replace another unit of Blood Sisters (or reinforcement of the second unit). The composition of the Bounty Hunters battalion is unusual, Blood Stalkers benefit less than Blood Sisters (the combat focused Blood girl). Even the Heartrenders, which we sometimes see in Bounty Hunters, is unusual – they are normally better to avoid combat because they are easy to remove.
All of Baz’s opponents lacked the range to effectively deal with the list and avoid the Blood Stalkers shooting. Particularly with double shooting they can remove a major threat per turn and are very hard to get into with being exposed to Unleash Hell. The surprise is the 2nd round loss to the eventual winner. I’d guess Peter went first, took the risk on the double turn bottom of 1 and charged multiple units. Throwing the Frost Sabres in to take the unleash hell and then hitting the Blood Stalkers with a Stonehorn.
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Army Faction: Skaven – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Verminlord Deceiver (405) – General – Command Traits: Devious Adversary – Artefacts: Shadow Magnet Trinket – Spells: Flaming Weapon 1 x Thanquol (415)* – 2 x Warpfire Braziers – 2 x Warpfire Projectors – Spells: Skitterleap 1 x Warlock Bombardier (115)* – Spells: More-more-more Warp Power!
BATTLELINE 20 x Clanrats (100)* – Clawleader – Clanrat Standard Bearer – Clanrat Bell-ringer – Rusty Blade 20 x Clanrats (100)* – Clawleader – Clanrat Standard Bearer – Clanrat Bell-ringer – Rusty Blade 6 x Stormfiends (640)* – 2 x Windlaunchers and Clubbing Blows – 2 x Ratling Cannons and Clubbing Blows – 2 x Shock Gauntlets and Warpstone-lacedArmour
ARTILLERY 3 x Warplock Jezzails (120)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Lauchon the Soulseeker (30) 1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (60)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1985/2000)
Brett: Again one of the more common lists for Skaven (because it works) with both the Deceiver and Thanquol. I won’t go into too much detail, we’ve covered very similar lists a few times. Thanquol has his skateboard (Lauchon) because he likes to be close on cold nights. Thanquol has a balanced build with equal Braziers (melee) and Projectors (ranged) weapons. Warplock Bombadier as a potential sacrifice to the Great Horned Rat (when he explodes) rounds out the leaders. The troops include the standard screens/objective/action units (Clanrats) and Stormfiends to leave a few scars. Some snipers (Jezzails) and Ravenak’s Jaws finish the list. Surprising number of casts (5) with bonuses so expect the Endless Spells to play a part.
Again flexibility is the key to the list, in most games you will choose who goes first (everything is in a Battle Regiment) and then play for the double. Your main threats (Deceiver and Thanquol) are very mobile with Skitterleap and Dreaded Skitterleap. Your screens are deep (20 clanrats), the Stormfiends are solid mid board threat and Ravenak’s Jaws do serious mortals to slower armies like his last 3 opponents. This combination lets you give away first and react from behind your screens. Because their mobility is tied to spells both the Deciever and Thanquol can even be hidden from shooting armies. Outside of the heroes though it’s a slow list and a lot of battle tactics are hard to score if the opponent spreads out. Thomas dropped 4 Battle Tactics and a Grand Strategy. 4/1 is still a great recovery after dropping the first round.
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Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Troggoth Hag (405)** – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Flaming Weapon 1 x Fungoid Cave-Shaman (95)** – Spells: The Hand of Gork 1 x Madcap Shamans(80)** – Artefacts: Moonface Mommet – Spells: Itchy Nuisance
BATTLELINE 20 x Shootas (140)* – Bad Moon Icon Bearer – Gong Basher – 3 x Barbed Net 20 x Stabbas (150)* – Gong Basher – Moonclan Flag Bearer – Stabba and Moon Shield – 3 x Barbed Net 20 x Stabbas (150)* – Bad Moon Icon Bearer – Stabba and Moon Shield – 3 x Barbed Net
BEHEMOTH 1 x Skitterstrand Arachnarok (180)
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Mork’s Mighty Mushroom (40) 1 x Scrapskuttle’s Arachnacauldron (60) 1 x Aethervoid Pendulum (40)
TERRAIN 1 x Bad Moon Loonshrine (0)
OTHER 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150) 3 x Rippa’s Snarlfangs (70)** 3 x Rockgut Troggoths (145)*** 3 x Rockgut Troggoths (145)*** 3 x Rockgut Troggoths (145)***
Brett: Here’s someone that doesn’t care to go first, ever, with 12 drops but a great placing for Gitz. 3/2 defeating Nighthaunt (Scarlet Doom), Sylvaneth and SBGL is pretty amazing. There are a couple of unusual units in the list – the Troggoth Hag (Forge World) and Rippa’s Snarlfangs (Underworld band). The Hag is the centrepiece and likely responsible for most of the effectiveness in the list. She has 16 wounds but heals D6 a turn, moves 8″, has a single cast (2 with arcane tome) and can make a unit -2 to hit (or 2 units -1). Very durable, her main melee weapon is 4 damage with Flaming weapon and she still has her ranged attack and D3 attacks with a possible D6 wounds each. She degrades relatively slowly as well.
Apart from her, Rippa’s Snarlfang’s mobility (12″) will give them the chance to dart out and score Battle Tactics. Near the Marshcrawla, the Rockguts will hit on 2s. With the Hag and Skittersrand Arachnacauldron, there are 2 monsters (see above for why that’s a good thing). The Marshcrawla is granting the other Troggoths with +1 to hit within 18″ of him. The Shootas and Stabbas are screens and scoring units but with the Cave-Shaman (who can also get an exta command point) using hand of Gork, they can also be moved to threaten something or to charge and draw an Unleash Hell.
A range of tools, but unfortunately the Gitz are really showing their age and they can be stopped pretty easily (except the Hag) with attacks that have any rend (making them save on 6s – if they have a save). It shows in the scoring where, despite some strong elements Chris dropped 5 Battle Tactics and 2 Grand Strategies. It’s still a really strong performance with either the weakest or 2nd weakest faction.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Oslohammer that took place in Norway on 1st and 2nd October. It involved 22 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Seraphon – Constellation: Fangs of Sotek – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Lord Kroak (430)* – Spell: Stellar Tempest Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)* – Artefact: Serpent God Dagger Skink Priest (90)** – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse Skink Starpriest (130)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Spell: Hand of Glory
Battleline 30 x Skinks (225)*** – Boltspitters & Moonstone Clubs – Reinforced x 2 10 x Skinks (75)** – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (75)** – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (75)** – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 5 x Saurus Guard (115)*
Units 2 x Salamander Hunting Pack (280)*** – Reinforced x 1 2 x Salamander Hunting Pack (280)** – Reinforced x 1
Danny: Warhammer Community’s Metawatch had Seraphon in 7th place in terms of win-rate at the moment (Peter:I have my own thoughts on this, which I’ll go into in a future meta article), which may be lower than plenty expect – but they’re still clearly capable of taking down tournies. Interestingly, the route to 1st for Geir dodged all the armies placed above the plucky space-lizards – are Seraphon slowly becoming match up dependent? Something to keep an eye on…
Either way, Geir has brought the current darling, Fangs of Sotek, with the usual tidal wave of skinks including the signature 30 blob for mass buff application. He’s veered towards the elite side by taking Kroak – everything else here is standard. For the less versed in Seraphon, Salamanders are definitely back on the menu, especially in Starborne armies (of which Fangs of Sotek is a subfaction) – due to the ability to teleport one unit per turn – meaning the Sallies with their limited range (12″) can still threaten anything on the board in theory.
Congrats to Geir!
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Guardian of Souls (150)* – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Krulghast Cruciator (150)* Spirit Torment (115)* – General – Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts
Battleline 30 x Bladegheist Revenants (525)** – Reinforced x 2 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Hexwraiths (160)* 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)*
Units 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (160)** 3 x Fell Bats (75)* 3 x Fell Bats (75)*
Endless Spells & Invocations Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
Danny: Nighthaunt, with a tonne of Bladegheists in Scarlet Doom for charging into you and doing MWs. It just works. For reference, a unit of 30 on the charge should do 10 MWs *before making their attacks, of which they have a dumpster truck load.
Eirik has made a slight nod to flexibility by also taking some speedy Hexwraiths, whose double move (makes them 24″ but can’t charge) is just fantastic objective/battle tactic play, along with some allied Fell Bats for similar fast msu shenanigans/emergency, very cheap screens. Funnily enough, it’s not the first time we’ve seen them in a NH list – they’re seeing more play hanging out with the ghosts than they are in their native Soulblight!
Nighthaunt have definitely shaken out to be a continual force to be reckoned with, although it’s a slight shame that the Scarlet Doom Bladegheist spam has become such a dominant archetype, so quickly. The book is actually really well internally balanced, it’s just that this particular combo rises above the rest for pure efficiency, which is keeping the others down. Perhaps they’ll be in line for points increase to slightly curb their internal-dominance? Either way – have a plan (i.e…screens… and lots of cheap attacks…or big AoE MW spells) to deal with this list if you fancy rocking up to a tournament. And maybe bring some holy water, or a bible, or whatever it is ghosts don’t like. I wouldn’t know, I ain’t afraid of any ghosts (this is the correct grammar).
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Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADERS Melusai Ironscale (115)* – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Crown of Woe Morathi-Khaine (340)* – Lore of Shadows: Mindrazor The Shadow Queen (340)*
BATTLELINE 15 x Blood Stalkers (540)* – Reinforced x 2 9 x Khainite Shadowstalkers (150)* 9 x Khainite Shadowstalkers (150)*
Danny: This week continues to be huge for DoK! And here we have a spicy variation – although to be fair, all the successful DoK lists recently seem to be finding a unique spin on things, which is a fantastic sign of depth to the book, despite their limited roster.
So, Morathi is in there, as are the contingent of bow sneks but… but….they’re screened by 20 Phoenix Guard. Who have a Ward of 4+. And can be rallied back on a 4+ due to the ‘friendly’ wording of Zealous Orator. This is just pure brutality. Meanwhile, thanks to going Temple Khailebron, Shadowstalkers are battleline and Lasse takes 2 units, in of itself a rarely seen doubling down. Shadowstalkers got a bit less interesting scroll wise with this book, but remain relatively durable (11 wounds on a 4+) and a low-level mixed range threat. Combined with the temple’s CA to teleport ANY unit, two Shadowstalkers make emergency screening, Barge through/Desecrate and general objective stealing trivial.
Love to see this, although the emphasis on pure objective play and only one hammer (outside of Morathi who is fully capable of whiffing/being tarpitted) explains the loss to Stormcast. I wonder if losing the battle reg in favour of making Shadowstalkers ECs and such would have helped? Either way, big up to Lasse for trying something new…and for the hilarious tech of Phoenix Guard!
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Allegiance: Skaven – Grand Strategy: No place for the weak – Triumphs: indomitable
Battleline 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 4 x Rat Ogors (280)** – Reinforced x 1
Danny: Skaven are doing well out of the gate, but are already quite quickly distilling down to a few competitive list archetypes. At the forefront of the newer type is ‘double verminlord’ – these guys offer a mad amount of mixed phase damage and utility – with the Deciever skewing utility and the Warbringer skewing pure savage face damage.
Clanrats provide the ever annoying/sacrificial screens who can regen themselves if they do hang on in there, and rat Ogors are a fast becoming popular pick for a durable objective bully.
Thanquol is the centre of a competitive debate at the moment, as he’s insanely OP into massed infantry but in certain match ups kinda just sits there unbinding your shit, which isn’t the best use of 415 points. However if you DO take him, you take the boat (Lauchon Soulseeker) – because for some, highly questionable reason (that may/should get answered by a boat nerf/change from eligibility being base size to wounds) Thanquol can be anywhere on the board he wants to be after surfing on it.
Either way, it’s a tasty list and we do like the double Verminlord – expect to see more of this soon, possibly while dropping Thanquol.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for Dice and Ducks: Decimation that took place in the UK on 27th and 28th August. It involved 16 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Dice and Ducks is the new YouTube channel run by the fantastic Ben Bailey of Hobby Room fame. Dice and Ducks are a fantastic commentary service for events around the UK. In fact you can catch up with five games from Decimation for free on their YouTube channel. While you’re there I urge you to subscribe and show some love.
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: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Taker Tribe – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Kraken-Eater (490)* – General – Command Traits: Very Acquisitive – Artefacts of Power: Glowy Lantern – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur – Spells: Flaming Weapon Gatebreaker (525)* – Artefacts of Power: Vial of Manticore VenomGatebreaker (525)* – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Flaming Weapon
BEHEMOTH (SPINEDOG) Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)
CORE BATTALIONS *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent
TOTAL POINTS: 1940/2000
Peter: There is a theory among some at Woehammer that the Sons are (despite appearances) going to be the leading faction going forwards. Not only that, but that this is the list that will lead the way.
With a Krondspine attached the a kraken the opponent is going to have to seriously consider where they want to focus their attention. Either way they go, they’ll be struggling to cope with the opposite side of that coin. Two Mega-Gargant with additional thanks to flaming weapons and another that has an easier time thanks to the vial of Manticore venom.
It’ll be interesting to see how often this list starts to crop up.
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Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Morathi-Khaine (680)** The Shadow Queen (680)** Melusai Ironscale (115)** – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Mindrazor
Danny: It’s Morathi and the Bow Snakes! Backed up by 10 and 5 Blood Sisters and Shadowstalkers and a unit of Heartrenders, for teleporting objective/scoring plays. Simple, but effective – and a 3 drop means it’ll still have a good chance of dictating turn order. Shadowstalkers, despite their nerf in the new book, are becoming increasingly common – probably because, while Heartrenders are great for dropping down and being a nuisance, Shadowstalkers ability to teleport _every_ turn makes them that more flexible, and their 11 wounds on a 4+ makes them able to take a hit, whether while scoring or as an emergency snek-screen.
This list understandably beat Kboyz, Skaven, Sons and Khorne, but Fangs of Sotek probably confounded the stab sneks and could handle Morathi with plenty of ranged chip damage.
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Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Lineage: Legion of Night – Mortal Realm: Shyish – Grand Strategy: Vampiric Conquerors – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380) – Lore of the Deathmages: Decrepify Necromancer (125)* – General – Command Trait: Unbending Will – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour Vampire Lord (140)* – Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
UNITS 5x Blood Knights (195)* 1x Corpse Cart with Balefire Brazier (80)* 30x Deathrattle Skeletons (240)** 10x Dire Wolves (135)** 10x Dire Wolves (135)** 20x Grave Guard (280)* – Great Wight Blades 20x Grave Guard (280)* – Great Wight Blades
Danny: Legion of Night is a relatively off-meta pick for Soulblight these days, so it’s nice to see it being picked alongside Mannfred, which is thematically appropriate, and doing well with an unusual list.
The aforementioned Manny is a familiar sight and an excellent all-round utility piece. But he’s rarely backed up by _30_ Deathrattle, who everyone said were too fragile against bounty hunters to reinforce, and have thus been typically run in msu given their cheap, cheap cost of 80 pts making them a cost-effective screen. Deathrattle can bring back models on a 4+ when they activate though – so having a unit big enough to take a hit and activate 2nd means there’s a good chance they regen plenty before the end of the phase – combo that with Expert Conqs and unless you super-commit and wipe the entire squad (30 wounds on a 4+ with AoD, with a ward of 6 re-rolling 1s, and quite possibly some debuffs such as -1 to wound from the corpse cart) – you can see how it might be tricky to steal an objective off them.
The next unusual element of this list is not Graveguard, as they’re a standard hammer, but simply taking two bricks of them. And why not? They’re so good! Going lighter on Blood Knights (just the token 5, you’d be mad not to take any) frees up the points needed, and now there are two scary blobs, either/both of which can be buffed to Shyish and back by the Necromancer, vampire lord AND Manny’s CA (+1 hit and wound).
A nice spin on things that performed brilliantly, losing only to Khorne, who might have their weaknesses, but do not count ‘a shit load of attacks and 6″ pile ins’ among them.
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Allegiance: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480) – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Command Trait: Heroic Stature – Artefact: Armour of Gork – Mount Trait: Mean ‘Un Orruk Warchanter (115) – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Warchanter (115) – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat – Lore of the Weird: Foot of Gork Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90) – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Wurrgog Prophet (150) – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Wardokk (80) – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
Battleline 10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 10 x Gutrippaz (180)**** 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)**** 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*** 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*** 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85) 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)
Danny: Big Waagh are now one of the least represented factions at tournament level, and I can see why – first book of the edition syndrome (I know it was a twin with Stormcast, but one twin is always technically born first…) and their meta-lists have a high skill floor. So it’s great to see them hanging on in there.
This list represents what is looking like the way to go with Big Waagh for this season – msu ‘Ardboyz. They’ve always been a cost-effective package, and while vulnerable to Bounty Hunters, enough of them in msu format still asks some hard questions of your opponent in terms of target priority.
They’re backed up here by the seemingly entrenched HQ combo, although spicily, Thomas here also throws in a Wardokk with the ‘fight last’ spell as an additional tech piece – something the Wurrgog also has access to but rarely uses given his laser-eyes are so clutch.
Now for the elephant in the room. Or should I say, the Gutrippaz in the bin. Yes, this list takes a unit of Gutrippaz. With no support. Why? Let’s ask Thomas. Someone, please ask Thomas. The only thing I can think of is that they’re in Expert Conquerors as a way to count as 30 and, y’know, if their janky ability goes off -1 to hit against 20 wounds isn’t too bad. I guess?
Either way, congrats for a clutch place in the top 5 with an odd duck of a list that took down some difficult match ups!
Final Tournament Placings
For the full tournament lists and Placings see tabletop.to.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the the Northern Ireland GT that took place in the UK on 20th and 21st August. It involved 32 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: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Morathi-Khaine (340)** The Shadow Queen (340)** Melusai Ironscale (115)** – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Shadows: Mindrazor – Bonded: Incarnate
UNITS 15 x Blood Stalkers (540)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Witch Aelves (115)* – Pairs of Sacrificial Knives 10 x Witch Aelves (115)* – Pairs of Sacrificial Knives Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400) – Allies
Danny: DoK weren’t bad before their 3e book by any means, but they’d settled into a ‘Morathi and the (15) bow sneks’ rut. It took a short while for the dust to settle after their new tome, but they’re now starting to go 5-0 and win tournaments here and there – and, thankfully – with a variety of lists.
Although, to be fair, this one didn’t get the memo. The double reinforced bow snek still does the business, with Wendel opting for a Krondspine to double up with Morathi as super durable objective bullies/screens – in the ‘Spine’s case, the pinning effect will help the bow-blob safe while they rain down hurt, and the 2 units of witch aelves run around scoring. Or – because this list opts for Khailebron – teleport around.
I call this the ‘pin and pun-cushion’ strategy.
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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
UNITS 5 x Liberators (115)*** – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1x Grandweapons 5 x Liberators (115)*** – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1x Grandweapons 5 x Judicators with Boltstorm Crossbows (190)*** 3 x Aetherwings (65)* 10 x Protectors (450)** – 4x Starsoul Maces – Reinforced x 1 1 x Stormstrike Chariot (165)** 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)* 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)*
CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord **Bounty Hunters ***Expert Conquerors Holy Command: Call for Aid Holy Command: Unleash Thy Hatred
Danny: Love that this list took a thematic route through the tournament, crusading successfully against the forces of chaos and death – only losing out to a ‘friendly’ scrap against a rival Stormhost.
This list probably qualifies as ‘shootcast’, packing in 6 Longstrikes – despite the recent FAQ stripping reinforced units of the double shoot – and a unit of Judicators. That’s backed up with a Protector blob, who absolutely slap, but are slow. This static, slow core is counterbalanced by Scions of Storm and a chariot, plus the Relictor whose teleport is still clutch to allow for mobility and objective play. And in this season, where Expert Conqs. are often at the mercy of Bounty Hunters, Liberators with +1 save from the Castellant provide a super durable, objective-stealing and mission playing battleline.
A considered list that clearly plays well into the current season and meta.
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (340)* – Lore of the Underworlds: Spectral Tether Guardian of Souls (150)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish – Bonded to Incarnate Krulghast Cruciator (150)*
UNITS 20 x Grimghast Reapers (320)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Hexwraiths (160)* 5 x Hexwraiths (160)* 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)* 4 x Myrmourn Banshees (105)* Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)* – Allies Mortalis Terminexus (85)
Danny: Nighthaunt have not so far been the shrieking, impossible horror that some predicted, but they’re definitely an army you have to have a plan for now.
With the -1 damage aura from the Krulghast combined with ethereal (NH saves can’t be modified -/+), plus their targeted +1 to ward saves, they’re surprisingly tanky for a bunch of spooky sheets. Throw a Krondspine into the mix, all wrapped up in a battle regiment, factor in the NH army trait to re-set up a few units in deployment and you have a tight package that is highly reactive to the mission and opponent – all crucial tools for success at the moment.
The rest of the core units are general NH goodstuff – Hexwraiths for mobility and mw impact hits, Banshees for shutting down magic and the mostly-usual 20 blob of Grimghasts for an eye-watering number of rend 1 attacks and objective thievery, and you have yourself a truly spoopy list.
LEADERS Skragrott, The Loonking (230) – General – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig (110)* – Moon-cutta – Artefact: Spiteful Prodder
UNITS 20 x Stabbas (150) – Pokin Spears & Moon Shields – 3x Barbed Nets – x Moonclan Flag Bearers – 1x Badmoon Icon Bearers 20 x Stabbas (150) – Pokin Spears & Moon Shields – 3x Barbed Nets – 1x Badmoon Icon Bearers 24 x Squig Herd (320) – Reinforced x 1 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105)* 10 x Squig Hoppers (180)* 10 x Squig Hoppers (180)* 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (290) – Reinforced x 1 5 x Sporesplatta Fanatics (135) Mork’s Mighty Mushroom (40) Scuttletide (70)
Peter: I love lists like this, six different units rather than finding the most efficient and spamming it.
James has gone for Stabbas rather than Shootas for his battleline as there a little more durable than their shooting counterparts with a +1 save while having more than 10 models. They’re cheap and make perfect blocking units, gumming up the board in vital locations.
The Squig herd puts out a reasonable amount of damage with 20 squigs able to produce an average damage output of 13.2 before saves. On top of that when squigs are removed they’ll cause mortals on 4+ to the nearest unit.
The Squig Hoppers (Squig Cavalry) cause mortal wounds to models they hop over as well as having the damage output similar to the Herd. These move at 3D6 and so could potentially have a threat range of 30″! The Loonboss has been included to remove the randomness of this movement however, giving the Hoppers a flat 12″ move while within range of the Loonboss.
Meanwhile the rockgut Troggoths can soak up damage with their 5+ ward save and regeneration in the hero phase.
Skragrott is a 2 cast and unbind character with +1 to his casting attempts.
Unfortunately, where Gitz fall down is in their lack of synergy between units meaning most units are pretty much independent most of the time. Hopefully this will change with their new book. Either way, this is a fun little army that looks great to play with and against. Almost makes me want to play Gitz…
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Kingdom of Skrappa Spill event that took place in Derby, UK on 9th and 10th July. It involved 28 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
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The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Hallowheart – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Battlemage (100)** – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Warding Brand – City Role: General’s Adjutant – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Lore of Whitefire: Ignite Weapons Runelord (95)** – Artefact: Whitefire Tome – Sear Wounds – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Freeguild General (100)** – General – Command Trait: Veteran of the Blazing Crusade – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Warding Brand – Lore of Whitefire: Ignite Weapons
Battleline 10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)*** 10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)*** 6 x Demigryph Knights (350)* – Lance and Sword – City Role: Honoured Retinue (Must be 5-20 models) – Reinforced x 1
Units 5 x Sisters of the Thorn (130)** – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Elemental Cyclone – Spell1: Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist 6 x Vanguard-Palladors (430)* – Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins – Reinforced x 1 10 x Protectors (450)* – Reinforced x 1
Endless Spells & Invocations Chronomantic Cogs (40) Purple Sun of Shyish (70) The Burning Head (20)
Peter: Congratulations on your win! How did you find the new GHB?
Freddie: From a battleplans perspective, it felt like the tables where much thinner with the majority of objectives focused around the middle of the table. To be honest I didn’t really like that aspect as it made the games very one dimensional.
From a battle tactics point of view it was a really interesting change. No longer is there 4-5 easy battle tactics, now it’s just 1 or 2. It meant you had to think ahead a couple of turns to ensure you could keep ticking them along.
Overall, refreshing seeing new tactics but would have been better if the battleplans were more open and spread out.
I’ve just interviewed Baz, and we talked a little about how some armies may be able to score battle tactics easier. Some tournaments are now limiting these to only those in the GHB, is this something you agree with?
I do agree that battle tactics should be limited. Not just because my armies have crap ones.
But I’m generally against comps in tournaments as that is a fundamental change to how some armies work. Battle tactic however don’t change how an army should function on a table so limiting some armies is a fair balance/comp to the game. Though I’m sure plenty of DoK players will disagree!
So what’s the key behind your list. What got you the 5-0?
The key unit to the list is the protectors. This units purpose is to safeguard the 3 small heroes of the army. If the heroes die, the buffs stop and the damage efficiency plummets. Throughout the 5 games, only one hero was killed. That was all thanks to the protectors.
Did your purple sun kill anything important?
So vs 3 opponents it didn’t kill a thing. Against the other 2 opponents it single handedly beat them.
Game 2 against Mike Wilding, I autoslayed the flamespyre phoenix and a couple of phoenix guard
Game 3 vs JJ it went bezerk. It killed his general GUO turn 1, then the sloppity bilepiper and orghotts daemonspew turn 2. Called it at that point.
Ow! Having played it and the Cogs (which if I remember correctly gives your wizards a re-roll to casting) do you think it’s overpowered?
With a low volume of casts, Probably not. With my army that has 7 casts, at a potential 1 to 8 bonus to cast. It is too much. I can see the same issue with nagash and teclis style armies.
Either way to go 5-0 at any event is a huge success. You’re a regular tournament goer, are you hoping to repeat the success of last year and make it to the tSports finals?
Last year was my first year of giving competitive aos a real go and seeing what I could achieve. The fact that it culminated in being invited to the tsports final was a welcome surprise for sure.
This aim for this year is to get No1 cities player worldwide and If that performance gets me an invite to the tsports final then even better haha
Do you have any tips for players looking to get into the tournament scene?
The best way to do it is to jump straight in! Rip the plaster off as it were. I turned up to my first event alone and by the first game I was chatting away talking about the hobby. Don’t get me wrong its a daunting prospect going to tournaments but I can honestly say I have never had a bad experience and have loved every minute of it.
Alternatively ofcourse you can find a local club first and do it that way, probably easier and less stressful than how I did it.
Freddie! Thank you so much for your time and your awesome answers. It’s very much appreciated!Best of luck for the coming season.
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Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Morathi-Khaine (680) The Shadow Queen (680) Melusai Ironscale (115) – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Crown of Woe
Peter: Congratulations on your second place! You’ve kicked the new season off well in the GHB, are you hoping to emulate last season and push for the top 16 in the UK?
Baz: Thank you! From my first competitive level game on the 11th November with the lovely Tom Patton which got me hooked.
Kingdom Of Skrappa was my 25 event since, playing DoK for over 90% of them…. a cheeky delve into Gitz for the light heartedness games!
Im a firm believer of reps reps reps, and learning from the fantastic community we have and thats evident in where ive got to so far.
Yes, 100% id to get into the top 16 in the UK, it’ll take a lot of work, but with the community and friends I’ve made thus far, the sky is the limit.
There is a real sense of community with AoS. I’m sure you can replicate last season. So how did you find playing DoK under the new handbook?
Brilliant. The new GHB (love it or hate it, is what it is), it keeps things fresh and keeps the scene on its toes, which I like. The changes have been good in my opinion. DoK do have very good units which you can pull into the Bounty Hunter Battalion for those extra bonuses but its not something to take for granted. They are still very much a glass cannon and will drop, so positioning (hence why I run Khailebron) and timing is key.
Yes they do have the Battletome battle tactics which are huge advantages, but I dont just want to rely on those to win games….
Yeah, there’s been a bit of a murmur about the DoK tactics. So you try and avoid them?
All the GHB battle tactics are new for the community so with not really knowing them fluidly like I did the previous ones. I did use Tides of Battle, (2 units from your starting army in the opponents territory etc), being mindful of time. I think the majority of us took more time at the start of the Hero phases! Lol
So for those unsure, what’s the key behind your list?
No Morathi isnt key, but she certainly helps, especially with the spicy shenanigans thats now out there available to most armies; Purple Sun, im looking at you!
Movement is gives you the huge edge to control where the fighting takes place and at what time, being able to react to dice rolls not going your way and then recover gets you back in the game. I cant recall any other competitive DoK player run Khailebron….. either im doing something wrong, or ive found the hidden gem lol
People joke about my potential none existent relationship with my other half after hearing the number of events ive done, but its like anything, practice practice practice and also don’t fall into the trap of chopping and changing factions etc
As Arnold Schwarzenegger says: “You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets”.
That’s true, most lists I’ve seen go for Zainthar Kai more recently.And you must have a very understanding partner!
Ive got a cheeky list, like many other people, of other builds…..one or two MIGHT be Zainthar Kai
Shes fantastic tbf but she knows I love the hobby, but for me its not just about playing the game. It about the total inclusivity of individuals from all walks of life, its about the night away with friends sharing a hotel, having a meal out, having laughs (and cries at time) all playing a game we love.
Like hundreds of others, it helps keeps my Mental Health in a positive place for sure and coming from someone who is an Armed Forces veteran, medically discharged, Mental Health and Wellbeing is very important 🙂
It’s a fantastic community for support and the social aspect of this game can’t be ignored. Even if it’s just for a hang out while you paint some minis.
I’ll also add, the one thing that has kept my confidence and drive up is the club. Being part of The Warrior Lodge is like having a family…. very much like the military family mentality.
For first timers getting into the hobby, what would you recommend if they’re looking to get into the competitive scene?
The beauty with the competitive scene, is that the term competitive is on a sliding scale, yes you could do GT sized events but smaller hobby shops also have tournaments going on. Get involved with them, try different lists and see what works for you and what you like the feel of. If possible get involved with a club, that’ll give you all the drive and passion collectively as you can share ideas and have that encouragement, as I’ve mentioned above.
I purchased a Samsung Tab 3 and use that for the AOS app but also record all my games etc on that using The Honest Wargamers scoring sheet (shout out to Rob and the team!).
Every game you win, even if you lose on points. You win because you learn.
Thank you so much for agreeing to the interview. Is there anything you’d like to say to those reading this before we end?
Just a huge thank you to everyone I have played and who has supported me to date. Lets all continue the hobby love ❤️
I’d also like to give a huge shout-out to Speccles who ran the event.
Baz is part of the Warrior Lodge based in Nottingham, they have a few upcoming events this year:
Quest of Champions 2022: Heat 4 – 6/7th October
Quest of Champions 2022: Finals – 22/23rd October
Quest of Champions 2023: Heat 1 – 4/5th Feb 2023
Quest of Champions 2023: Heat 2 – 1st/2nd April 2023
Quest of Champions 2023: Heat 3 – 3rd/4th June 2023
Quest of Champions 2023: Heat 4 – 5/6th August 2023
Quest of Champions 2023: Finals – 7/8th October 2023
The top 12 from each heat are invited to the finals at the end of the year.
There will also be a mix of 1 dayers so best to keep an eye on their page @LodgeWarrior.
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Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – Subfaction: Hammerhal – Grand Strategy: No place for the Weak – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Anointed on Flamespyre Phoenix (290)* – Artefact: the Twinstone Assassin (80)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Spell: Cindercloud Knight-Incantor (125)* – City Role: General’s Adjutant – Spell: Wings of Fire
UNITS 20x Phoenix Guard (350)*** – Reinforced: Once 20x Phoenix Guard (350)*** – Reinforced: Once 20x Phoenix Guard (350)*** – Reinforced: Once – City Role: Honoured Retinue 10x Shadow Warriors (120)** 10x Shadow Warriors (120)** 10x Eternal Guard (120)** 5x Khinerai Heartrenders (95)*
The following interview was carried out over email:
Peter: Michael, congratulations on your third place! How did you find the new General’s Handbook?
Michael: The new book is so much more interesting, with many more twists and turns, with the proving ground option being the most interesting.
What is the key to how your army list works?
The key to my army is having units able to withstand the shear number of mortal wounds that dominate the game, also dishing out many deaths by a thousand cuts, it is a game style that has worked for me for a long time.
After coming 5th in the Honest Wargamers top 16 event, are you hoping you can emulate lasts seasons success and push for the podium next year?
I think I have reached my goals this year, so I think I am going to move to a more fun style of play, with a few twists to keep my opponents on there toes.
What’s been your favourite moment of your playing career in the last 12 months?
It would be getting the invite to the Honest Wargamers top 16 event and coming 5th place. Also staying top in the cities faction, with some other great cities players constantly on my heals for top place, though I think I kept it more with the luck of the dice, then skill.
For players looking to get into the competitive scene, what would your advice be?
My advice is 3 to 4 very strong units that work well together and buff each other really does help, but also have fun and always remember sometimes the dice gods will not always be with you, and when they are not just laugh and have fun.
Thank you for your time and I wish you nothing but 6’s in the coming season.
