This is the top three AoS lists for Donkeycon that took place in New Zealand on the 12th and 13th of August. It involved 10 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
As this event had less than 20 players attending there won’t be any list comments here as the guys will be concentrating on the larger events of the week.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Army Subfaction: Cabalists – Grand Strategy: Dominating Presence – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Artefacts: Infernal Puppet – Spells: Daemonic Speed, Hoarfrost, Warp Reality – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Spells: Rupture, Warp Reality, Merciless Blizzard – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 1 x Chaos Lord on Manticore (240)** – Chaos Lance – Daemon Blade – Spells: Daemonic Speed – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 1 x Theddra Skull-Scryer (160)** – Spells: Daemonic Speed, Chaotic Conduit 1 x Chaos Lord (110)** – Reaperblade and Daemonbound Steel – Spells: Mystic Shield – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 1 x Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (200)*** – General – Command Traits: Idolater Lord – Artefacts: The Conqueror’s Crown – Spells: Chaotic Conduit – Prayers: Curse – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
BATTLELINE 1 x Chaos Chariot (80) – Chaos Greatblade and Lashing Whip – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 1 x Chaos Chariot (80)*** – Chaos Greatblade and Lashing Whip – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 1 x Chaos Chariot (80)*** – Chaos Greatblade and Lashing Whip – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 1 x Chaos Chariot (80)*** – Chaos Greatblade and Lashing Whip – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 10 x Chaos Warriors (200)*** – Hornblower – Standard Bearer – Aspiring Champion – Murderous Weapon – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 10 x Chaos Warriors (200)*** – Aspiring Champion – Hornblower – Standard Bearer – Murderous Weapon – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 9 x Untamed Beasts (80)*** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 10 x Splintered Fang (100)*** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 10 x Splintered Fang (100)*** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Army Subfaction: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Melusai Ironscale (120)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts: Crown of Woe 1 x Morathi-Khaine (700)* 1 x The Shadow Queen (700)*
BATTLELINE 9 x Khainite Shadowstalkers (140)* 10 x Blood Sisters (150)* – Gorgai 15 x Blood Stalkers (180)* – Krone
OTHER 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)* 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)*
COREBATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
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Army Faction: Kharadron Overlords – Subfaction: Barak-Zon – Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies – Triumph: Indomitable – Stick To The Code (Amendments): Prosecute Wars With All Haste – Stick To The Code (Artycles): Honour is Everything – Stick To The Code (Footnotes): Without Our Ships, We Are Naught
LEADERS Arkanaut Admiral (140)** – General – Command Traits: A Scholar and an Arkanaut – Artefacts of Power: Masterwrought Armour Aether-Khemist (100)** – Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust Aetheric Navigator (100)** – Artefacts of Power: Voidstone Orb
BATTLELINE Arkanaut Company (90)* Arkanaut Company (90)* Skywardens (390)**
BEHEMOTH Arkanaut Frigate (300)* – Heavy Sky Cannon – Great Endrinworks: Arkanaut Frigate – The Admiral’s Flagship: Arkanaut Frigate Arkanaut Frigate (300)* – Heavy Sky Cannon
OTHER Grundstok Gunhauler (170) – Sky Cannon Grundstok Thunderers (320) – Honour Bearer – Gunnery Sergeant – Aetheric Fumigator – 2 x Grundstok Mortar – 2 x Aethercannon – 2 x Decksweeper
This is the top three AoS lists for Donkeycon 2023 that took place in New Zealand on the 12th and 13th of August. It involved 10 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: Slaves to Darkness – Army Subfaction: Cabalists – Grand Strategy: Dominating Presence – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Artefacts: Infernal Puppet – Spells: Daemonic Speed, Hoarfrost, Warp Reality – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Spells: Rupture, Warp Reality, Merciless Blizzard – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 1 x Chaos Lord on Manticore (240)** – Chaos Lance – Daemon Blade – Spells: Daemonic Speed – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 1 x Theddra Skull-Scryer (160)** – Spells: Daemonic Speed, Chaotic Conduit 1 x Chaos Lord (110)** – Reaperblade and Daemonbound Steel – Spells: Mystic Shield – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 1 x Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (200)*** – General – Command Traits: Idolater Lord – Artefacts: The Conqueror’s Crown – Spells: Chaotic Conduit – Prayers: Curse – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
BATTLELINE 1 x Chaos Chariot (80) – Chaos Greatblade and Lashing Whip – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 1 x Chaos Chariot (80)*** – Chaos Greatblade and Lashing Whip – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 1 x Chaos Chariot (80)*** – Chaos Greatblade and Lashing Whip – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 1 x Chaos Chariot (80)*** – Chaos Greatblade and Lashing Whip – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 10 x Chaos Warriors (200)*** – Hornblower – Standard Bearer – Aspiring Champion – Murderous Weapon – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 10 x Chaos Warriors (200)*** – Aspiring Champion – Hornblower – Standard Bearer – Murderous Weapon – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 9 x Untamed Beasts (80)*** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 10 x Splintered Fang (100)*** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 10 x Splintered Fang (100)*** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Army Subfaction: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Melusai Ironscale (120)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts: Crown of Woe 1 x Morathi-Khaine (700)* 1 x The Shadow Queen (700)*
BATTLELINE 9 x Khainite Shadowstalkers (140)* 10 x Blood Sisters (150)* – Gorgai 15 x Blood Stalkers (180)* – Krone
OTHER 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)* 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)*
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
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Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Subfaction: Guild of Summoners – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Changecaster (150)* – General – Command Traits: Daemonspark – Artefacts of Power: The Eternal Shroud – Spells: Hoarfrost, Merciless Blizzard Magister (140)* – Spells: Arcane Suggestion, Shield of Fate Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (160)* – Spells: Glimpse the Future, Hoarfrost One-eyed Grunnock (400)**
BATTLELINE Kairic Acolytes (120)** – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield Kairic Acolytes (120)** – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield Kairic Acolytes (120)** – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Vulcharc – Scroll of the Dark Arts – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield
OTHER Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (360)** – Aviarch Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (360)** – Aviarch
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Tome of Eyes (40) 1 x Malevolent Maelstrom (30)
This is the top three AoS lists for the Neapolis GT that took place in Italy on the 1st and 2nd of April. It involved 24 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
EDIT: We mistakenly claimed you could still take Flaming Weapon due to Arcane Tome post-FAQ – you can’t!
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Subfaction: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Frostlord on Stonehorn (450)* – General – Command Traits: Voice of the Avalanche – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder – Spells: Flaming Weapon Slaughtermaster (140)* – Spells: Molten Entrails – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Losing only to the shootier version of Ogors, Vincenzo has brought a tried and tested archetype to bear here – lots of bloody great big cows. It’s nothing we’ve not seen before but it has perennial appeal and value – 4 big bodies that are surprisingly fast, count for 10 each on objectives, are durable thanks to their in-built 5+ ward and do a whole bunch of mortals on the charge just works.
Tech wise, the general has Voice of the Avalanche, enabling him to issue a command to a unit anywhere on the board, which is helpful when you’re this low on bodies, and the Arcane Tome with Flaming weapon (which doesn’t work after the FAQ) to ensure he hits not just hard, but really fuckin’ hard. The Slaughtermaster acts as the token GC, with the only spell you should take in this kind of list – Molten Entrails – to further buff the Stonehorn damage.
The ‘compromise’ to this being just woops-all-cows is a unit of Mournfang, who’re just excellent fast all rounders with great tech to avoid unleash hell safely, an ironblaster for some ranged screen clearing or sniping units it would be a waste to commit a stonehorn to, and some cheeky snowcats for being cheap objective grabbers.
It’s a fun list honestly, and it does the business – so long as you’re careful with your positioning and timing. Well done Vinny!
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Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Army Subfaction: Jaws of Mork – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Fungoid Cave-Shaman (90)* – Artefacts: Moonface Mommet – Spells: The Hand of Gork – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Squigboss (80)** – General – Command Traits: The Clammy Hand 1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (160)**
BATTLELINE 20 x Moonclan Stabbas (125)* – Moonclan Boss – Bad Moon Icon Bearer – Gong Basher – Stabba – 3 Barbed Nets 36 x Squig Herd (360)** 10 x Squig Hoppers (180)** – Squig Hopper Boss 30 x Squig Hoppers (540)** – Squig Hopper Boss
TERRAIN 1 x Bad Moon Loonshrine (0)
OTHER 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150)* 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (110)** 5 x Gobbapalooza (145)** – Spells: Squig Lure
I think we’ve all seen multiples of this list now. Like a vicious Cream of Mushroom soup, all those Squigs like to be up in your face munching through the opponents troops as soon as they can. Even when you do destroy them, they can be bought back at half strength on a 4+ so that you have to do it all over again… They’re harder to counter, which is why we keep seeing this list, or at least versions of it with slight variations.
We’ve got top fun-guy, Skragrott, and even with the recent points hike in the Battlecroll he’s pretty much going to be a go-to for Gitz players still. Then of course we’ve the Marshacrawla which appears in more Gitz lists than it does Kruleboyz lists (as a percentage, because us Kruleboyz players are a rare breed nowadays).
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Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Stomper Tribe – Grand Strategy: Make the Land Tremble! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Kraken-Eater (490)* – Artefacts: Amulet of Destiny 1 x Warstomper (450)* – General – Command Traits: Monstrously Tough – Artefacts: Club of the First Oak 1 x Warstomper (450)** – Artefacts: Glowy Shield of Protectiness 1 x Warstomper (450)**
BATTLELINE 1 x Mancrusher Gargant (150)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent **Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
Sons still standing tall, their popularity has dropped, but they are still effective. It’s one of the gatekeeper factions, and if you can’t terminate a Gargant, a turn your list is going to struggle. As an army, it lends itself to beautiful conversions and painting. On the table, it’s just mean.
Luca has gone with the 4 big gargants, the Kraken-Eater, and 3 x Warstompers, leaving points for a Mancrusher manoeuvre unit. The Kraken-Eater is likely out front (enjoying the small but important ward) while the General has the expected Monstrously Tough and the less common Club of the First Oak. Only available in Stomper Tribe, and why this list isn’t Taker tribe, the club heals a wound a round and (more importantly) a 5+ ward. He’s a massive tank with 120 effective wounds – your best bet is to ignore him and target everything else to begin with. The Glowy Shield of Protectiness is complicated:
It’s a very tanky list that was very effective. Luca beat 2nd place and only lost in the final round to the winner. That would have been an interesting match-up, Stonehorn on Gargant. The superior mobility and the ironblaster were probably the difference between the 2 giants of the scene.
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Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS The Shadow Queen (700)* Morathi-Khaine (700)* Melusai Ironscale (120)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Crown of Woe – Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
BATTLELINE Witch Aelves (120)* – Hag – Sciansá and Bladed Buckler – 2 x Death Pennant Bearer – 2 x Hornblower Blood Sisters (300)* – Gorgai Blood Stalkers (540)* – Krone
OTHER Khinerai Heartrenders (100)* Khinerai Heartrenders (100)*
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1980/2000
Since the price hikes on Morathi and the Stab sneks, DoK have (rightly) fallen in line a bit, but that doesn’t mean they can’t do the business still. Although interestingly, this list has opted for the teleporting shenanigans of Khailebron in order – I presume – to take more advantage of the triple reinforced bow sneks, both enabling them to bug out of a scary situation or set up a favourable sniping position.
It’s standard fare from there, with double Khinerai for battle tactic auto-scoring and good objective harassment from there, and a min squad of Witches to round out the battleline and – rather pleasingly – take the list to 2k on the dot.
The key to DoK is trading, timing, and using Morathi as a pin piece, so I can see why this list’s only loss was to the retreat-and-charge madness of Nighthaunt. Otherwise, it probably very much enjoyed the squishiness of double Ironjawz, but that’s not taking anything away from Stefano, who achieved a great result. Now, let’s hope for some new DoK units soon so their players have any kind of reason to mix things up even more.
This is the top three AoS lists for A Gathering of Might that took place in the UK on the 18th and 19th of March. It involved 27 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: Lumineth Realm-lords – Subfaction: Helon – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Archmage Teclis (700)* Scinari Cathallar (110)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Silver Wand – Spells: Speed of Hysh – Aspects of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox Scinari Loreseeker (160)* – Spells: Overwhelming Heat
BATTLELINE Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)* – High Warden – Spells: Etheral Blessings Hurakan Windchargers (130)* – Windspeaker Seneschal – Standard Bearer Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)* – High Sentinel – Spells: Speed of Hysh
OTHER Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)* – High Sentinel – Spells: Etheral Blessings
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Rune of Petrification (60)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
Jon Anderson: Sticking to the old ways of the Sith is David Jack piloting the Helon Castle to an undefeated finish. With a pinch of his own spice we have a Scinari Loreseeker making its presence known allowing David to play scenarios with spread objectives to a more effective manner.
The Rune of Petrification has really grown on me over the past month or so. What a great Endless Spell for its cost. Personally, I have found that more Windchargers equals more control but this nets you an extra wizard so the defense for the pick is there. Well done David.
Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Skragrott, the Loonking (160)* Dankhold Troggboss (200)** – General – Command Traits: Loonskin – Artefacts of Power: Glowy Howzit
Staring at this list and thinking it looks really familiar and didn’t I just write about it? Only to realise it was this list and I lost my work. Anyway, I’m ignoring my cognitive decline and focusing on the list – back to the future in many ways. Before the new book, the most successful Gitz lists were Troggoths (Trolls). Great to see they are still viable and show this is a good book, with decent internal balance allowing a lot of builds. Anyway, this time, trolls with ‘shrooms.
As usual, this is about layering buffs on the Trolls and letting them punch on. Starting with the Sporesplatter, +1 attack for friendly units within 9″. Their Spore Cloud is tricky to use but makes them one of the best screening units in the game, letting them screen both charges and shooting (with careful positioning). Gobbapalooza brings all the buffs to the yard. Every round, you get to choose from +1 run/charge, +1 to hit and wound, -1 rend. They also have 2 unique spells to either turn off commands for an enemy unit or make a unit -1. And they have a teleport spell (Hand of Gork). They can give a unit +1 run/charge and then gate them to outside 9 for an 8″ charge. They are an almost auto, including their ability to react and only 145 pts. They have a worsening ward (starting a 4+ and gone by round 4) to make you commit them early.
Skragrot is another almost auto include – 2 spells with an innate +1 to cast/dispell and knows all of the Moonclan spells. Then there is the Dankhold Troggboss, everything a Dankhold brings (4+ ward against spells, MW on within 3″, Crushing Grip and when he gives other Trolls all out attack they get an extra attack. Good on the Dankholds (2 attacks with potential for 6 damage from each), better on the Rock Trolls (6 extra attacks on a 6 Troll unit). With heals and damage, you have 4 hammers, but of course, on a 4+ save. Even with reduced spell effects (4+ and 5+ wards to magic) , it hurts them they can wilt. With only an average unbuffed potential damage of 15 per 6 Rock Troggoths are going to take more than a turn to guarantee a kill on anything too big.
A solid counter to most of the armies around now where 10 wounds are going to drop an MSU unit. The Trolls will struggle with either the Krondspine or something that can either fight on death or fight twice, preventing their heal between phases. And that happened with DoK here. The Blood Sisters will easily lift a Troggoth unit a round. Without some luck, it’s a tough match-up.
Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Subfaction: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – General – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Daemonic Speed, Warp Reality Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spells: Levitate, Warp Reality – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Spells: Chaotic Conduit, Warp Reality
BATTLELINE Chaos Knights (460)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Doom Knight – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon Varanguard (870)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – 4 x Ensorcelled Weapon – 5 x Fellspear Varanguard (290)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – 3 x Ensorcelled Weapon
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1980/2000
James Workshop likes to talk about internal balance in their recent – and welcome! – Meta Watch dis – and Slaves to Darkness are a prime example of what happens when it’s out of whack. The list pioneered by Big Phil has seen plenty of copycats, and a few tweaks here and there recently – and now this Phil (Little Phil?) has gone 4-1, losing only to the current boogeyman of Helon Lumineth, with what can only be described as a twist aimed at having even less warscrolls to remember.
We start off with an additional Sorc Lord compared to Big Phil’s archetype for a grand total of three of the buggers. And don’t ask me why one of them is marked as Slaanesh. Little Phil then replaces the Chosen – because two legs bad, four legs good in Knights of the Empty Throne, allowing for mounted units to run and charge and Varanguard to be battleline – with loads more Varanguard! Including a rather hilarious double-reinforced block marked as Khorne. So yeah, that’ll hurt. We also see a min unit of Nurgle Varanguard for a smaller, tankier missile to give options, while the usual 10 blob of Nurgle Knights lead the way as a pinning device and screen for the V-guard.
And that’s it, really. How does it play? Charge. Double fight. Profit. I can only imagine the Helon list was able to adequately screen the initial knight charge and hit back with enough mortals (which Helon has a habit of doing…) to buy them time – especially if they won the double – to then whittle down the Varanguard at range – despite their 4++, they’re still vulnerable to weight of dice or simply being hit first. I mean, you’d think a large blob of fast wounds with a 4++ vs. mortals would be one of the few things capable of tangling with Helon, but there you go! A great effort nonetheless, and further fuel on the ‘Slaves book = 3 warscrolls’ fire.
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Melusai Ironscale (120)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Mindrazor – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master Morathi-Khaine (700)* The Shadow Queen (700)*
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.
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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.
