Stormcast are known for two things. Dragons and Paladins. Today’s article is about both and a super nasty way to get the most out of the combination of the two.
Everyone loves Karazai and Krondys. Beautiful sculpts with compelling lore and super dope abilities, but they have a critical flaw that’s kept them from seeing much competitive play. 18 wounds, even on a 3+ save, is surprisingly easy to kill.
All too often your badass centerpiece model would get blown off the table in a single shooting/hero phase leaving you missing your key hammer. Several top players found an elegant solution to this: Praetors.
Praetors are a bodyguarding unit that sucks wounds away from your heroes, and Krondys/Karazai are indeed stormcast heroes. But even then, Praetors are slow, and your dragons are trying to fly about the battle wreaking havoc. So what are we to do to keep your dragons from being vulnerable once they’ve gone aggressive?
Well here is the really clever bit. By bringing along a lord relictor with translocation, you can teleport up those Praetors to remain in bodyguard range of your dragons.
“But once my dragon charges in those Praetors will be left 9″ out and won’t be up front with my hero!”
There is truth here, but also a really cool interaction.
Krondys and Karazai are on MASSIVE bases. Approximately 6.5 inches across. What this means is that even if your dragon charges into the fight, the back of their base will still be just 2.5″ away from the Praetors, allowing the bodyguards to stay out of the fight (where they might be targeted by opposing attacks leaving your dragon vulnerable) but still keep your dragons alive so they can rip the heart out of the enemy army.
If you’ve been wanting to field those 520 point terrors but haven’t been able to keep them alive, try this strategy out in your next game!
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for Immortal Masquerade that took place in USA on 12th and 13th November. 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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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
List 1
Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Petrifex Elite – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Arkhan the Black (340)** Mortisan Soulmason (115)** – Artefacts of Power: Soul Reservoir – Spells: Drain Vitality Liege-Kavalos (170)** – General – Command Traits: Mighty Archaeossian – Artefacts of Power: Godbone Armour
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Bone-tithe Shrieker (50) 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment **Bounty Hunters
TOTAL POINTS: 1985/2000
Danny: OBR feel slightly like the faction that 3e forgot, with their weird version of command points and panoply of 2e style re-rolls. The army can definitely blend though – and recent points drops have given them even more list flexibility. Their main weakness is their red matchups are very red – something a two list format can massively help ameliorate.
Michael has a core of Deathriders in both lists – fast, relatively tanky if not particularly killy battleline that represent the ‘best’ objective grabbers the super slow Bonereapers have. The first list goes with two reinforced bone pone blobs backed up by the ever reliable MSU Mortek with their re-roll saves in Petrifex always making them difficult to shift. Arkhan, the currently favoured OBR utility hero rounds out the tried and tested core. This first list also bungs in a Mortek Crawler – they’re super swingy (pun intended) but do offer one long range piece with spike potential that helps try and deal with those pesky backline support heroes this faction has otherwise no way of interacting with.
List 2, meanwhile, is wild – primarily for the simple fact it contains Nagash!! The bone daddy himself is in need of some modernisation, but he’s still a super potent spellcaster. The main reason you don’t see much of him is his lack of ward save makes him super vulnerable to good ranged threats – something again the two list format allows Michael to make a good guess about the chances of facing such threats before choosing the list.
And WITHOUT good ranged firepower, Nagash can be a MW powerhouse able to keep bringing models back.
A fantastic result for an under-appreciated faction who are nonetheless slowly gathering a cult following. Still a shame Nagash is too unreliable to bring to a solo-list tourney – but in the meantime, great to see him put in a successful appearance!
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List 1
Allegiance: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Gordrakk the Fist of Gork (540) Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (260) Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105)** – Lore of the Swamp: Sneaky Miasma Orruk Warchanter (115)*** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Wurrgog Prophet (170)** – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry Killaboss on Corpse-Rippa Vulcha (220)** – General – Command Trait: Supa Sneaky – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un
Battleline 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)* 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)* 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*
Other Units Beast-skewer Killbow (110)*** Beast-skewer Killbow (110)*** Beast-skewer Killbow (110)***
Allegiance: Ironjawz – Warclan: Ironsunz – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Kragnos, The End of Empires (720) Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)* – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Command Trait: Touched by the Waaagh! – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Smelly ‘Un – Lore of the Weird: Bash ‘Em Ladz
Battleline 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)* 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)* 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*
Declan: Bringing 2 lists to a tournament is a great way to have a little more fun… but normally players either bring 1, or make very small changes… not so Rob with his Big Waaagh lists – they are completely different. I really like the idea of taking a shooting list and a charging list and then choosing which one would be best – and Rob clearly chose well.
The 2nd list is simple and straight forward, but three monsters are a great idea – Kragnos; Big Waaagh; Rogue Idol… all charging 3D6″ and smashing face. Big Waaagh aren’t always best of a turn 1 charge but these three may change all that.
The 1st list is much more techy; with lots of shooting and Gobsrakk. But the genius here is Gordrakk – what a brave play. He’s not seen as the best unit in the Orruk Warclans list, but it’s great to see him having an outing.
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Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Stormkeep – Subfaction: Celestial Warbringers – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Lord-Celestant on Stardrake (500)* – General – Command Traits: Master of the Celestial Menagerie – Stormbound Blade – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Celestial Instincts – Spells: Flaming Weapon Yndrasta (280)* Averon Stormsire (230)* – Spells: Thundershock
OTHER Stormsire’s Cursebreakers (230) Castigators (210)* Castigators (210)*
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Everblaze Comet (90) 1 x Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (40)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1995/2000
Brett: Smaller tournaments are a great place to see some really different lists like this. We don’t see Sequitors or Castigators a lot and here is a list with all of the Sacrosants. The Sacrosant chamber was introduced in 2nd Edition as the casters of the Stormcast, with Sequitors, Castigators, Stormsire and a Stardrake this is a full chamber in action. Thematic. Even though it’s the casting chamber there are only 3 casts in the list but that’s enough for the Everblaze and the Geminids. Everblaze has been popular recently for decent MW at a distance and Geminids are amoung the best of the Malign Sorcery Spells. The Stardrake offers one of the few casting buffs that Stormcast can receive.
Sequitors spell abilities are limited to choosing between exploding 6s or a 5+ ward. Castigators can do the same and either give themselves +1 to hit or increased rend. But they are still using random (D3) shots which is not ideal. Interesting but the damage here is the Stardrake and Yndrasta. This is really more of a durable list, Stormkeep and Celestial Warbringers compliment that approach. But it is a slow moving list which seems to have affected scoring. Both of Paul’s loses (to first and second) were to lists that mixed durable and fast units. Fantastic to see an alternative take on Stormcast.
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Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Living City – Mortal Realm: Ghyran – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Nomad Prince (110)** – General – Command Trait: Ironoak Artisan – Artefact: Spear of the Hunt Anointed (110)** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – City Role: General’s Adjutant – Lore of Leaves: Ironoak Skin Drycha Hamadreth (335)**
Battleline 5 x Sisters of the Thorn (130)** – Lore of Leaves: Cage of Thorns 10 x Sisters of the Watch (180)*** 10 x Sisters of the Watch (180)***
Units 20 x Phoenix Guard (350)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Vigilors (340)* – Reinforced x 1 2 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (230)*
Endless Spells & Invocations The Burning Head (20)
Declan: Only one list for Matt, but it’s an interesting one – I’m not actually sure how it works. I assume the Pheonix Guard are the anvil (4+ ward save), and the Vigilors provide the hammer with the Fulminators being able to pick off a key unit or clear a screen or two. The battleline are interesting, with some reasonable range, but definitely fishing for 6s.
Matt has taken Dyrcha as well for some much needed punch, but this is definitely not a list you’ll see too often and that’s probably its strength… I wouldn’t really know what to do or what to target first. A strength of ‘off-meta’ lists.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Salt Lake Open 2022 that took place in the USA on 20th and 21st August. It involved 33 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: Fyreslayers – Subfaction: Greyfyrd – Grand Strategy: Masters of the Forge – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Auric Runefather (125)** – General – Command Traits: Spirit of Grimnir – Artefacts of Power: The Daemon Slayer Battlesmith (150)** – Artefacts of Power: Nulsidian Icon Auric Runeson (80)** – Ancestral War-axe – Artefacts of Power: Axe of Grimnir Auric Flamekeeper (90)**** – Artefacts of Power: Draught of Magmalt Ale Auric Runemaster (125)**** – Artefacts of Power: Volatile Brazier – Prayers: Heal Auric Runesmiter (135)**** – Forge Key – Prayers: Prayer Of Ash
BATTLELINE Hearthguard Berzerkers (320)* – Karl – Berzerker Broadaxe Hearthguard Berzerkers (320)* – Karl – Flamestrike Poleaxe Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (160)*** – Fyresteel War-pick and Bladed Slingshield Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (170)***
OTHER Auric Hearthguard (250)**
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Molten Infernoth (40)
Ethan: Holy moly what a collection of lists this tournament presents! In the vein of Bill Souza this list uses many battalions in order to stack up bonus enhancements and abilities but that is where the comparison ends. Fyreslayers are uniquely suited to taking high drop lists in that they, unlike most armies, don’t care about taking first and can weather an enemy double turn thanks to their durability. This opens up a broad cadre of list building options with the sheer number of heroes present here not reasonable for those armies relying on Battle Regiment to have play.
Getting into the list itself, this Greyfyrd army runs a large contingent of cheap foot heroes, using a combination of the subfaction and battalions to outfit the heroes with a selection of the Fyreslayers’ rather stacked artefact list. Prayers are made more consistent, damage output is improved and items like the Nulsidian icon provide spell ignores in a meta still often visited by Nagash’s Favourite Sphere. At 1965 points this list will often get its triumph and the selection of inspired helps to ensure the large units of troops aren’t losing more than they need to to battleshock. The hero selection here gives this lists an absolute keyring of tools ranging from forgekeys and latchkey grandaxes to the extra CP of the Runemaster and the deepstrike of the Runesmiter. Of particular note is the Flamekeeper, the hero released with the Fyreslayers’ recent FOMO box, which doesn’t often see play in the tournament scene. With such large units of foot troops, his abilities – which are activated at the start of the combat phase whenever 6 models have died near the Flamekeeper since the previous turn – are going off with alarming frequency to provide powerful effects such as: – 6+ ward (meh) – Fight on death (alright) – Charge, including during the enemy turn (!!!!!!!) – +1 damage (still !!! but less so)
The rest of the list is still exciting (when was the last time anyone saw Auric Hearthguard?) but less in-depth than the heroes. Auric hearthguard deepstrike with the runesmiter and shoot quite well while the remainder of the army racks up objective scoring with difficult to shift statlines and wound characteristics. Putting these in Expert Conquerors and Bounty Hunters is a nice bonus in a list that already has drops to high heaven and the list is capped off with the Molten Infernoth, which gives the list an easy way to achieve its Grand Strategy. The notable bonus of the infernoth over other options is that you aren’t obligated to move it meaning, as the game is coming to a close, you can elect to not attempt a move and thus eliminate the chance of rolling it off the board with hot dice.
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Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Scions of the Storm – Army Subfaction: Celestial Warbringers – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired – Holy Command: Thunderbolt Volley
LEADER 1 x Lord-Relictor (145)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Thundershock – Prayers: Translocation 1 x Knight-Vexillor (120)* – Meteoric Standard 1 x Knight-Vexillor (120)* – Meteoric Standard 1 x Knight-Vexillor (120)** – Meteoric Standard 1 x Knight-Vexillor (120)** – Meteoric Standard 1 x Knight-Vexillor (120)** – Meteoric Standard
BATTLELINE 5 x Judicators with Skybolt Bows (200)** – Judicator-Prime 5 x Judicators with Skybolt Bows (200)** – Judicator-Prime 5 x Judicators with Skybolt Bows (200)** – Judicator-Prime
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Everblaze Comet (90)
OTHER 3 x Annihilators (200)* – Annihilator-Prime 3 x Annihilators (200)* – Annihilator-Prime 1 x Stormstrike Chariot (165)* – Stormstrike Axe and Tempestuous Spear
Ethan: I mentioned it in the Fyreslayers but my goodness we’re in funkytown. The subfaction here is largely irrelevant but useful for re-rolling a save?
Now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get to the fun bit. The completely normal general here is a translocating Lord-Relictor and that’s where our dose of normal ends. Five Knight Vexillors. Count ’em. Five. For those not in the know (and who would be?) the Knight-Vexillor is the little Stormcast bloke with a banner. His ability? Do d3 wounds to everything within 6″ of a point anywhere on the board. So that’s 5d3 Mortals, averaging around 8-10 mortals to everything in range. This is then topped off with the Everblaze Comet which does d3, or d6, Mortals within a large area at a 36″ range. What a combo. In a double battle-regiment this list comes in at 2-drop, being one of the few lists that is likely to take the first turn, hitting anything remotely resembling a castle like, well, a storm? (I’m so sorry).
The rest of the list backs up this combination with tools to turn this opening blow into a knockout with a stormstrike chariot thundering around the board (I’ve moved past shame) while the Annihilators and their 2+ save come crashing into the opponents lines and punch a hole while tying things up for the judicators to rain down a squall of shots (we’re still going).
The only loss for this list was against Gargants and honestly, that tracks, considering how the list functions. While the list does incredible damage spread across a huge number of units, it would struggle to deal the concentrated pain required to take down wound-dense Sons of Behemat. What a list. Noe Aquino should be absolutely thrilled with this exciting result.
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Bloodgullet – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Huskard on Thundertusk (335) – General – Command Traits: ‘Nice Drop of the Red Stuff!’ – Blood Vulture – Artefacts: Skullshards of Dragaar – Prayers: Pulverising Hailstorm 1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (430)* – Artefacts: Splatter-cleaver – Mount Traits: Metalcruncher 1 x Hrothgorn (170)* 1 x Butcher (135)** – Tenderiser – Spells: Ribcracker, Molten Entrails 1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (430)** 1 x Slaughtermaster (140)** – Spells: Ribcracker, Greasy Deluge
BATTLELINE 3 x Icefall Yhetees (120)* 3 x Icefall Yhetees (120)* 3 x Icefall Yhetees (120)*
Peter: I’m starting this with a caveat! None of us know anything about Ogors…. Mind you we still get some of the comments wrong on lists we do know about so….
We have three characters on Stonehorns or Thundertusks who have a threat distance of 24″ (average 19″). These boys are tough with 13 wounds each, a 3+ save AND a 5+ ward. The Frostlords on Stonehorns can kick out an average of 18 damage before saves if they get a charge in.
The Huskard has the Blood Vulture which allows him to cause a free mortal each turn on any enemy unit within 24″. On top of this he has a tasty missile weapon which on its top bracket will roll 12 dice and will cause mortal wounds on 6’s (if the unit is less than 10 models), 5+ if the target had 10+ models or 4+ if it has 20+ models. He also has a command ability which allows other Beastclaw Raider (those Stonehorns) units within 12″ to re-roll their charges.
Hrothgorn and the Mantrappers are a clever inclusion for objective capturing and battle tactics as they can be set up in reserve and bought on in a friendly turn anywhere on the board more than 9″ from the enemy.
The Yhetees, while not great at dishing out damage can run and charge if they’re with 16″ of a Thundertusk when they do so. They also have the annoying ability to pile in from 6″ away instead of the usual 3″.
Both the Butcher and Slaughtermaster know additional spells thanks to their Bloodgullet allegiance and both have Ribcracker which deducts 1 from a an enemy units save. Molten entrails allows a Ogor Monster to add 1 to the damage of their mounts attacks (great on the Stonehorns), while Greasy Deluge forces an enemy unit to deduct 1 from their attacks.
Sprinkle in things like the Splatter-Cleaver which allows you to heal nearby Ogor units D3 wounds if you were successful with any of that models attacks. And a Nice Drop of the Red Stuff which is a command ability that allows units within 12″ of the general an additional 3″ pile in (9″ pile in for Yhetees).
All of this adds up to a tough and hard hitting army
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Allegiance: Khorne – Slaughterhost: Baleful Lords (Host of Chaos) – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Bloodstoker (80)**** – Artefact: Talisman of Burning Blood Bloodstoker (80)**** Bloodsecrator (125)*** – General – Command Trait: Thirst for Carnage – Artefact: Black Brass Crown Skarbrand (380)*** Valkia the Bloody (135)*** Slaughterpriest (100)**** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist – Prayer: Blood Sacrifice
Battleline 10 x Bloodreavers (80)** – Meatripper Axes 10 x Bloodreavers (80)** – Meatripper Axes 10 x Bloodreavers (80)** – Meatripper Axes
Units 5 x Wrathmongers (145)* 1 x Chaos Chariots (100)*** – Greatblades – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 1 x Chaos Chariots (100)**** – Greatblades – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 4 x Khagra’s Ravagers (125)* – Spell1: Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon – Allies 9 x Untamed Beasts (70)*** – Allies 9 x Untamed Beasts (70)**** – Allies
Ethan: I’m going to coin this list the “Skarbrand launcher”. A multitude of battalions provide a slew of artefacts to this list, mitigated by the untamed beasts’ pregame move ensuring that objectives are contested from word go. The Baleful lords subfaction is usually utilised by “Oops, All Bloodthirsters” builds, however this list has eschewed such choices in favour of a hectic collection of units which all seem to be built around the uniting goal of “Skarbrand runs and charges at anything on the board”.
In the Heroes section, the arcane tome and ghost-mist, in combination with the prismatic palisade create powerful counterplay against shooting lists, ensuring the army’s lack of ranged options aren’t punished before it has a chance to walk up and beat you to a bloody pulp. The combination of Bloodsecrator, Wrathmongers and Valkia ensure that the Reavers punch above their very cheap cost and, with the benefit of additional attacks, the chaos chariots become a threat, aided by their incredible movement to be a scary prospect across the board. Bloodstokers double down on the theme handing out more movement bonuses to their willing whipees. The keyword for this list is mobility and it has it in spades. Castle build? This is the trebutchet, and the keystone boulder is a running and charging Skarbrand, enough to put fear into the heart of even the most seasoned Living Cities player.
Now, let’s talk about the Jabberslythe. I don’t quite get it? For 150 points, Sean knows something I don’t. It can make a high-output unit absolutely self destruct with self inflicted mortals or kill something that is killing it, Magmadroth style, but I’ll be real with y’all: I’m not sure what this does in the list. That said, it’s a very cool inclusion and provides a wonderful end point for a top 3 article discussing some of the most thrillingly different lists I’ve seen in the last few years. AoS is feeling spicy right now for the Johnnys of the world, with the GHB’s maturation proving that initial overreactions to Bounty Hunters were exactly that. Exciting times!
