To view this content, you must be a member of WoeHammer's Patreon at $1 or more
Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to access this content.
Category Archives: Competitive
Age of Sigmar: Database +Exclusive Stats (22nd August 2026)
Age of Sigmar: Database +Exclusive Stats (16th August 2026)
Maggotkin of Nurgle: Tallyband of Nurgle Analysis (100+ Games)
A 55% win rate make the Tallyband of Nurgle look a very strong battle formation. But the WoElo adjusted win rate drops to 47% suggesting a big part of its success is down to the quality of its players rather than the faction itself. An average WoElo of 475.8 is among the highest we’ve seen, with 9 elite players and only 3 rookies, so this is perhaps an army attracting experienced competitors.
The performance breakdown reinforces that. One-third of players are finishing on 4+ wins while only 8% fail to win a game.
Artefacts, Traits and Poxes
Nothing here screams out as a “must take”.
- The Witherstave is by far the most popular artefact but actually underperforms after WoElo is taken into account (45%).
- The Carrion Dirge posts an eye-catching 70% win rate, but again, once we take player skill into account we expect an average tournament player would have their success at 47%. But this is appearing on the stronger player lists, rather than the lower ranked WoElo players.
- Gift of Febrile Frenzy is almost taken universally with 90% of elite players and 82% of developing (400 Elo or less) players taking it.
- Among the Poxes, The Weeping Flux is the only option to outperform the faction average at 51% adjusted win rate.
Battle Tactics
This is where we can notice some important differences thanks to player skill.
Both Siege of Ashes and Blazing Onslaught have excellent raw win rates at 59%, but both fall to 43% when adjusted, indicating they’re success is down to the elite players choosing them.
At the other end, Legend of the Parch improves up to 50% adjusted win rate despite having a lower raw win rate. This could mean it may be more effective than some players realise.
Common Warscrolls
There appears to be a fairly stable core running through most lists:
- Feculent Gnarlmaw
- Plaguebearers
- Rotigus
- Rostswords
- Lord of Plagues
Interestingly though, Plaguebearers and Poxbringer are the only commonly played warscoll that are currently above the faction’s adjusted average. while Putrid Blightkings and Sloven Knights both fall below.
Impactful Warscrolls
At first glance Shaman Foulhoof and Pestigors look incredible at 73% win rate. However both collapse to 37% adjusted win rate as they are primarily taken by elite players.
But the performers after adjustements are made are:
- Plague Drones at 49%
- Plaguebearers at 48%
- Rotigus at 47%
But none of these are vastly above the faction average which possibly reinforces my thoughts that Tallyband’s strength is coming from experience rather than any overpowered warscrolls.
Stormcast Eternals: Sentinels of the Bleak Citadels Analysis
The latest WoElo data paints a bleak (pun intended) picture for Stormcast players using the Sentinels of the Bleak Citadels battle formation. While the army posts a 46% overall win rate, its WoElo Adjusted Win Rate falls to 44%, suggesting that the faction’s struggles persist even when accounting for player skill.
On first look, it might not seem a dramatic difference, but it’s fairly important. WoElo Adjusted Win Rate is designed to remove some of the influence of player ability, helping us to understand how the faction itself is performing. In the Sentinels of the Bleak Citadels case, the adjusted figure suggests the army is currently underperforming on its own merits rather than simply being piloted by weaker players.
The current dataset contains 26 players across 132 games, but only two of those players have a WoElo above 500. As a result, the 500+ pick percentages in the following images should be treated as directional rather than definitive. They can highlight trends, but they’re far from conclusive with it being such a small sample.
Tournament Performance
Stormcast players are proving capable of solid tournament finishes, but converting those into podium results remains difficult. Only 8% of players were able to achieve four wins or more, while the majority at 42% finished with two wins.
Overall, this suggests Sentinels of the Bleak Citadels are most commonly ending events with 2-3 wins rather than consistently challenging for top tables.
Enhancements
List construction appears to be fairly settled at the moment with Quicksilver Draught being the most common Artefact of Power. Despite posting a respectable 49% win rate across 67 games, it’s WoElo Adjusted Win Rate falls to 44%, matching the faction average. The less common Blade of the Six Smiths actually improves sightly after adjusting for player skill, posting an adjusted win rate of 48%.
Heroic Traits are also interesting, the two 500+ players both chose this as their trait yet it only records an adjusted win rate of 42%, below the faction adjusted rate. That doesn’t necessarily mean the trait is weak, but it does suggest that simply copying elite list choices may not automatically translate into better results.
Meanwhile Envoy of the Heavens and Shock and Awe both perform slightly above the faction adjusted rate despite being absent from higher-rated players’ lists.
Players are committing to the Scar of War, Veterans of the Amberstone Watch. It appears to be a dependable choice at the moment.
Battle Tactics
Sentinels players favour Burning for Vengeance which appears in 98 games and peforms in line with faction’s adjusted win rate. The remaining commonly selected tactics all cluster around the same performance. This does suggest Battle Tactics are not currently making a large impact on separating successful and unsuccessful lists.
Common Warscrolls
Reclusians top the usage charts, appearing in 95 games, while Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows, Lord-Terminos, Vigilors and Questor Soulsworn all feature heavily.
But popularity doesn’t equate to performance. Longstrike Crossbows post a 42% adjusted win rate, below the factions own adjusted win rate, despite being one of the main choices.
Prosecutors continue to stand out though. Although they appear in fewer lists than several other units, they have a 49% adjusted win rate making them possibly, one of the strongest warscrolls that Sentinels of the Bleak Citadels can use.
Most Impactful Warscrolls
Looking past popularity means we can look at some other units that may deserve some attention.
Liberators are seemingly good with an adjusted win rate of 52%, making them one of the few units that comfortably outperforms the faction.
Stormcoven, Prosecutors and Yndrasta also exceed the adjusted faction win rate, meaning there may be some value in including them.
On the otherside, Karazai the Scarred and Vanquishers all appear to be struggling posting a 40% and 42% adjusted win rate respectively.
Perhaps the most interesting example is the Celestant-Prime, his raw win rate of 64% initially looks really good, but once player skill is taken into account, the adjusted win rate falls to 45%. Much of his success seems to be driven by the calibre of players fielding him rather than the warscroll itself.
Final Thoughts
Stormcast Eternals are the games most common army, and Sentinels of the Bleak Citadels is its players most common Battle Formation, but they face an uphill struggle in competition play. Their already low 46% becomes 44% once player skill is taken into account.
But there are positives, Prosecutors, Liberators, Stormcoven and Yndrasta all are currently pulling the faction up, there may be some room therefore for innovation.
As always, these findings are based on the first 100 games played with the Battle Formation. The Elite 500+ player sample is too small to draw any meaningful conclusions from so the WoElo pick rates should only be viewed as early indicators. Even so, data could be suggesting that Sentinels players may have more success by looking beyond the established lists and exploring some of the less obvious options.
Soulblight Gravelords: Bacchanal of Blood Analysis
Overall Performance
Bacchanal of Blood is proving to be one of the stronger formations in the current meta, posting a 53% win rate across 143 games. Unlike Coven of Blood, though, its success isn’t being driven by an elite player base. With an average Elo of 451.9, only 16% of players above 500 Elo, and 20% first-time tournament attendees, these results suggest the formation is performing well across a broader range of player skill levels.
The performance breakdown reinforces that consistency:
- 32% of players finish on 4+ wins.
- 32% finish on exactly 3 wins.
- 36% finish on two wins or fewer.
That points to an army that consistently achieves positive tournament records rather than relying on a handful of standout finishes.
Warscrolls
The army has a fairly clear core, although there is noticeably more variety than we’re seeing in Coven of Blood for Daughters of Khaine.
Barrow Guard are the most common unit and continue to perform well at 54%.
Vengorian Lord stands out among the commonly used warscrolls with a 60% win rate, while Dire Wolves and Fell Bats also comfortably outperform the faction average.
Some staples aren’t carrying their weight quite as well. Blood Knights (47%), Barrow Knights (46%), and Prince Vhordrai (43%) appear regularly despite below-average results.
Among the less common options, several units are quietly posting excellent numbers:
- Deadwalker Zombies (71%)
- Mannfred von Carstein (68%)
- Askurgan Trueblades (66%)
- Revenant Draconith and the Necromancer both sit at 65%.
These all come from smaller samples but could point towards alternative builds worth exploring.Enhancements
Enhancements
The enhancement choices are fairly settled.
Shard of Night is comfortably the preferred artefact and returns a solid 60% win rate.
Immortal Ego is the standout Heroic Trait, posting an impressive 62% across a healthy sample of 86 games, making it the clear default option.
Battle Tactics and Manifestations
Unlike some factions, Bacchanal of Blood doesn’t appear to have one overwhelmingly dominant battle tactic package.
Burning for Vengeance (59%) edges out the other common choices.
Siege of Ashes remains the default selection thanks to its reliability rather than exceptional performance.
One interesting note is that while Manifestations of the Grave is the most common lore, Aetherwrought Machineries is quietly producing a 61% win rate from 33 games, suggesting some players are finding success by moving away from the expected choice.
Overall Impression
Bacchanal of Blood feels like a very healthy competitive army. It isn’t dominating through elite players alone, nor is it dependent on a single oppressive unit. Instead, it has a broad collection of efficient warscrolls, several viable support options, and enough flexibility that players are still discovering successful combinations. The formation looks strong without appearing solved, and there is still room for innovation as the meta develops.
Daughters of Khaine: Coven of Blood Analysis
Overall, Coven of Blood continues to justify its place as the standout Daughters of Khaine formation. A 60% win rate across 130 games is backed up by a healthy player base and a very experienced one, with almost 60% of players sitting above 500 Elo and just a single first-time tournament player.
Overall Performance
A 60% win rate from 130 games makes this one of the strongest formations in the game.
38% of players finish on 4 or more wins, with another 29% reaching 3 wins. That means over two-thirds of players are leaving events with winning records.
The high average Elo (494.9) suggests the formation is attracting experienced players, so a lot of the success is undoubtedly pilot skill.
Warscrolls
There’s very little variation in the core list.
Blood Sisters, Morathi-Khaine, the Shadow Queen, Khinerai Heartrenders and the Melusai Ironscale appear in the overwhelming majority of lists, forming a very consistent backbone.
The standout performers are the Slaughter Queen on Cauldron (74%) and Bloodwrack Shrine (72%). While both have smaller sample sizes, they’re well worth watching as the data grows.
Outside of those, most of the core units are clustered around the 58-60% mark, suggesting the army wins through the strength of the overall package rather than one clearly broken warscroll.
Enhancements
There isn’t much experimentation with artefacts.
Witchbrew is effectively the default choice.
Heroic Traits are more varied. Hand of Khaine (72%) and Shadow-Blooded (69%) have posted excellent early numbers, although from relatively small samples compared to Loyal Unto Death, which remains the most commonly selected option despite its lower 56% win rate.
Battle Tactics
Players are clearly favouring Siege of Ashes and Burning for Vengeance because they’re the most reliable and most commonly selected.
The eye-catching number is Blazing Onslaught at 74%, although that’s from only 23 games, so it’s probably best viewed as an option with high potential rather than a proven staple.
Overall Impression
The data paints the picture of an army that’s becoming highly refined. Most successful lists share an almost identical core, with only a handful of support choices changing around the edges. The question isn’t whether Coven of Blood is strong, but whether the meta will adapt to it over the coming weeks, or whether these numbers remain as more games are played.
Age of Sigmar General’s Handbook 2026–27: Living Review
Here we go again! A new season has dropped! People are already getting games in with and will be deciding which armies it will suit (or not) the best. I’m going to try and avoid that.
Not because those impressions are worthless (they aren’t). The early reactions can identify real strengths and weaknesses. But they rarely tell the full story.
The real problem with reviewing a General’s Handbook on the week of release week is that we lack data and we don’t know how reliable the future data will be.
That is perhaps especially true for the 2026–27 handbook. Only because it may be harder to evaluate the GHB by win rate alone may be one of the most difficult GHBs yet to evaluate using raw win rate alone.
The introduction of the Rage Mechanic may introduce additional swing, which may require deeper analysis.
So rather than declaring instant winners and losers, I’ll do what I always try to do. First, review the early impressions, and then, once there’s enough GT data, I’ll start plugging in some numbers:
– Battleplan usage
– Battleplan win rates
– Battle tactic usage
– Battle tactic win rates
– Tournament pack adoption
First Impressions – More Depth, More Complexity
My first reaction after reading the new handbook was straightforward:
My old brain can’t seem to cope with this level of complexity at first glance.
But this complexity isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it can create better tactical depth and skill expression. But Age of Sigmar 4th Edition launched in a relatively clean, and what was intended to be a streamlined state. This GHB feels like a step back towards heavier rules overhead.
Players are now going to be asked to track their Fury levels and Rage Dice on top of the usual admin of an Age of Sigmar game and their own army mechanics. That is a lot.
Several players I’ve spoken to described the same experience: after their first read-through, they felt interested but slightly overwhelmed. One comment in particular stuck with me as it echoed my own thoughts:
“Maybe I’m getting old, but this feels like a lot to keep track of.”
I think many players will feel the same initially. But, will the extra complexity will be worth it?
Lore and Presentation
It would be bad if I did not mention the presentation of the GHB, because as always GW have done a great job.
The Aqshy setting feels fleshed out and with the locations of Embergard, the Adamantine Chain and others, you have a believable (if that can be applied to fantasy) setting for a campaign with multiple fronts.
For competitive players this may not matter much, but for everyone else the added flavour and world building is always a welcome bonus.
Are we getting hints of the end of the Mortal Realms here before 5th Edition rebuilds the world again?
Aqshian Crusades
The Aqshian Crusades are basically pre-built mission packs for RTTs, GTs and longer running campaigns. They’re curated battleplan sets with some thematic flavour layered on top.
But will TOs uses them? Some will no doubt embrace the pre-built packs initially, while others will continue curating their own.
I’ll be tracking that out of interest through the stats where I can.
Fury and Rage Dice
The headline mechanic of the Aqshy season is Fury and Rage Dice. As the battle progresses, armies generate Rage Dice that can be spent offensively or defensively.
After reading the rules, I’m less worried about pure randomness than I initially was. In practice, Rage is another resource management system. They function as a damage amplifier and a way to protect your troops. Spending the dice aggressively can swing combat, but banking them for reducing future damage may prove equally powerful.
My main concern is over who benefits the most, combat armies already built to dominate in melee will gain more value from Rage than armies that prefer pressure or precision I think. If that is the case then we could see games coming down to midboard fighting which brings us to…
Battleplans – Welcome to the Midboard
The battleplans are always the most important part of the handbook, and it would seem that the early feedback suggests that there’s a shift towards controlling the centre of the board as many objective layouts reward controlling the middle of the table.
An overlooked factor in this GHB may be that several battleplans now directly interact with terrain pieces in ways that previous seasons rarely did.
Previous GHBs had allowed scoring through mobility and objective trading, whereas this GHB could be down to who wins the centre. This could favour armies with tough infantry that are able to create a strong board presence. Armies that prefer precision strikes may struggle a bit more.
But as with every GHB, not all the Battleplans are created equal, some look excellent while some will see very little play at all (Some have already been given nicknames).
Hidden Under Ash-Clouds, for example, fundamentally alters movement, deployment and visibility, which could create very different win conditions for shooting, magic and melee armies.
Battle Tactics – Skill Expression or List Tax?
The new battle tactics look to be well thought out this season. Previous seasons often included tactics that felt too passive and that you could achieve without thinking too hard.
That may not be the case now as many have said the tactics feel a lot more deliberate and that lists may now need to be written with achieving the tactics you choose in mind. Some tactics may appear to be broadly achievable while others will reward access to specific tools such as ranged damage, magic or movement tricks.
This raises a question though, are the tactics testing player skill or simply rewarding armies that naturally tick more boxes during list building?
Initial Verdict
This has the potential to be one of the most tactical General’s Handbooks in recent memory. Strong competitive players will likely enjoy the increased decision making and complexity while casual players may find a steep learning curve with the additional bookkeeping.
The Stats
Battleplan Usage
Coming soon.
Battleplan Win Rates
Coming soon.
Tactic Usage
Coming soon.
Tactic Win Rates
Coming soon.
Pre-Built GT Pack Adoption
Coming soon.
Woehammer AoS TTS League: Season 3 Sign Up
Our second season of the revamped Woehammer Leagues have ended, and the results are now in.
On top of this, we’re announcing the sign ups to Season three of the leagues. This will take place on TTS and via our Discord server. There are four separate leagues; America (East), America (West), Europe and Pacific. Some of these leagues will be split into at least two divisions. Players will be given five random opponents from their division to play against over the course of two months. Players can play these games in whichever order they wish. The full rules to the league are below.
KEY INFORMATION
- Sign ups close on 3rd July 23:59GMT
- List submission is to be made directly to me via DM on Discord and must be submitted no later than 3rd July 23:59GMT
- You will have until 25th September 23:59GMT to arrange and complete all five of your games.
- When signing up, you’ll need to be a member of the Woehammer Discord and then choose a league to take part in on the sign up sheet.
ARMY REQUIREMENTS
2,000 Points. Any rules publications released on or before the list submission date are valid for use in the tournament. Changes to the list will be allowed after the list submission deadline if there is a valid reason such as not specifying a tactic or manifestation lore.
TOURNAMENT RULES
- Five opponents will be chosen at random for each player.
- This is a five game league, however, there are no ‘Rounds’ and you can play your games in whatever order you wish. Opponents will be listed as Opponent 1 through to 5 for the purposes of assigning battleplans
- The Battleplans will be chosen at random on 3rd July once all lists have been submitted. Battleplans will be assigned to Opponents 1 through to 5. E.g. All opponent 1 games may be assigned to ‘Into the Fire’.
- Leagues will be split into division of 10 players. Those in upper divisions are placed based on previous performance and placing within past leagues. However, anyone who has previously taken part in the leagues and then missed a season for whatever reason, will need to start in the lowest division of the league they have chosen.
- A division may have a minimum of 6 players. Where odd numbers occur divisions will also have a BYE opponent.
- Players are ranked by first by the number of wins followed by the number of victory points scored during their games.
- Players who do not respond to another player attempting to organise a game will be awarded a loss with 0 victory points if they fail to respond.
- Players who are unable to organise a game between them before the end of the season will be awarded a draw. The victory points for this draw will be decided by the average scores in that division for all other players on that battleplan.
- Players who concede a game will be assigned a loss and their opponent the victory. Both of these players will have their victory points determined by the average losing score and winning scores for players who have played that battleplan in their division.
KEEPING UP WITH THE LEAGUE
We have a specialised bot on our Discord which allows players to keep up to date with results and opponents lists without the need for BCP.
With the bot, you’ll be able to see your and your opponents lists and fixtures:
If you’re interested in signing up, then please join our discord and sign up to the event here.
Are New Battletomes Stronger?
Every edition of 40k and Age of Sigmar eventually reaches the same point. A few battletomes are released and once the tournament results start to settle, the strong factions show their heads.
Sooner or later someone asks: “Are the newer books better than the old ones? Are we seeing power creep?”
Recently I was chatting to PlasticCraic and the Craic Heads about this exact thing over on his discord. Pete had suggested that perhaps we were headed towards a two-tier meta where newer battletomes operate at a different level while the older ones struggle to keep up.
We’ve enough tournament data now that we thought we’d have a go at answering the question.
Does the data support it?
Rather than looking at the armies individually, I grouped armies based on their release date into cohorts, 6 month windows based on their release date.
Index Factions (still waiting for Battletomes as of writing): Cities of Sigmar, Fyreslayers, Hedonites of Slaanesh, Ogor Mawtribes, Seraphon and Sons of Behemat
1st Cohort (Battletomes released between July 2024 to December 2024): Orruk Warclans, Skaven, Slaves to Darkness and Stormcast Eternals
2nd Cohort (Battletomes released between January 2025 to June 2025): Gloomspite Gitz and Soulblight Gravelords
3rd Cohort (Battletomes released between July 2025 to December 2025): Blades of Khorne, Flesh-eater Courts, Helsmiths of Hashut, Idoneth Deepkin, Kharadron Overlords and Nighthaunt
4th Cohort (Battletomes released between January 2026 to Present): Daughters of Khaine, Disciples of Tzeentch, Lumineth Realm-lords, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Ossiarch Bonereapers and Sylvaneth
If newer battletomes are stronger, we should see the third and fourth cohorts win more games and reach the top tables more often.
Overall Win Rates
The newest battletome cohort currently sits at 54% as a collective, while the third cohort is a bit further behind at 51%. The remaining indices and 1st and 2nd cohorts site around 46-47%.
That’s already noticeable. the newer books aren’t just marginally ahead, as a group they’re threatening to break out of the 45-55% bracket. Six battletomes that together have a 54% win rate.
But we’ve spoken before about taking win rates in isolation. So what else?
Well first off, we know that a number of these factions have a strong player base.
Top of the Meta
Looking at the current faction rankings, this backs up our previous table. The top six factions by win rate are:
- Daughters of Khaine (4th Cohort) – 62%
- Lumineth Realm-lords (4th Cohort) – 55%
- Flesh-eater Courts (3rd Cohort) – 54%
- Disciples of Tzeentch (4th Cohort) – 54%
- Sylvaneth (4th Cohort) – 54%
- Maggotkin of Nurgle (4th Cohort) – 53%
Five of the six strongest performing factions have been released since January this year. That’s difficult to dismiss, especially when many of the older battletomes and index factions are clustering towards the bottom.
What Happens as Tournaments Progress?
Theoretically if newer books bully weaker players we would expect newer tomes to fade as events continue. Instead we’re seeing the opposite.
The newest cohort dominates in the first three rounds of an event. The above shows the percentage of players who achieve 3 wins from the first 3 rounds of an event and head in to the 2nd day of a GT undefeated.
Daughters lead, followed by Lumineth and Sylvaneth. By round three players are no longer facing random opponents, the players begin to meets the more elite of the tournament.
The pattern remains at the start of the 2nd day. The above, once more, shows the percentage of players who are achieving four wins from four rounds at a GT, going undefeated into the final round.
Easy games have gone now, and the armies are increasingly fighting one another.
Daughters of Khaine sit clear of everyone with the highest percentage of players achieving 5 wins at GTs. What is interesting though is we do see some drop off in the newer books. Maggotkin of Nurgle really suffer in the last round and while 7% of their players go four from four, they cannot break the armies they’re facing in the last round, the likes of Daughters and Slaanesh and they often cannot convert that final win.
Likewise for Kharadon Overlords who have 9% of their players going four wins from four, but then struggle in the final round, with only 2% achieving five from five.
Ironjawz perform a little better and do creep up the table.
But why are we seeing this?
Some factions seem excellent at generating momentum early in events.
Others prove much better at surviving increasingly difficult pairings.
If battletome age alone explained success, Hedonites should not be here. Yet somehow, despite remaining on Index rules, the faction continues converting strong starts into tournament-winning finishes at an impressive rate.
Clearly, there are exceptions. But exceptions do not necessarily erase broader trends.
The Broader Pattern Still Exists
But, unfortunately the newest cohort still appears overly represented among factions that have undefeated starts and stay in contention after harder pairings.