Following on from our Forces of Fantasy and Ravening Hordes unit performance posts, I thought it may be interesting to take a deep dive into each faction at 2,000 point events. All of these results are taken from competitive 2k events that included Legacy factions and a minimum of 10 players.
High Elf Realms are very well balanced externally at 51%
The Archmage makes it into every single 2k point High Elf list to date. As opposed to the Mage, who only made it into 1 list. The Prince appears to be the go-to leader. The Star Dragon is the most popular of the three Dragon choices.
The other two dragons are seeing little play compared to the Star Dragon, and neither Phoenix appears to be attracting players either.
The above shows the win rates for units with more than 20 game results. With an overall win rate of 51% for the High Elf Realms, the only units currently exceeding this are the Lothern Sea Guard, the Star Dragon and the Ellyrian Reavers.
In terms of popularity of the Elven Honours, Pure of Heart (All units in command range use leadership of character and any unit the character has joined auto passes any Panic tests) and Loremaster (gains armour, has sword of Hoeth) are by far the most popular in lists.
There’s a more even distribution among the High Elf magic items. However, Seed of Rebirth (bearer has 5+ regeneration), Dragon Helm (improve armour save by +1 and 6+ ward against flaming attacks), and the Silvery Wand (Bearer knows one more spell than normal for their level) lead the way.
As we only include factions where there are more than 10 matches on record we are unable to show and matchups for the High Elves at present.
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Following on from our Forces of Fantasy and Ravening Hordes unit performance posts, I thought it may be interesting to take a deep dive into each faction at 2,000 point events. All of these results are taken from competitive 2k events that included Legacy factions and a minimum of 10 players.
Firstly, from what we can see, most of the forces are constructed using the army composition list inside the Ravening Hordes book rather than the Tomb Kings of Khemri: Arcane Journal.
The Tomb Kings are slightly overpowered externally at 58%. But this could yet fall with the new FAQ and people adjusting to the new edition.
It’ll be no surprise that units such as the Bone Dragon, Necrosphinx, and Casket of Spuls can be found on this list.
The least popular units are mostly those from the Arcane Journal, with the exception of Skeleton Horsemen, Tomb Prince, Khemrian Warsphinx, and SepulchralStalkers.
The above shows the win rates for units with more than 20 game results. With an overall win rate of 58% for the Tomb Kings, the only units currently exceeding this are the Mortuary Priest, Tomb King, Necrolith Bone Dragon, Necrosphinx, Skeleton Chariots and Royal Herald.
There’s a more even distribution among the Tomb Kings magic items. However, Armour of the Ages (Enemies reroll successful to wound rolls against the bearer), Icon of the Sacred Eye (+1 modifier to weapon skill), and Flail of Skulls (S+3, Multiple Wounds (3)) lead the way.
We’ve only included factions where there are more than 10 matches on record. While this is still low data, the trend shows a poor performance against Orc and Goblin Tribes. While appearing to perform well against Kingdom of Bretonnia and Warriors of Chaos.
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Following on from our Forces of Fantasy and Ravening Hordes unit performance posts, I thought it may be interesting to take a deep dive into each faction at 2,000 point events. All of these results are taken from competitive 2k events that included Legacy factions and a minimum of 10 players.
Firstly, from what we can see, most of the forces are constructed using the army composition list inside the Forces of Fantasy book rather than the Kingdom of Bretonnia: Arcane Journal.
The Kingdom of Bretonnia is perfectly balanced externally at 52%
It’ll be no surprise that many of these units are mandatory according to the Forces of Fantasy composition list.
The least popular units are mostly those from the Arcane Journal, with the exception of the Damsel, Squires, Foot Knights, and Sergeant-At-Arms.
The above shows the win rates for units with more than 20 game results. With an overall win rate of 52% for the Kingdom of Bretonnia, the only units currently exceeding this are the Knights Errant, the Duke and the Paladin.
In terms of popularity of the knightly virtues, the Virtue of Heroism (Killing Blow and Monster Slayer special rules- Excellent against what appears to be a Dragon dominated game at present) and the Virtue of Knightly Temper (extra D3 attacks and Hatred) are by far the most popular in lists.
There’s a more even distribution among the Bretonnians magic items. However, Gauntlet of the Duel (challenges can’tbe refused), Gromril Great Helm (improve armour save by +1 and reroll natural 1s on armour saves), and the Falcon Horn of Fredemund (cancel fly on enemy units) lead the way.
We’ve only included factions where there are more than 10 matches on record. While this is still low data, the trend shows a poor performance against Orc and Goblin Tribes and Tomb Kings of Khemri. While appearing to perform well against Wood Elf Realms.
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This is the top three AoS lists for the Wet Coast GT 2024 that took place in Canada on the 29th and 30th of March. It saw 32 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Seraphon – Army Type: Starborne – Army Subfaction: Fangs of Sotek – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Skink Starseer (160)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard 1 x Slann Starmaster (310)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts: Spacefolder’s Stave – Spells: Comet’s Call 1 x Lord Kroak (440)** – Spells: Comet’s Call 1 x Skink Starpriest (130)** – Spells: Speed of Huanchi 1 x Terradon Chief (90)** – Artefacts: Arcane Tome 1 x Saurus Astrolith Bearer (160)***
BATTLELINE 5 x Raptadon Chargers (150)** – Raptadon Charger Alpha – Icon Bearer – Hornblower 5 x Saurus Guard (140)*** 10 x Skinks (90)*** – Skink Alpha – Boltspitter – Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Aethervoid Pendulum (50) 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30) 1 x Malevolent Maelstrom (50)
TERRAIN 1 x Starborne Realmshaper Engine (0)
OTHER 6 x Terradon Riders (100)** – Starstrike Javelin
CORE BATTALIONS: *Andtorian Acolytes **Warlord ***Wizard-finders of Andtor
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
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Army Faction: Blades of Khorne – Subfaction: Skullfiend Tribe – Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery – Triumph: Bloodthirsty LEADERS Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)* – General – Command Traits: Unrelenting Hunter – Artefacts of Power: Ar’gath, the King of Blades Realmgore Ritualist (110)* – Prayers: Blood Sacrifice, Killer Instinct Slaughterpriest (110)* – Hackblade and Wrath-hammer – Prayers: Bloodbind, Bronzed Flesh Bloodsecrator (120)** – Nullstone Adornments: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon Skarbrand (380)***
Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Scions of the Storm (can deepstrike half the army) – Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar (6+ Ward Save on Objectives) – Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery (No Wizards on battlefield) – Triumph: Inspired (+1 to wound) Holy Command: Call to Aid!
LEADERS Yndrasta (monster hunter, can resurrect models) (260)* Lord-Celestant on Dracoth (170)* – Stormstrike Glaive (damage 3 on charge) – Artefacts of Power: Luckstone (Once per game, can choose the dice result for a roll, including charges) – Mount Traits: Celestial Instincts (can retreat and charge) Bastian Carthalos (too much shit to list xD, he’s a Giga Chad) (300)** Lord-Imperatant (free command point, can deepstrike 1 unit 7 inches instead of 9 inches per turn) (140)** – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic (can reroll unbind attempt) – Nullstone Adornments: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon (can unbind, if successful can unbind again etc)
BATTLELINE Sequitors (5+ ward or exploding hits in combat) (110)* – Sequitor-Prime – Stormsmite Greatmace (Sequitor-Prime) – 2 x Stormsmite Greatmace Liberators (deal mortal wounds if on an objective (100)* – Liberator-Prime – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Sigmarite Shield – Grandweapon Liberators (100)** – Liberator-Prime – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Sigmarite Shield – Grandweapon Vindictors (6+ hit is a mortal wound) (110)** – Vindictor-Prime – Azyrite Signifier Vindictors (110)** – Vindictor-Prime – Azyrite Signifier
OTHER Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (MW when they drop and when they charge) (200)* – Annihilator-Prime Castigators (ranged unit, +1 to hit or -2 rend) (180)* – Castigator-Prime Questor Soulsworn (counts as 3 on objectives, once per game teleport) (210)** – Questor-Prime – Soulsworn Knight-Relictor
Units have only been included in the stats if they have at least 30 games minimum. Anything less than that have been excluded. These stats cover ALL tournaments and point levels.
Units shown in Green are what we considered to be balanced (within the 45-55% win rate range). Anything red, is outside of this ideal range.
Win rates for units are calculated by working out the win rates for the games where that unit was included in the list (shown in brackets). These games are for all the games in our database and not just those at 2k points.
They’ll be a separate post for legacy factions on Friday.
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This is the top three AoS lists for the VIC GT 2024 that took place in Australia on the 16th and 17th of March. It saw 44 players vying to be crowned champion in a 6-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: Skaven – Grand Strategy: Arch-corruptors of the Mortal Realms – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Grey Seer On Screaming Bell (240) – Artefacts: Skavenbrew – Spells: Skitterleap, Death Frenzy 1 x Grey Seer On Screaming Bell (240)* – General – Command Traits: Diabolical Schemer – Spells: Levitate, Death Frenzy 1 x Plague Priest (100)** – Prayers: Rabid-rabid! 1 x Grey Seer (110)*** – Spells: Hoarfrost, Merciless Blizzard 1 x Plague Priest On Plague Furnace (270)*** – Prayers: Disease-disease! 1 x Skabbik Plagueseeker (140)*** – Prayers: Filth-filth!
BATTLELINE 20 x Clanrats (100)* – Rusty Blade 20 x Clanrats (100)* – Rusty Blade 15 x Plague Censer Bearers (300)** 15 x Plague Censer Bearers (300)**
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Soulscream Bridge (80)
OTHER 5 x Skabbik’s Plaguepack (140)***
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment **Wizard-finders of Andtor ***Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)
Kieren Coates: Now this is my own list so i can provide a bit more insight into this one!
However, variants of this list have been floating around for some time, especially since it ran second place at the GW open in Atlanta – however I was personally destroyed by one of the OG’s of bells in the current meta, Stuart the iron gutsman in a skaven mirror months prior.
With the list facing a 120 point nerf in the recent battlescroll, changes were needed to be made and the most optimal change was reducing one bell down to a seer, but honestly… i think its better
By taking a seer instead, it gives access to both blizzard and hoarfrost which are incredibly pivotal spells, with hoarfrost greatly assisting in two of my wins (Big Waaagh and gargants), and now with the new wizard finders having a 3rd small hero means you have access to warlord, and then using the priest to provide wizard finders to the 30 censors for that critical 5+ spell block.
The concept of the list is simple – with 6 masterclan/pestilence heroes unless the enemy fights you, you have your grand strategy by default. Combined with simple tactics you can very easily score 28 points.
Now, that means if the enemy can do the same, it comes down to who can control the primaries for those critical turns – not only does this list have the bodies to outmuscle most lists, but skabbick’s prayer to automatically take an objective if his squad is on it is brutal in control matchups, game changingly so in some cases.
Sit in the most optimal zone of the board, force the enemy to have to take the risk into you, and if they are unable to piece through the screaming bells, furnaces and clanrats then expect them to be cleared by the powerhouse that is 2×15 censors.
on the charge with prayer, all out attack and skabbicks pack within 18″ its 75 attacks, 2’s, 2’s, rend 1 damage 2
For context thats 70 damage into a 4+ save enemy – thats without adding in hoarfrost, skavenbrew, or death frenzy to further fight again when your models die
Be aware however the list isnt without weakness – if your PCB’s die early by not protecting them, or they are shot down from a distance you will be left with all bodies and no teeth. Against ranged lists you must use smart positioning, soulscream bridge and gnawholes to close the gap and get into threat range while controlling the board with the remaining bodies
While the list has been nerfed by 120 points, it still certainly has its punch and can beat down on most melle armies, but be afraid of the ranged powerhouses that can take out your hammers before they get a chance to engage.
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Allegiance: Sons of Behemat – Tribe: King Brodd’s Stomp – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders King Brodd (520) – General – Command Trait: Big Eater Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant (500) – Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact) Warstomper Mega-Gargant (440)* – Nullstone Adornment: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon
Battleline 1 x Mancrusher Gargants (130)* 1 x Mancrusher Gargants (130)* 1 x Mancrusher Gargants (130)* 1 x Mancrusher Gargants (130)*
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Total: 1980 / 2000
Peter: I’ve been lucky enough to know the PlasticCraic team for a while now. So when Joel popped up in the listing, we decided to do something a little different for his list review!
Peter: Thanks for agreeing to do this! We don’t often see Sons topping the tables of events these days. What is it that separates your list from other Sons lists that gave you that little extra zing?
Joel: Funnily enough, the list i took seems to be ‘the’ brodds stomp list getting around at the moment, and I’d be wrong to take the credit for coming up with it. It does play vastly different to a regular sons list. Their biggest flaw was ironically survivability. Megas have been used as the yard stick for damage output since they were released, and in brodds stomp you kind of fix that flaw by getting a 5+ ward on brodds 40 wounds. The extra zing would have to be the kings stomp, which is the brodds stomp specific monstrous action. I used this pretty aggressively to tie up units and snipe out heroes. Throwing terrain is cool and all, but this one takes the cake for me.
Peter: Your only loss came to Kieren and his ratties. Was this just a weight of numbers issue that caused the issue for your megas? Not discounting that Kieren is probably the top Skaven player.
Joel: Kieren had a dream turn 1, applying every buff to 15 plague sensor bearers, including a -3 rend hoarfrost. I didn’t zone out the bridge properly, and he got into my guts, wiping out the warstomper and a mancrusher with a 12″ charge. Safe to say, the 20 attacks a model (sarcasm) comfortably lifted them with ease. Skaven can be a really tough matchup for sons, between the debuffs from the bells and weight of dice from stupidly cheap 2 wound rats. Full credit to Kieren, though. VICGT was his first 5-0, and he deserved the win. I doubt I’m the only one to say that I’m glad to see the back of PCBs leading into 4th!
Peter: So are there any changes you’d make to the lost following VICGT? Or are you looking to have fun with it all for the lame duck period?
Joel: There’s a good chance I’ll be playing sons again for fatal4play, which is a 4-player teams event in June. And after VICGT, I’ll most likely swap out the gatebreaker for a krakeneater. Hitting on 4+s really sucks, and I used the pulverising strike ability more than I’d like to admit. The krakeneater adds some objective kicking, which is always handy, especially when in brodds you dont want to spread out too much and lose the 5+ ward. Krakens do less damage, but atleast they hit on 3+s base and are another good choice to hurl terrain with as you get more milage out of an all out attack, given they come with a decent shooting profile already.
Peter: Thanks Joel!
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Army Faction: Idoneth Deepkin – Subfaction: Ionrach – Grand Strategy: The Creeping Gloomtide – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Akhelian King (220)* – General – Command Traits: Unstoppable Fury – Bladed Polearm and Falchion – Artefacts of Power: Potion of Hateful Frenzy – Mount Traits: Voidchill Darkness Lotann (110)* Isharann Soulscryer (140)* – Prayers: Curse – Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust
BEHEMOTH Akhelian Leviadon (400)* – Mount Traits: Reverberating Carapace
OTHER Akhelian Allopexes (150)* – Razorshell Harpoon Launcher
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1980/2000
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Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (340)* – The Lore of the Damned: Binding Damnation Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – General – Command Trait: Shaman of the Chilled Lands – Artefact: Chaos Familiar – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed
Battleline 5 x Chaos Knights (220)* -4x Cursed Lance -plague Flail -standard bearer -hornblower – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon 9 x The Unmade (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided 9 x Untamed Beasts (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided 6 x Varanguard (560)* – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1 6 x Varanguard (560)* – 3x Fellspear – 3x Daemonforged Blade – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1
Units have only been included in the stats if they have at least 30 games minimum. Anything less than that have been excluded. These stats cover ALL tournaments and point levels.
Units shown in Green are what we considered to be balanced (within the 45-55% win rate range). Anything red, is outside of this ideal range.
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With the new FAQ out last week, I’ve decided to reset the stats at that point. So, going forward, any events that have taken place before the recent FAQ won’t be included in our statistics.
The statistics below show the stats for 2,000 point events before the new FAQ. For ease, we’re referring to this as v1.1 of Old World. Version 1 is the initial release in January, v1.1, being the FAQ release on 22nd January.
Let me give you the parameters to show how we’ve reached these figures.
Our database holds a total of 68 events (worldwide) consisting of a total of 1,461 pairings. These are all drawn from Bestcoastpairings.com, Statsandladders.com, and Ecksen.com. We are also in the process of adding tourneykeeper.net to our database, which you should see in the next few weeks. Once that has been added, we will work on adding T3 and others.
As 2,000 points are the most common total for events (and not 1999+1), we used this as our first parameter. This filtered our data to 671 pairings.
We’ve only included events that allowed legacy factions, filtering us to 636 pairings.
Only events with 10 or more attendees have been selected, filtering our games further to 584 pairings.
We’ve excluded mirror matches from the results, e.g. High Elves v High Elves. 540 pairings.
We’ve also only included games we’re we’re fully confident we have the lists and data for both players. 515 pairings.
On top of this, we’ve also decided to count a draw as 0.5 win and 0.5 loss.
The results are shown above. However, I would not put much weight on the results where there are less than 40 pairings on record.
Using the same parameters as above, we’ve also carried out the same exercise for 1500 point events.
If you would like to play with the database, we’ve included it below.
The data contained inside this article is only Woehammer’s interpretation. There are differing methods and analyses of the data available from Games Workshop and Honest Wargamer, whose methodology differs slightly from our own.
All of these sources should be viewed as a collective whole to allow you to gather a larger picture of the Age of Sigmar meta. The win rates, while accurate for events we have on record so far, are likely to change in the coming weeks and shouldn’t be the single point of reference for a factions strength.
How Win Rates are Calculated
All of our data for GTs are pulled from Best Coast Pairings, Stats & Ladders, and Ecksen for two day, 2000 point single events. Everything else we draw data on is shown in the RTT/Casual data. GT and RTT data are shown together in the combined data. We split all draws between the wins and losses of a faction evenly, as we believe this provides a fair reflection of a factions win rate. For example, as a player, you may achieve 2 wins, 2 losses, and a draw at an event. Some sites will only count the wins towards the faction rate, so in this case, 40% (2/5=0.4). Woehammer includes half of the draws, so our result would be 50% (2.5/5=0.5).
While the faction win rate may state one figure, it is more than likely to have evolved during the course of the Battlescroll as players find hidden gems within their battletomes. These are then copied by other players or answers found to these by others.
Faction Win Rates
The above chart shows the combined data (all events) currently hosted on Best Coast Pairings, Stats & Ladders, and Ecksen. This chart would be the most similar in data to Games Workshops’ own metawatch articles.
The value in brackets shows the number of matches featuring that faction (excluding mirror matches) the data is based on.
The above chart shows the same information for single player, 2000 point, 5 or more round events. This would be considered the more competitive view, with players often doing their utmost to optimise lists for these events.
The above shows the results for events that aren’t classified as a GT. So this would include RTTs, doubles, teams, and everything else in between.
Win Rates
I thought it may be interesting to also view the win rates by month during the battlescroll. This allows us to see the effect of new Ironjawz or the like on their particular faction. Or it may show whether armies with high win rates are being adapted to by their opposition.
Subfaction and Army of Renown Win Rates
No subfaction data yet, mainly due to time constraints.
Player Results by Wins
This graph has at least two purposes. Firstly, it shows the faction popularity by the number of players, and secondly, it breaks down those players’ results in terms of the number of wins they achieve.
Faction Popularity
The full list month-by-month is below (When I have more time, this will be updated).
When looking at the above table, bear in mind that this is the worldwide meta, and region to region or even city to city may differ. So while this gives us a general idea of the meta it may not be representative of your local meta.
We’re seeing (as always) a massive spike in the player base of the new tomes that have been released and fall off on the older Tomes. This is to be expected really as competitive players jump around following the “Oooo shiny” method of collecting. They’ll likely always be a strong base for Stormcast Eternals, thanks to them appearing in nearly all beginner army sets, as magazine collections and the feature of many stories in Age of Sigmar.
Players Achieving 5-0 Wins, Tournaments in Winning Positions and 3 Wins from
Out of all the players using that faction (shown in brackets next to the faction name), this graph shows the number achieving a whitewash at a GT with 5 wins from 5. Those achieving 4 wins from 4 after the fourth round and those achieving 3 wins from 3 after the 3rd round. Take into account that those who achieve 5-0 are included in the numbers of 4 wins from 4 and 3 wins from 3. Likewise, those achieving 4 from 4 are included with the 3 from 3 data.
We’ve also shown the percentage of players managing to achieve more wins than losses at a GT event.
Players with 4+ Wins
The above has been sorted to show the number of players achieving 4 or more wins with their faction.
Faction Pairings
The above shows the win rate for factions against the others currently in the game. Reading this chart, you’ll need to view it as the vertical column (green) against the horizontal row and then cross reference these.
Battleplans
We’ve gathered data on Battleplans where players have informed us of which were used at events.
The above shows how many events each battleplan was used in. This, therefore, shows how popular battleplans are with TOs.
The above chart shows each factions win rate on the relevant battleplan. This can be useful for some TOs if the wish to give a leading faction or a popular faction at their event a challenge.
Conclusions
If you’re planning your list for a GT, look at the data as a whole. Don’t just look at our data either, look at TSN and also GW. Get a big picture, use these sites as sources to make your own informed opinion on the meta. Think about which armies are popular, as you’ll likely face at least one or two of these armies at some point during an event, especially in the earlier rounds.
Look at those factions that are regularly in a tournament winning position and winning GTs, as these are likely to be your opponents in the later rounds. I believe you should look at building a list that is able to cope with playing the following factions at some point in a GT if you’re looking to compete;
Blades of Khorne
Stormcast Eternals
Kharadron Overlords
Soulblight Gravelords
Hedonites of Slaanesh
Nighthaunt(!?)
But also, if you’re playing a local GT with your club, then bear in mind that meta may be completely different to those given in the stats above. All of what is presented here, should be taken with a pinch of salt, but hopefully it gives you some guidance when it comes to list construction, or even army choice if you’re looking to play Age of Sigmar.
This is the top three AoS lists forthe Wheat City Open 2024that took place in Canada on the 2nd and 3rd of March. It saw 28 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
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.
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: Blades of Khorne – Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance – Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery
LEADERS Bloodsecrator (120)* – Artefacts of Power: Banner of Blood Skarbrand (380)* Slaughterpriest (110)* – Bloodbathed Axe – Prayers: Bronzed Flesh, Killer Instinct – Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)** – General – Command Traits: Firebrand – Artefacts of Power: Halo of Blood – Prayers: Heal, Killer Instinct Slaughterpriest (110)** – Hackblade and Wrath-hammer – Prayers: Blood Sacrifice, Bronzed Flesh Skarr Bloodwrath (110)**
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50) 1 x Wrath-Axe (70)
TERRAIN 1 x Skull Altar (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Roland Rivera: A Mortal-heavy Reapers of Vengeance list is not exactly a common sight, but such is the power of its effect of providing bonus Blood Tithe for slain enemy Heroes that you can make it work. The Hero lineup features most of the big hits: a Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury with Firebrand as a powerhouse to build your center around, Skarbrand as a steady and mostly independent hammer, multiple Priests to leverage the excellent prayer scripture and invocations, and Skarr Bloodwrath as a reusable source of Blood Tithe.
The troops themselves feature a mix of native Khorne troops and Allies from Slaves to Darkness: the reinforced blob of Blood Warriors will take and hold the middle, whereas the Flesh Hounds and Bloodreavers serve as cheap screens that can generate Blood Tithe on death. The Furies can also serve that role, but provide additional mobility to help pressure faraway objectives.
Khorne continues to be in a strong position, and this list is a good example of why this is the case: the combination of durability, reliability, and mobility makes it a powerful army in the hands of a skilled player.
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! (Battleline or General in enemy territory at end of game) – Triumph: Indomitable (pass battleshock)
LEADERS Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)* – Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork (teleport) Wurrgog Prophet (170)* (Zap Daddy with the slot machine eye lasers) – Artefacts of Power: Glowin’ Tattooz (4+ ward) – Spells: Hoarfrost Megaboss on Maw-krusha (450)** – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts of Power: Destroyer (+3 damage once per game) – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un (once per game hero phase move) Orruk Warchanter (120)*** – Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat (d3 heal) Orruk Warchanter (120)*** – Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat (3d6 charge) Gobsprakk (240)*** (once per game 3d6 unbind and deals d3 or d6 on every successful unbind) – General
BATTLELINE Orruk Brutes (280)** (+1 to hit models with 4+ wounds. Models with 1 wounds can’t contest within 3″) – Brute Boss – Boss Choppa – Jagged Gore-hacka Orruk Brutes (140)** – Brute Boss – Boss Choppa – Jagged Gore-hacka Gutrippaz (150)*** (-1 to hit from non Hero, non monsters) – Gutrippa Banner Bearer – Gutrippa Hornblower – Gutrippa Boss – Wicked Stikka
OTHER Brute Ragerz (200)** (run and charge) – 6 x Mighty Gore-hacka
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
Roland Rivera: It’s not often that you see a Maw-krusha in Big Waaagh lists, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t potent. Its combination of speed and hitting power can be a daunting complement to the board presence and magical power typical of Big Waaagh armies.
Alongside the big guy is an interesting combination of Ironjawz threats – Brute Ragerz pack a lot of punch on the cheap, and Brutes bring both damage and the ability to bully smaller models off objectives. Alongside them is a unit of Gutrippaz that acts as a screen that can also take down weaker units, and a fairly typical Hero lineup of Gobsprakk, a Wurrgog Prophet, a Weirdnob Shaman with Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork, and a couple of Warchanters to lay down Violent Fury on the Ironjawz.
Because the Maw-krusha is not often seen in Big Waaagh, your opponents may not be prepared for it, and that kind of curveball can be a very useful tool.
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Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords – Army Type: Vyrkos – Grand Strategy: Empire of Corpses
LEADER 1 x Belladamma Volga (220) – Spells: Soulpike 1 x Ivya Volga (135) 1 x Necromancer (100)* – General – Command Traits: Eater of Magic – Artefacts: Seed of Rebirth – Spells: Merciless Blizzard 1 x Vampire Lord (150)* – Spells: Soulpike
BATTLELINE 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (150) 30 x Deathrattle Skeletons (110) – Skeleton Champion – Standard Bearer 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (110) 10 x Dire Wolves (150) – Doom Wolf 10 x Dire Wolves (150) – Doom Wolf
OTHER 10 x Black Knights (130) – Hellknight – Standard Bearer 3 x Fell Bats (90) 3 x Vargheists (140)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Andtorian Acolytes
TOTAL POINTS: (1985/2000)
Roland Rivera: While this list is in Vyrkos, and has some of the Vyrkos mainstays in Zombies and Belladamma, it has a very interesting mix of units. Vyrkos is normally all about the Deadwalkers, but this list has a big blob of 30 Skeletons (!), as well as 10 Black Knights (!!) and some Vargheists (!!!). The surprises don’t end there, as even Ivya Volga makes an appearance.
The gameplan, however, is the same as it typically is for Vyrkos – drown your opponent in bodies, and pick them back up when they die. The Black Knights offer you a bit of a counterpunch angle with the mortal wounds on the charge, and the Vargheists can threaten backfields with their flight speed and deepstrike ability.
Overall, this is a bit of an unusual list, but unusual doesn’t always mean bad, as its results demonstrate.
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Army Faction: Cities of Sigmar – Army Subfaction: Greywater Fastness – Grand Strategy: Banners Held High – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Freeguild Marshal and Relic Envoy (90)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Ballistics – Duelling Pistols and Silvered Shortsword 1 x Freeguild Cavalier-Marshal (120)** – Artefacts: Sigmarite Warhammer 1 x Fusil-Major on Ogor Warhulk (130)*** – Artefacts: Mastro Vivetti’s Magnificent Macroscope 1 x Alchemite Warforger (100)*** – Spells: Hoarfrost 1 x Alchemite Warforger (100)*** – Spells: Merciless Blizzard