Tag Archives: Age if Sigmar

News – General’s Handbook 2022: Season 2 – Hot Takes

Wow, outta nowhere Warcom just dropped some big GHB22 Season 2 reveals.

There’s a lot to digest even in such a small article, so let’s dive into some hot-takes – but not before offering up a kudos to GW for continuing the great new trend of accompanying reveals like this with a design interview video, that really helps us see a bit behind the curtain.

The first new rules to sink our hungry teeth into are The Key To Victory and Desperate Action. TKTV was rumoured for a while and is going to bring a lot more small foot heroes – WITHOUT a mount, not unique and under 10 wounds – out to play, for the obvious reason that your 100-150 pt hero, often with a clutch spell or aura was always super vulnerable to being sniped from half a table away by some coward with a good eye, and -1 to hit from Look Out Sir just didn’t cut it. But now, they’re safe in the knowledge that their companions aren’t just going to yell a half-assed warning to them, but they’ll make damn sure they can get the job done – UNLESS, of course (and this is mentioned in the video), your put your sneaky shooters into the Sharpshooter battalion which will allow them to target Galletian Champs as normal. It’s Bounty Hunters vs Expert Conqs all over again – only without one side of the equation being utterly broken and skewing the entire equation!

Desperate Action is an awesome new rule, and for my money represents the best things about AoS. Firstly, it adds a small incentive to whomever wins priority to actually think about taking 2nd instead of just smashing that DOUBLE button, and for the unlucky second-turner, they get an extra responsive action to help balance the odds – and as we move onto the next reveals we’ll see how that can be even more impactful beyond adding a CP chance to your hero heal, etc. Very cool and something I’m really excited to see, on the face of it.

Now these are going to tilt people immediately, but on closer inspection I don’t think it’s anything too scary – and in fact, I think it adds a really cool dimension to the game. Strike at the Opening is mitigated when you consider that the majority of foot heroes in the game are support heroes and therefore don’t hit very hard – with the exceptions being things like the Orruk Megaboss (and this def seems like a stealth Orruk buff).

Lead by Example looks again at first glance to be utterly brutal – but when you read closely you’ll see that not only will you have to be going 2nd to fight with your hero AND unit, but it essentially discourages you from then charging with either later in the turn, uses up both your heroic action slots AND requires that your opponent decided to stay in combat with you – or of course, charged you and didn’t kill you off. So, obviously it has potential but I think it’s really balanced by the timing of the activation, and will offer some good options against pin-type lists that rely on bogging you down and preventing you from scoring at all – and that’s the kind of tactical flexibility that could make this coming season one of the best yet.

Following in the footsteps of the 1-2 hero phase punch is a battalion that does exactly the same thing but in the normal combat phase – you may be familiar with this kind of rule if you’re a Soulblight or OBR player – and it’s not hard to miss the appeal of. I wonder if we’ll see the restriction here being non-reinforced infantry units? Either way, it’s an interesting rule that puts Orruk Brutes back on the menu and will hopefully see another few more recently maligned units get some more table time.

A knee jerk winner from this is Slaves to Darkness. With the way the Lord on Krackerjack works, combined with say, an Exalted (8 attacks, 4/4/1/2) and unit of Chosen in Galletian Command, you could activate four times in a row. I can see Orruk, S2D, Ogor, and SCE doing very well out of this.

Finally, some extra morsels.

These new options unlock fresh tactics and opportunities for devious generals, but they’re just the start. The General’s Handbook also includes a Realm spell for punishing units camping out on objectives, a new command ability to trade piling in for extra attacks, and a stockpile of artefacts and unique Aspect of the Champion enhancements reserved for GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS.

Warcom

Fairly self explanatory, but exciting to hear there will be some new, unique ways to kit out our little champs. The article also confirms that the book will merge matched play rules – meaning half the Battle tacs, grand strats and battleplans will return from Season 1 – and surely the new ones will revolve around Galley Champs.

Overall, this means your lesser-seen utility heroes, whether they can also throw a punch or not, will no doubt be crucial to scoring, so should really impact list making. Armies with access to good infantry shooting – think DoK bow snakes, KO, and Ogors, may run rampant with their ability to snipe Galley Champs and prevent extra scoring potentials.

All told, I think this is a hugely exciting preview.

And let me be the first to say (well, probably not, but I’ll say it anyway):
Fuck you Bounty Hunters, and good riddance.

Let us know your hot takes to our hot takes in the discord!

Top Three AoS Lists for TCC: Age of Sigmar 2 Day Event

This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the TCC: Age of Sigmar 2 Day Event that took place in Australia on 12th and 13th November. 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.

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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

Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle
Army Subfaction: Drowned Men
– Grand strategy: Blessed Desecration

LEADER
1 x Lord of Afflictions (230)*
General
– Command Traits: Overpowering Stench
– Dolorous Tocsin
– Artefacts: The Splithorn Helm
1 x Be’lakor (360)*

BATTLELINE
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (250)*
Dolorous Tocsin
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (250)*
Dolorous Tocsin
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (250)*
4 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (500)*
10 x Plaguebearers (150)*

TERRAIN
1 x Feculent Gnarlmaw (0)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1995/2000)

Danny: Maggotkin are still good after the flies went up a few points, who’d a thunk it! We got drowned men here for the pre-game move with 10 flies, and a cheeky Be’Lakor to stop your main thing from doing whatever it does that MIGHT kill some flies for a turn (or two if they give away/lose the double).

Oppressive pinning list and attrition through disease points is the name of the game here. Be’Lakor is a cheeky inclusion but makes plenty of sense, given it’s a nightmare to claw back points from fly spam – and let’s be honest, it’s still fly spam – after a turn of your biggest piece sitting on their arse.

We’ll see how it goes – initial feelings are Drowned Men, not the price of flies, is the real problem. But in the meantime, gratz to Thomas for rolling with the punches and taking down some tough armies along the way.

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Allegiance: Sylvaneth
– Glade: Heartwood
– Mortal Realm: Ghyran
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs:

LEADERS
Alarielle the Everqueen (840)*
Spirit of Durthu (370)*
General
– Command Trait: Gnarled Warrior
– Artefact: Greenwood Gladius

UNITS
5 x Tree-Revenants (110)*
5 x Tree-Revenants (110)*
5 x Tree-Revenants (110)*
6 x Spiterider Lancers (420)*
Reinforced x 1
Spiteswarm Hive (40)
*Battle Regiment

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 90
Drops: 1

Ethan:One of the real pillars of Sylvaneth currently is Alarielle + good stuff and this list fits it to a Tree (Sorry). Alarielle is a large, fast and durable beatstick that comes back after you deal with her the first time. Her durability is well supported by Durthu as a backup, teleporting spiteswarm recipient, using his warscroll teleport and the additional +3′ to charges to gain consistency on this hammer. Combined with gnarled warrior, durthu becomes quite durable making the 90 wounds of the list slightly misleading. Throw in 15-20 summoned wounds from alarielle and you’ve got quite the beefy core with which to gain board control and threaten across objectives.

Tree revs fill out the middle to complete battle tactics well but the more interesting unit here is the Spiterider Lancers. At 1 damage some people question their staying power after Bounty Hunters rotates but Mitch must think they don’t need the help, taking them in a battle regiment – absolutely key with this kind of list – controlling game flow is invaluable without durable anvils or notable shooting. The Spiteriders always strike first on the charge, allowing for some flexibility with Strike and Fade and giving the Matt a chance to make an educated call about whether he needs to make like a tree (Sorry, Sorry) before a reprisal happens or whether he can use his successive activations to clear an area and hold it safely.

I can see this list being quite swingy in some matchups, Alarielle is notoriously weak to MWs and shooting, but Matt has obviously piloted it well to a 4-1, only losing in the final game to a Maggotkin list. Perhaps Alarielle’s reputation of being pillowfisted coming to the fore against the extremely durable Nurgle units, though he has taken out great competition along the way with Snakes, Ogors, Rats and Bravery bombs under his belt. Well done Matt!

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Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine
Temple: Zainthar Kai
– Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots
– Triumphs:

Leaders
Bloodwrack Medusa (130)**
Artefact: Shadow Stone
– Lore of Shadows: Mindrazor
Slaughter Queen on Cauldron of Blood (315)**
General
– Command Trait: Zealous Orator
– Artefact: Crown of Woe
– Prayer: Sacrament of Blood
Hag Queen (110)**
Prayer: Blessing of Khaine
Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix (315)**
Allies

Battleline
10 x Blood Stalkers (360)
Reinforced x 1
15 x Blood Sisters (420)*
Reinforced x 2
10 x Witch Aelves (115)*
Pairs of Sacrificial Knives

Units
5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (95)**
5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (95)**

Endless Spells & Invocations
Heart of Fury (45)

Core Battalions
*Bounty Hunters
**Warlord

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 315 / 400
Wounds: 106
Drops: 9

Danny: If you don’t take Spinedog, you probably take…. double takes a Frostheart on Phoenix allied in!? That’s some interesting tech – it’s not inconsiderably killy but I think the idea behind it is a mobile platform for a 9″ aura of -1 to wound in melee, which will obviously go a long way to keeping a fragile army like DoK alive. Combine that with the 12″ Heart of Fury aura for -1 damage, and a Cauldron of Blood for +1 save within 18″ and Blessing on Khaine prayer on the Hag Queen for re-roll ward saves and, funnily enough, you just make the glassiest of cannons into something resembling a…porcelain cannon! Hell, maybe even a solid oak cannon.

The rest of the list is normal enough – a nice big 15 blob of Blood Sisters for putting out eye-watering mortals after they fight, and the obligatory 2x Khinerai for battle tactic scoring. But love to see the Frostheart tech for a really interesting alternative to the tankiness Morathi brings (to herself) – instead spreading it over a key unit or two.

On the way to 3rd. Liam lost only to the winner, and managed to beat out Fangs of Sotek, SCE and Slaves, who can all put some serious melee hurt, so the list clearly performed. Kudos!

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Allegiance: Kruleboyz
Warclan: Big Yellers
– Grand Strategy: Demonstration of Strength
– Triumphs:

Leaders
Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180)
Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un
Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof (150)
General
– Command Trait: Supa Sneaky
Murknob with Belcha-banna (95)
Artefact: Mork’s Eye Pebble

Battleline
10 x Gutrippaz (160)**
10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)
10 x Gutrippaz (160)**
10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)
3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)
3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)
3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)
3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)
3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)*
3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)*
3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)*
3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)
20 x Shootas (120)**

Core Battalions
*Bounty Hunters
**Expert Conquerors

Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 156
Drops: 16

Kieron: So, with the new Battlescroll buffs and the existing staples for almost all Kruleboyz lists, we’d be expecting Joel to write a list to make the most of these, yeah…well, maybe not! With most Kruleboyz lists focusing on some degree of castle, Joel decided to go all Realmstone Cache with his Boltboyz and spray them all over the battlefield.

There’s some logic to this though as Big Yellers means the Boltboyz are battleline, making Demonstration of Strength a solid Grand Strategy choice as you need to kill 11 of the 13 battleline units to prevent it. Big Yellers also get to re-roll one of the hit rolls in the first battle round. Combined with the extra shot from the Boltboy Boss that’s 32 shots, re-rolling 8 of them.

The Mirebrute is probably thrown forward with Supa Sneaky and then opponent has to take first turn to kill it (though with Noisy Racket for -1 to wound, Best Day Ever for +1 to save and then All out Defense) that might not be as easy as you think OR give the turn away and have the Breakaboss rampage through your lines.

All in all, a really interesting take on Kruleboyz that Joel clearly played extremely well in some very tricky matchups.

Final Tournament Placings