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Age of Sigmar, Big Waaagh!, Destruction, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Kieron Bailey, Orruk Warclans, Reviews

Orruk Warclans Battletome Review: Big Waaagh

November 15, 2022 Woehammer_Kieron Leave a comment

Allegiance Abilities

Woehammer Winner:
The Power of the Waaagh! is the undisputed champion in this slot and is one of the reasons that Big Waaagh! army that is Ironjawz + Wurrgog is arguably stronger that pure Ironjawz. At eight different points in a battle round, your army can earn Waaagh! points:

D6pts at the start of your hero phase
2pts at the start of your hero phase if a friendly Warchanter is on the battlefield
1pt at the start of your hero phase if a friendly Bonesplitterz Wizard (i.e. probably a Wurrgog Prophet) is on the battlefield
1-5pts as a heroic action in your hero phase
1pt in your charge phase for each friendly Orruk unit that finishes a charge move
1pt at the end of your combat phase for each friendly Orruk unit that is within 3” of an enemy unit
1-5pts as a heroic action in your opponent’s hero phase
1pt at the end of your combat phase for each friendly Orruk unit that is within 3” of an enemy unit

Arguably I’ve duplicated those last two, but I think it’s worth it to point out that if you lean into it, the points can mount up quickly. As for what you get for these points, they start at 8pts for +1 to run rolls; 10pts for +1 to charge rolls; 12pts for +1 to cast, dispel and unbind; 16pts for +1 to hit in melee; 20pts for +1 to wound. And here’s the magic: they are cumulative, so you get ALL the buffs at 20pts. At 24pts, you can release the Power of the Waaagh! which you should NEVER IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DO! The reason for this is that your Waaagh! points revert to zero for the pathetic buff of +1 to attacks characteristics for ONE combat phase. Hitting and wounding on 2s is better than having one extra attack that hits and wounds on 3s. In addition, there is a battle tactic that requires you to have at least 24 Waaagh! points at the start of the turn and then have at least 30 by the end of the turn. If you release the Power of the Waaagh!, you give away one of the easiest, if not the easiest battle tactic in Age of Sigmar.

Honourable Mention:
Although you don’t get the full benefits from each sub-faction when you include them as part of Big Waaagh!, you do get some of the juicy rules with Kunnin’, Brutal and Savage. Namely, you get Venom Encrusted Weapons for any Kruleboyz units (see Part 1 for more details); Mighty Destroyers for any Ironjawz units (see Part 2 for more details); Warpaint for any Bonesplitterz units (6+ Ward). This helps to give a little extra flavour and efficiency to each of these units, which is important as…

Warclans

…you don’t get any! The point of Big Waaagh! is that all the Orruks come together from many Warclans so there aren’t any rules for separate Warclans.

Command Traits

Woehammer Winner:
There are lots of command traits available for your Big Waaagh! general, but it does depend on which sub-faction (Kruleboyz, Ironjawz or Bonesplitterz) your general comes from. Who your general is probably depends on what else your army is trying to do, so there are a few ways you could go here. Assuming that we’re going with either an Ironjawz Warchanter or even a Megaboss on Mawkrusha, Touched by the Waaagh! not only has Waaagh! in the name (so it must be good), but also allows an Ironjawz Wizard (thanks Arcane Tome!) to do D3 wounds to a unit within 6” of itself and add that to the cast roll. Once you’ve got to 12 Waaagh! points then that’s D3+1, allowing a relatively straightforward cast of your key spell: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork.

Honourable Mention:
Maybe you have Chronomantic Cogs to help with spells going off or maybe you want to go full aggro, but an honourable mention is Supa Sneaky from the Kruleboyz part of the tome, probably put on a Mirebrute Troggoth with Fast ‘Un. Just as with Kruleboyz, this means you can put this very angry trog 9” away from the enemy and then move them 5” forward for an almost guaranteed charge. You can potentially combo this with Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork and Mighty Destroyers to start movement phase one with the Mirebrute and six Gore Gruntas 4” or less from your opponent’s front lines, possibly with a Mawkrusha about to move an extra 12” to be able to absolutely decimate your enemy. The caveat with this combo is Big Waaagh! lists often want to have multiple artefacts and/or mount traits so you may not have the option of who goes first, which puts your general at a disadvantage if you do Supa Sneaky him. However, if you stick with just one artefact (Glowin’ Tattooz), take a Weirdnob Shaman for Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork in place of Arcane Tome and the other options listed above, you can get to a double battle regiment, two-drop list.

Artefacts

Woehammer Winner:
If you’re taking the Wurrgog then you need to take Glowin’ Tattooz to improve the Ward save of a hero to 4+ instead of 6+. For your opponent, this takes the Wurrgog Prophet from a threat to an absolute nightmare to get within 12” of, knowing that it can kill absolutely anything in the game.

Honourable Mention:
Almost every Big Waaagh! list will feature Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork and almost none of them will feature a Weirdnob Shaman to cast it. Instead, the Arcane Tome fills in, allowing a Warchanter or Megaboss to ping any Orruk unit (i.e. not just Ironjawz) 9” away from the enemy.

Mount Traits

Woehammer Winner:
By this point, you can probably guess what’s coming…that’s right, it’s Fast ‘Un! One of the reasons for going Big Waaagh! vs. Ironjawz is to be able to take the Wurrgog Prophet, but almost as compelling is the ability to take the Breakaboss on Mirebrute Troggoth. And as Glowin’ Tattooz is practically compulsory on a Prophet, Fast ‘Un is practically compulsory on a Mirebrute. It’s obviously also amazing on a Mawkrusha and even a Sludgeraker as a budget version of the Mawkrusha.

Honourable Mention:
As command traits are at an absolute premium and you won’t be taking Hulking Brute over the options above, the next best option is Smelly ‘Un for that extra survivability on (likely) your Mawkrusha. With a 3+ save base, add in -1 to hit when not charging, +1 to saves from Their Finest Hour, All out Defence for an extra +1 and even Mystic Shield, that Mawkrusha is not going down short of getting in trouble with Kragnos and it will hit back tremendously hard, possibly clearing the unit that had the temerity of attacking it, ready to move on to some fresh victims!

Spell Lore

Woehammer Winner:
It has been mentioned several times already, but Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork is the first spell that should be on your army list. Mawkrushas and Gore Gruntas are relatively quick without it, but practically everything else you’ll be taking in Big Waaagh is slow. Add in the combination explained in Part 2 of these reviews where you Hand of Gork Gore Gruntas 12.1” away from an enemy and then Mighty Destroyers it 9” in the hero phase, circumventing Redeploy, then you’ve got a winning combo. It also works on anything with the Orruk keyword, not just Ironjawz, so throw those Boltboyz in danger-close or even some Big Stabbas.

Honourable Mention:
There is a very strong case for Nasty Hex taking this slot, particularly in the current meta with lots of ghosts and gross flies wafting around the place. But you do need to either take a Swampcalla Shaman to access it or put the Arcane Tome on a Kruleboyz character. It is much more likely that you’re going to have access to a Bonesplitterz wizard as the Wurrgog is also a wizard when there’s nothing to stare to death within 12” at the start of the hero phase. The spell you’d go for in this case, would probably be Gorkamorka’s War Cry in order to make an enemy unit fight at the end of the phase. Losing out on the Kruleboyz Waaagh! and Smashing and Bashing means that the fight phase is not in your control as you would ideally like. War Cry goes some way to redressing this balance in the favour of the Orruk player.

Grand Strategies

Woehammer Winner:
Applying the same logic as I did with the Command Traits, then Waaagh! has to be the option here and it’s definitely worth considering if your general is a Mawkrusha and/or you have taken a big unit of Brutes that can be dropped in by Gork. In almost all games, your Mawkrusha (if you take one) will be wanting to do work in your opponent’s territory and even on foot, Brutes (or even 15 Ardboyz) should be able to make it across the battlefield in five turns!

Honourable Mention:
With the manoeuvrability of Big Waaagh! then an honourable mention is No Place for the Weak, particularly if you have included either a Warlord or Command Entourage battalion because then you’re not winning the drop game and you may as well also make the Gore Gruntas you take (and you will want at least six) to be bounty hunters. With a Warchanter buff on them, that’s 3 damage vs. Galletian Veterans, making those battleline units disappear very quickly. Alternatively, if you’re playing a bit more cagey in the first couple of turns with a Mawkrusha, then by turn three, anything that is a genuine threat to your big angry cabbage might already be dead, allowing him to roam the board, chewing up and spitting out any battleline he can find.

Battle Tactics

Woehammer Winner:
As alluded to earlier, Big Waaagh! have a book battle tactic that is ridiculously easy to pull off with Wait For It, Ladz. You need to fulfil the following to conditions: have at least 24 Waaagh! points at the start of the turn; have at least 30 Waaagh! points at the end of the turn. It is very likely that you will be at 24 Waaagh! points by the start of battle round 4 and it’s practically guaranteed to be there by battle round 5. If you ever start a battle round with 30 Waaagh! points, then it’s already scored…even if you are tabled!

Honourable Mention:
With Wait For It Ladz being our likely turn 5 battle tactic, Barge Through Enemy Lines is a great choice for turn 4 as Big Waaagh! is a melee-centric faction with the buffs from the Power of the Waaagh. Therefore you probably have one Galletian Veterans unit relatively close to enemy territory by this turn and a sneaky Hand of Gork could pop another one in, scoring not only the battle tactic, but the bonus point too.

Warscrolls

Woehammer Winner:
The core of your Big Waaagh! list will most likely be Ironjawz as they have the best battleline and Gore Gruntas are great. The warscrolls we’re going to focus on are the two warscrolls that are the most common non-Ironjawz units chosen: Wurrgog Prophet and Breakaboss on Mirebrute Troggoth. Please check out Part 3 of the Orruk Warclans book for more information about what the Wurrgog does and why he’s so fun, but I’m going to give you an example of what he can do with Big Waaagh! If you also have a Mawkrusha in your list, then it is a high-value target that your opponent will want to take out, but sufficiently tanky that something quite substantial needs to be committed to remove it from the board. If you have a Wurrgog Prophet within 12” of your Mawkrusha, your opponent can still charge, but then you’re perfectly placed to ‘Hard Stare’ that unit out of existence if they succeed with the Mawkrusha. You could even point this out to your opponent to check to see if they really want to take that risk. If they choose not to charge, you win. If they choose to charge and the Mawkrusha destroys them, you win. If the Mawkrusha dies, then you win as you then get to play ‘Whose head will blow up first?’, which is fun whichever head pops first! Just don’t try this with Morathi as she ruins all our fun.

Honourable Mention:
The other unit is the Breakaboss on Mirebrute Troggoth. You’re not going to find a much more efficient way of delivering up to five damage 2 attacks and ten (!) damage 3 attacks than the Mirebrute. With the Supa Sneaky or Hand of Gork + Fast ‘Un combo, you’re almost guaranteed to get into combat and then he can do some severe damage. In your opponent’s turn, popping Their Finest Hour and All out Defence can make him hang around longer than he really should and if (when) he dies, who cares! He was only 180pts and he probably wiped a fairly premium unit and held your opponent up a turn while potentially a Mawkrusha and Gore Gruntas hammered the other flank.

Final Thoughts

Big Waaagh! is what you choose if you like Ironjawz, but want a few more techy options; or if you like Kruleboyz but want to be a bit tougher and faster; or if you like Bonesplitterz but fancy having a big monster run around the place. It’s also a really fun army from a hobby perspective as you can take all these disparate sculpts and bring them together as a cohesive whole with which to stomp the enemy with. It’s also quite a rare army to see out in the wild, so if you have a few Ironjawz, half a Dominion box and some Savage Orcs from Warhammer Fantasy Battle, then maybe give them a try.

This is the last part of the Orruk Warclans Battletome Review. Is there anything that we missed? Any combos not mentioned? Are any of our choices just plain wrong?! Please leave a comment below, in the Woehammer Discord or even contact me at @yeliabnoreik on Twitter. There’s just one thing left to say and that’s: WAAAGH!

Age of Sigmar, Allherd, Army Lists, Beasts of chaos, Big Waaagh!, Chaos, Destruction, Drowned Men, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Lumineth Realm-Lords, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Order, Orruk Warclans, Peter & Brett, Top three lists, Tournaments, Zaitrec

Top Three AoS Lists for the Shropshire Slaughter: Telford Onslaught AoS GT

August 5, 2022 Brett & Peter Leave a comment

This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Shropshire Slaughter: Telford Onslaught AoS GT that took place in England, UK on 30th and 31st July. It involved 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.

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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

Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos
– Greatfray: Allherd
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)*
– General
– Command Trait: Dominator
– Artefact: Blade of the Desecrator
– Lore of Dark Storms: Sundering Blades
Great Bray-Shaman (100)**
– Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy
Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (360)***
– Allies

Battleline
6 x Dragon Ogors (250)*
– 6x Paired Ancient Weapons
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Ungors (65)*
– Mauls & Half-Shields
10 x Ungors (65)*
– Mauls & Half-Shields

Units
1 x Cockatrice (95)*
1 x Cockatrice (95)*
1 x Cockatrice (95)**
1 x Cockatrice (95)**
1 x Cockatrice (95)**
1 x Cockatrice (95)**
1 x Cockatrice (95)**
1 x Cockatrice (95)***
1 x Cockatrice (95)***
1 x Cockatrice (95)***

Endless Spells & Invocations
Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (40)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment
***Battle Regiment

Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 360 / 400
Wounds: 159
Drops: 3

Brett: Beast of Chaos fresh (?) from their Tome Celestial update in the new infantry meta, at least according to GW, with a full monster list. Imagine being at the table, first round, and your opponent starts unpacking this. Finally a chance for Yndrasta to shine. If you are SCE anyway. It happened to Dan in the last round.

With the Tome Celestial changes the Herdstone now provides a board wide -1 rend in turns 1 and 2 and then -2 from turn 3. The Cockatrice plays into this ability, it’s main attack has no rend but on the charge increases from 4 to 8 attacks. With 12″ move and fly they are hard to screen or stop from charging. As monsters themselves they aren’t subject to monstrous rampages (other than Titanic struggle) and aren’t Galletian Veterans. They also get access to Primal Roar – an extra summoning point and possibly 3. Potentially they could summon a Chimera a turn. Nice. Rally can return models on a 4+ (not 6+) within 12″ of the stone as well.

That lets you game the Bravery characteristic as well, you can render them virtually immune to battleshock and pull from the front removing them from combat. Rally them at the start of your turn and you have a very short charge to get them back into combat. The Dragon Ogors re-roll hit rolls of 1 within 12″ of the General as well. They are a little short on spell casting, Belakor doubles the number of spells/cast himself. There are few buffs to casting here so Geminids (casting on a 6) is a good choice putting out MW and stopping commands. Sundering Blades on the Shaggoth suggests he was kept forward most of the time (an additional Rend within 18″). Tendrils of Atrophy is more situational, the Bray-Shaman doesn’t want to get too close.

Lots of monsters to push up the board and, without Hunters in the Heartland available anymore, able to switch off commands at will. That makes taking damage both more likely and more risky. On top of that12″ movement with -1 Rend board wide, which near the Shaggoth was -2 and then -3, makes this very hard to contain. Structuring the army to fit into Battle Regiment battalion. A good example of a skew list taking advantage of the rules, well done on getting Beasts all the way to No 1.

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Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords
– Great Nation: Zaitrec
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Sevireth, Lord of the Seventh Wind (345)*
Hurakan Spirit of the Wind (265)*
Scinari Loreseeker (170)*
– General
– Command Trait: Fast Learner
– Artefact: Gift of Celennar
– Extra Spell: Total Eclipse
– Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light

Battleline
20 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (290)*
– Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)*
– Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)*
– Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light
30 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (510)*
– Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh
– Reinforced x 2

Endless Spells & Invocations
Chronomantic Cogs (40)
Emerald Lifeswarm (60)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1970 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 96
Drops: 1

Brett: Big block of Sentinels, Wardens everywhere, Sevireth, Loreseeker and a Hurakan Spirit of the Wind. All of the favourites with Chronomatic Cogs and a Lifeswarm. The Lifeswarm making it much harder to remove those Sentinels.

I think most people know how this list works; Cogs is unusual but overall variations of this list have been around for a while. Battle regiment to try and go first (giving up the double), make sure you get Cogs out (for rerolls), apply Power of Hysh on the Sentinels and then use Lofted shot to fire 30″ ignoring terrain and line of sight. The plan is to get 5+’s for mortal wounds (around 12 per volley). Power of Hysh can be cast multiple times, here both the Sentinels and 20 man Wardens will probably cast it most turns. The two smaller Warden teams are screens that can also push out a bit to apply Lambent Light. That gives the Sentinels +1 to hit against one unit.

The Loreseeker, 20 man Warden and Sentinals are all hammers in this set up and very dangerous. Given his mobility the Loreseeker is a great choice for Lambent Light as well. The Sentinals extra spell is Speed of Hysh to double their movement if they are threatened or about to be out of range. It’s an effective list and played well into most of the armies until he met Dan. Dan’s army, they are team mates, is a counter to shooting lists. The Cockatrice are individual units so the wounds don’t carry across but you need the full 30 Sentinels to be sure of killing one with MW.

Since they fly it’s very hard to stop them reaching the Sentinels and from round 3 onwards they instakill Sentinels (rend -2 into a 5+ save). The Grand Strategy is an interesting choice, Lumineth aren’t the most interactive army and yet his GS requires him to have 2 units in the enemies territory. That said both Loremaster and Sevireth can easily accomplish that. With infantry and hordes more common will we see a Lumineth return?

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Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle
– Subfaction: Drowned Men
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Lord of Afflictions (210)***
– General
– Command Trait: Overpowering Stench
– Artefact: The Splithorn Helm
Harbinger of Decay (140)*
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease
Festus the Leechlord (150)*
– Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease
Orghotts Daemonspew (300)*

Battleline
5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)****
5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)****
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)**
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)**

Units
1 x Beasts of Nurgle (110)***
1 x Beasts of Nurgle (110)***

Endless Spells & Invocations
Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (40)

Core Battalions
*Command Entourage – Magnificent
**Bounty Hunters
***Vanguard
****Expert Conquerors

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 123
Drops: 10

Brett: Interesting variation on the popular Blightking/Blightlord armies we’ve started to see a fair bit in Season 1. More heroes and a mix of castle and some mobility through the Blightlords and Lord of Affliction. Also interesting to see a return to the high number of drops as if they didn’t care about turn order.

Aaron has chosen to take limited spell casting but included Geminids for that MW and command prevention utility. The spells double down on the rolling castle by increasing how many disease points are handed out. The Lord of Afflictions will provide his normal redeploy/teleport like abilities to the Blightlord allowing them to fly with him. That maximises their usefulness in Bounty Hunters. Festus provides heals, mostly to the Blightkings. Orghotts and the Beasts are a threat in themselves able to control an area and deny it due to their attacks and disease production. The Harbinger is a very interesting inclusion, his two warscroll abilities farm CP and deny commands.

Interesting approach, this is still a list that is going to try to outlast you but includes a reasonable mobile punch. With all of the big boys on the table they are going to take some time to kill and apply disease points all of the time making them a tough opponent.

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Allegiance: Big Waaagh!
– Grand Strategy: Tame the Land
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)
– General
– Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Mount Trait: Mean ‘Un
– Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180)
– Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un
Orruk Warchanter (115)
– Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat
Orruk Warchanter (115)
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105)
– Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex
Wurrgog Prophet (150)
– Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry

Battleline
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)

Units
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)
– Jagged Gore-hackas
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)
– Jagged Gore-hackas
6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)
– Reinforced x 1

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Warlord
***Expert Conquerors
****Bounty Hunters

Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Mount Trait

Total: 1980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 127
Drops: 12

Brett: Alex has been talking about his Big Waagh lists for most of this year taking the best of Ironjawz and increasing their flexibility with Kruleboyz. Double warlord for mount traits. Does it work? Is it fun? I suggest you look up Alex in discord (AosCoach) to find out.

The Mawcrusha build is interesting, instead of the IJ approach of Destroyer and Fast ‘Un, Alex has built the Mawcrusha with Arcane Tome for the teleport. He’s then given his mount Mean ‘Un increase the damage done by stomp. The Break-Boss has Fast ‘Un to get it into the enemy quicker, in the end it’s only moving 10″ though without might destroys. Warchanters to hand out ++1 damage and increase the charge of the Gore-gruntas, the Shaman for poisons on the Boltboyz and finally the Wurrgog for his nasty stare. If you can pull it off it’s a very tough list to counter. Going with Tame the Land is a tough call to, you almost need to table your opponent to control all of the objectives outside your territory. It can also spread your army fairly wide.

Unfortunately I think people are beginning to have a good handle on Boltboyz. They need to move (it can be only 1″) to use Hasty Shot and even then with poison they only average 8MW or a dead Cockatrice. But if it was Stormdrakes or Fulminators then they would either not remove a model or only take one. And die the next turn. With only 24″(or 12″ on hasty) it’s hard to keep them out of trouble with out a lot of screens. I think that’s what the ‘ard boyz are doing, but that’s 345+ points tied up. Still it’s innovative army and has some solid punch. If the Wurggog goes off it will remove something important and provide space for the Breaka Boss/Mawcrusha to wreck face. Which is always fun.

Final Tournament Placings

The full tournament results can be found on tabletop.to

Age of Sigmar, Big Waaagh!, Declan Walters, Destruction, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Tournament Preview, Tournaments

Tournament Preparation – Boards and Swords

July 9, 2022 Declan and Eeyore Leave a comment

Big Waaagh in GHB22 – Skrappa Spill

The time has come, GHB21 is dead and GHB22 (part one?) is live. The Battleline is back with Galletian Veterans and there are some ‘fun’ FAQs floating about.

But is Battleline really back? Is Purple Sun now essential? Should we ignore everything and go monsters? What changes?

To answer some, all or none of the above I am taking Big Waaagh to Boards & Swords in Derby (UK) this weekend for a two-day Age of Sigmar tournament. This has some basic comp around Grand Strategies and Battle Tactics – Strategies from the GHB22 and max 2 Battle Tactics from books. Given that (some) book Battle Tactics are allowed and Gloomspite Gitz don’t have any… I pivoted effortlessly back to Big Waaagh!

The List!

Allegiance: Big Waaagh!
– Grand Strategy: Demonstration of Strength
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Orruk Megaboss (140)*
– General
– Command Trait: Touched by the Waaagh!
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Wurrgog Prophet (150)
– Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry

Battleline
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
15 x Orruk Ardboys (255)**
– 2x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
– 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers
– Reinforced x 2
5 x Orruk Brutes (160)***
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 1x Gore Choppas
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers

Units
3 x Rippa’s Snarlfangs (70)*

Endless Spells & Invocations
Chronomantic Cogs (40)
Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (60)

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Bounty Hunters
***Expert Conquerors

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 157
Drops: 11

The Old…

Some of the list is the same as by GHB21 list; there’s a Wurgogg for the staring competition and two casting whilst he gets there, 2 Warchanters, and two units of ten Brutes. They pretty much do the same as they did in GHB21, except they are brutal against other Galletian Veterans (GVs) due to their ‘Bounty Hunters’ Battalions.

The New…

Having already taken some GVs I’ve decided to lean into it in style… so adding 15 Ardboyz (rallying on a 4+ near the Warchanter), 2 x 5 Arboyz for objective capturing / holding and 5 Brutes for a last minute smash! The small units are all Expert Conquerers (counting as 3 models each for objectives) and the large unit is my third (and final) unit in the Bounty Hunters Battalion – for damage 2 v other GVs.

The Ugly…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that some of the Endless Spells have got better!

Do I ignore it, and hope I don’t lose a Maw-Krusha or dive into the madness and take the toys! Well there’s only one option — more toys! Lots of toys!

So I’ve taken a Purple Sun & Chromatic Cogs (probably for the extra spell, but the re-roll charges is not bad for Big Waaagh late game). My slightly left field choice is the Ravening Jaws – I’ve loved the model since it was released and so couldn’t resist adding him to the list!

The Fast…

With all the points being used, I have limited options and have to drop the Maw Krusha. This wasn’t too bad though as – although he is good – I don’t fancy him running around with all the Purple Suns in the game. So I’ve downgraded him to a Megaboss on Foot — allowing me to go back to my favourite unit!

Rippa’s Snarlfang are back, baby… and they still rock. To find out why check out my secret post!

Da Plan

So I don’t really have one. I can do all the Battle Tactics, although the Megaboss may require some Wurgogg assistance if he needs to kill something; and the army is slower without the Gore Gruntas and Maw Krusha – but there’s a lot of 4+ save bodies and a lot of screens. Added to that if I keep 3 units alive (except Rippa) I get my Grand Strategy — don’t mind if I do.

I’ll try to take some photos and notes and let you know how I get on.

— Declan

Postscript (added 10th July 2022)

It’s been pointed out that – whilst I adhere to the 3 Endless Spell maximum – there is an additional requirement of 1 wizard per Endless Spell so this list is illegal! Ooops. Not sure what I’d drop, but I’d probably try to fit in a Weirdnob Shaman for an Ardboyz unit to keep it legal — Declan

Games Workshop

Big Waaagh! – A Review of GHB21

July 3, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 2 Comments

I have had a hell of a year under GHB21 and whilst I’m sad to see it go it’ll be great to see what a new season has in store. At some point I should probably read GHB22!

As part of the seasons Ziggy and the TSportsStatsCentre ran a ‘Best in Faction’ competition within the stats. And it was close at the top… of Big Waaagh!

And I just sneaked it ahead of Mike & Alex. It was a close competition between us with Quest of Champions almost ruining my chances (1-4), but the 2 games at the Champions (UK) event got me a few more points than Mike! It’s been great fun sharing the competition for top of a faction and I’m glad we all got to meet and chat near the end of the season.

I’m sure they’ll both be back for revenge in GHB22, and hope that others have been inspired to try some Big Waaagh themselves. There’s only so many times we can stare our enemies to death with a Wurgogg, smash them with Maw Krushas or kill Wizards with Gobsprakk. But it’s the variety that makes this allegiance such fun to play!

And in the tradition of US TV Clip Shows the world over here are some of my Big Waaagh articles from the last year:

3 Big Waaagh lists – Quest of Champions
See lists from Mike, Alex & me in one article!

Preparing for Champions (UK)
How I brought the only Destruction army to the top 16 (UK) event!

Dazmaul Tournament
My first 5-0 result! As well as reading about it here, you can find my last game on Hobby Room! and see what other armies were there with our Top Three.

Chumpionship
My first 3-0 result! A great little event put on by Rhys.

The Nameless King
Another 1 dayer (Derby) ran by Speccles in the great Boards & Swords venue.

But that’s enough clip show nonsense for now. Hope you’ve enjoyed following me on my journey and hopefully the GHB22 will be as much fun as the GHB21 one! Now where is that book?!

— Declan

Just a quick Postscript – we’ve started a Patreon page for the site to help pay the hosting costs. No benefits yet, so we’ve started it at just £1 a month if you like what we write. If it goes well, we may expand the offerings on it. However, you can also support us by reading our articles, telling your mates and posting on social media. Cheers and have a great new GHB season.

Games Workshop

Tournament Preparation – Hampshire GT

April 8, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 1 Comment

Big Waaagh list with Kragnos

After an incredible run ended at Quest of Champions, I’ve decided to take a fun army to Hampshire GT this weekend. But… I couldn’t bring myself to leave the Big Waaagh behind yet. So, I searched the book for something new to add and didn’t need to look far. I’d recently painted some new models so they were top of my list. The good news is that they are likely to be fun.

Peter A has also released some great advice on Big Waaagh in his latest blog post over on Plastic Craic (*).

Kragnos / Kraggy!

I’ve covered his painting a little in a Hobby update, having painted him to gaming standard last year, struggled with the old warscroll, and only finished him last month when Tom wanted to borrow him.

His new Warscroll is giving him a new lease of life and seeing so many of them at Quest of Champions last weekend has convinced me to give him a go.

Man-Skewer Bolt Boyz

Also covered in their own Hobby Update, these were painted for Peter at Battle of the Burning Skies but unfortunately he didn’t get to it so the ladz have been languishing on my painting shelf staring at my Gitz! The other Big Waaagh lists last weekend both brought 6 of these, but with Kraggy there aren’t that many points spare, so I’ve brought only 3 of them for a little fun sniping.

The List – Big Waaagh!

Allegiance: Big Waaagh!
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs:

Leaders
Kragnos, The End of Empires (720)*
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– General
– Command Trait: Touched by the Waaagh!
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
– Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Wurrgog Prophet (150)*
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry

Battleline
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)*
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)*
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers

Units
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*
– Jagged Gore-hackas
3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)*

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 122
Drops: 1

Battle Regiment or Warlord?

This was perhaps my most difficult decision – Each battalion gave different benefits and would both be viable choices, but in the end I went for the Battle Regiment and the 1 drop. With Kragnos in the army I think I need to know who is going first (or a 50/50 if I meet a fellow one-drop), because against anything with Mortal Wound shooting I can deploy Kraggy at the back next to the Warchanter – and go for the teleport.

9″ charge of 3D6 with a re-roll has a very good chance of hitting home. Sure if my opponent also has screens I’m in all sorts of trouble but that’s the fun of Kraggy.

The disadvantage here is that the Wurrgog is now on 6+ ward save, not the usual 4+ ward save so that he is very likely to kill himself. I’ll need to use him more as a 2 cast wizard for Mystic Shield onto Kraggy and using his Warscroll spell for any hordes I might face.

The Rulespack

Yes, I even read the rulespack and that was one of the reasons I decided to make the change to the army and bring something different.

Making Minor Wins / Minor Losses more likely is a great way to potentially break up the pack… and my Big Waaagh list tends to win or lose by small amounts meaning Major Wins are slightly more difficult under this rule for my usual army.

Kraggy either wins big…. or get’s shot by Sentinels / Longstrikes / Dragons so I may be able to avoid those Minor Wins. This rule also gives you something to play for if its a ‘guaranteed loss’ game… get close – get a minor win and 10 TPs (better than a defeat at 0 TPs).

If you’re going as well, come and say hi – I’ll be rolling dice on the bottom tables likely, but I’m sure Kragnos will make it fun whilst I do so!

— Declan

(*) Actually I wrote this before his article was released, but it’s great fun to ‘blame’ PlasticCraic for this car crash of a list! Wish me a lot of luck.

Games Workshop

3 Big Waaagh! Lists – Quest of Champions

March 31, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 3 Comments

This weekend I am off to Sanctuary Gaming for Quest of Champions (Heat 2), hosted by the people of Warrior Lodge.

I was fortunate enough to play Baz & Thomas at the Dazmaul Wargaming event a few weekends ago, and a lot of the Age of Chumps club have booked tickets for this event, so it promises to be a fun event.

The lists are being submitted via BCP (Best Coast Pairings) app and have been released today… and there are 3 Big Waaagh lists! Hurrah!

One is mine, and repeated last for convenience, but it’s great to see two others – completely different – being run as well. The thing I like about Big Waaagh lists is the variety available – sure mine is Ironjawz mostly, but it’s great seeing what others have and now – for the first time since switching to them – there are others playing them at the same tournament as me.

Orruk Warclan Book from Games Workshop – where you can find the Big Waaagh Allegiance.

Alex – Big Waaagh!

Allegiance: Big Waaagh!
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat
Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180)*
– Artefact: Mork’s Eye Pebble
– Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un
Wurrgog Prophet (150)**
– Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105)**
– Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex
Orruk Megaboss (140)**
– General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Lore of the Weird – Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
– Lore of the Weird: Bash ‘Em Ladz

Battleline
15 x Orruk Ardboys (255)***
– Reinforced x 2
10 x Orruk Ardboys (170)***
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Orruk Brutes (160)
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 1x Gore Choppas

Units
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*
– Jagged Gore-hackas
6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)**
– Reinforced x 1
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)***
– Jagged Gore-hackas

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Warlord
***Hunters of the Heartlands

Total: 1970 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 151
Drops: 12

Alex has brought in Kruleboyz and range threat with the 6 Man-Skewer Boltboyz. They have the ability to shoot at up to 24″ something that my list doesn’t have. They are backed up by a Swampcalla Shaman who will be able to make the Boltboyz cause mortal wounds on a 5 or 6 to hit. They have 7 shots (2 damage) at 24″ range so that’s on average 4 mortal wounds – not a high amount, but within 12″ that suddenly becomes 13 shots with the same mortal wound chance – or 8 mortal wounds – good bye small characters.

He’s taken the Wurrgog Prophet with Glowin’ Tatooz to give him a 4+ ward in possibly the best single model in a Big Waaagh! list. He can stare at a unit within 12″ and do mortal wounds until they die (or he does!!) Beware of going near him as he needs over 14 successful wounds to kill him!

For the rest of the army Alex has taken hitty, hitty things mostly from the Ironjawz side of the book. The two Warchanters allow Violent Fury (+1 Damage) to keep coming and ensure the important +2 Waaagh points per turn, and the Orruk Megaboss can hit if need be – but he’s also a budget spell caster with the Hand of Gork for useful movement shenanigans. His troops are 2 x 3 Gore Gruntas which I would guess are either for shielding other units, or charging in early for extra Waaagh points and some early damages, and 25 Ardboyz (15 and 10).

Their profile isn’t anything to write home about (3/4+/3+/-/1) but with Waaagh points they are quickly 3+/2+ and Violent Fury can get them to 2 damage as well. Ignore them at your peril… and if you don’t a Rally works on a 4+ – if you go in, make sure you kill them. The hitty stuff is rounded off with 5 Orruk Brutes with Jagged Gore-Hackas for the -2 rend. Once again with Violent Fury these guys can put a dent in anything – up to and including a Mega Gargant – so can’t be ignored. Of course their Bravery is a problem but I imagine Alex will be keeping back some Inspiring Presence for them if the need arises. And he’s finishing it all off with a Mirebrute on Troggoth – this thing can swing, get damaged, and swing with more! It’s great a number one target for a lot of armies meaning the rest of the force is left alone to do it’s stuff.

What a great army, and certainly different from the one I’m running. Great to see the Kruleboyz making an appearance as well. Good Luck Alex!

Mike – Big Waaagh!

Mike caught me at March to War where my Big Waaagh had their first outing and we spent some time discussing what else was possible… well he’s certainly brought something different.

Allegiance: Big Waaagh!
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Wurrgog Prophet (150)*
– Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (280)*
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat
Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (315)**
– Artefact: Mork’s Eye Pebble
– Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un
Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105)**
– Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex
Orruk Warchanter (115)**
– General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
– Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork

Battleline
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)**
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)***
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*

Units
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)***
– Jagged Gore-hackas
6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)***
– Reinforced x 1

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Warlord
***Hunters of the Heartlands

Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Artefact

Total: 1980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 130
Drops: 11

With slightly fewer wounds than Alex or me, you may be thinking this army is easier to beat, but you’d be wrong. Mike has gone for the 6 Bolt Boltboyz and a Swampcalla Shaman as well so has ranged output – in today’s Age of Sigmar a real boon – and a Wurrgog Prophet with Glowin’ Tatooz (I mean, it’s in the book for a reason!!); but he then starts to have some differences… and some of them are big!

The Warchanter is the Wizard with Hand of Gork – remember it can teleport friendly units – which leaves Mike with enough points to take not one, but two monsters. And they’re both Kruleboyz!

Gobsprakk is the first option as the Mouth of Mork. He is definitely anti-wizard doing damage on a successful dispel and being able to dispel once on a 3D6 for that critical spell, on that critical turn. With the +1 from Waaagh points normally gained in turn 2 this makes him great at dispelling and may even convince some opponents not to cast at all – a win/win! Sure he’s a little easy to kill if the opponent charges him, but there’s loads of screens.

The second monster is a Sludgeraker… so those Boltboyz are doing 3 mortal wounds for each 6 rolled. Sure, there’s no rerolls like Sentinels so you can’t go fishing, but it’s a great output and can be used on an ‘Unleash Hell’ – so be careful charging anywhere near those Boltboyz. I’ve only fought one once and have an unassembled one upstairs – they are lovely models and – whilst expensive – they can also fight themselves. Having two monsters makes Monstrous Takeover almost a given, and can even get some bonus points from Savage Spearhead (with Fast Un he’s quick) and using the Warchanter or Swampcalla to get Furious Advance with Monsters – great for those extra points which can be key to victory.

Outside characters, Mike has resisted any temptation to try out the Gutrippaz who are over-costed and has gone for 2 x 5 Ardboys for screening / objective control and 10 Brutes for smashing – you can guess when you get near where the Violent Fury is going.

The army is rounded off by a unit of 3 Gore Gruntas who are great fun for a turn 1 strike is an opponent deploys poorly – with Violent Fury, Mighty Destroyers, move 9″ and charge they can make a mess turn 1, or make your opponent consider taking the first turn and wasting it. A great addition.

It’ll be great to catch-up with Mike & Alex at the event and I wish them both luck – it’ll be great to see different Big Waaagh lists piloted at events.

And, just for completeness my list:

Declan – Big Waaagh!

Allegiance: Big Waaagh!
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs:

Leaders
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: Fast ‘Un
– Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Wurrgog Prophet (150)*
– Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat

Battleline
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers

Units
4 x Ironskull’s Boyz (80)***
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)*

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Hunters of the Heartlands
***Ironjawz Fist

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 148
Drops: 11

It’s mostly Ironjawz, but with the Wurrgog. I’ve gone for the Maw Krusha because of his threat – it’s monstrous – and then hitty models… lots of hitty models.

You can find out how it works elsewhere on Woehammer, so I won’t repeat myself! Just check out some of my other articles on it.

Good luck to all the other players this weekend as well – especially my fellow Chumps!

— Declan

Games Workshop

Tournament Review – Burning Skies

March 28, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 6 Comments

2,000 point, 3 game Age of Sigmar Tournament, 27th March 2022

This was a local tournament just the other side of Northampton run by Savage Hammer and Greetings from the Warp as their first AoS tournament in a while. As a local event we managed to get an Age of Chumps invasion team going, and it was great to see everyone again in one place.

It was a small event with 20 players including some people attending their first tournaments. It’s great to see new people in the hobby enjoying themselves and scrapping for that win (or the wooden spoon!)

I took Big Waaagh! with me and the same list as I have used for the last two tournaments. (Chumpionship, Raging Rivers GT, and Dazmaul AoS)

Big Waaagh!

– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line

Leaders
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: Fast ‘Un
– Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Wurrgog Prophet (150)*
– Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat

Battleline
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers

Units
4 x Ironskull’s Boyz (80)***
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)*

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Hunters of the Heartlands
***Ironjawz Fist

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 148
Drops: 11

At Chumpionship I went 3-0 (1st) and at Raging Rivers 3-0 (2nd), and a 5-0 (1st) at Dazmaul, and the Big Waaagh were definitely running well. At some point the winning / undefeated streak would end, so, again, I was aiming for a 2-1.

Game 1 v Rhys (Flesh Eater Courts) – Apex Predators – Major Win

Rhys is one of the club, Age of Chumps, and has been playing Fyreslayers recently, but he switched to Flesh Eater Courts to bring a 5 Terrorgheist list along to this tournament…! A boy was it scary from across the table.

Rhys gave me first turn and I was fairly conservative in my opening, not going for any of the objectives with my heroes and pushing out my army. The only exception being the Gore Gruntas, who had Mystic Shield and Violent Fury and went charging into one of the Terrorgheists! I did 12 wounds, and left it on 2 wounds left. I quickly lost 2 Gore Gruntas to the screaming in Rhys’ turn whilst a unit of Ardboyz lost a model to his general. He charged in a Terrorgheist into the Ardboyz, bringing in a unit of Brutes behind them, and the other Terrorgheist stayed in combat with the remaining Gore Grunta.

I lost some Ardboyz, but the Gore Grunta proved his worth and killed his Terrorgheist, whilst the Brutes killed the one that had inadvertently charged them.

Rhys won priority, and gained 2 objectives, completing battle tactics and 3 points from, ‘1 / 2 / more’ but he lost another Terrorgheists charging into another Ardboys / Brutes combo on my right, although I did lose 5 Brutes! In my turn 2 I chose Bring it Down, and my Maw Krusha engaged the final ‘normal’ Terrorgheist, killing it. I still had no objectives as I had killed the leader on the objective with stomp, so not with a Melee attack.

I won priority into turn 3, gave it to Rhys and destroyed the objective held by his general meaning he couldn’t get onto an objective this turn; he went for Broken Ranks, but failed to kill the Brutes near him, whilst I took 2 objectives (Aggressive Expansion), and killed another of his support heroes.

Using a summoned unit, Rhys completed Savage Spearhead in my turn, charged my Warchanter, killed it with Stomp, and then pile-in into the Wurrgog!

Unfortunately, that stopped Rhys getting a point for the objective, and then the Wurrgog stared at the General, for a few wounds, everyone else moved out of the way whilst the Maw Krusha barrelled in and Slew the Warlord… that was game!

In turn 3 Paul had to teleport his Skink block to get an objective leaving his Engine and 3 characters alone; and I caught them and killed them

Game 3 v Dan (Maggotkin of Nurgle) – The Vice – Major Win

We started Vice with Furious Advance, and not a lot of movement from me, whilst Dan advanced quickly towards my army. He brought his general on the board edge, and charged a unit of Ardboyz to start the disease racking up.

Dan won priority for turn 2, took Savage Spearhead and charged onto my objective on my left… taking it although the Brutes did some damage and didn’t take too much back. In return I selected Slay the Warlord at the Wurrgog was within 12″ of the Lord of Afflictions… one dead Lord later and the Wurrgog still very much alive. I got the objective back, by bringing a Warchanter onto the objective.

Dan won priority 3, took conquer and got the objective back again, only for me to bring the Maw Krusha in and kill a battleline! Still one point behind, but Dan was running out of models.

I then won a priority, and took out half of his remaining army charging on my right, and bringing the Maw Krusha up for a cheeky charge on one of the Beasts. Everything in combat died and Dan was forced to try to get 2 units causing disease in combat to the Maw Krusha. Unfortunately he failed, I grabbed Savage Spearhead for my final turn.

The question around the room, was who was going to play the Dragon/Fulminator list!

Game 3 v Ash (Lumineth Realm Lords) – Marking Territories – Draw

I have never played Marking Territories, as it is not often selected by tournament organisers, and I can see why. It doesn’t have VPs and has an auto-win condition (hold all objectives). Unfortunately that made it a cagey game, with Teclis and the Sentinels trying to chew through my army quickly enough for grab all the objectives, and me trying to survive.

Turn 1 and Teclis did 24 mortal wounds to my army through the spell portal (ouch!) and set up all the defences. The Sentinels hit a unit of Ardboyz. My Gore Gruntas charged a unit of Wardens but only killed 8 (despite Violent Fury), meaning they ‘grew’ back with Emerald Lifeswarm throughout the game. I unfortunately failed Hand of Gork with Teclis outside 30″.

Turn 2, and Teclis shuffled forward for Monstrous Takeover, whilst the Sentinels finished the Ardboyz on my right. I took Furious Advance, and failed Hand of Gork again… no damage done!

Turn 3, I won priority and gave it to Ash, destroying one of his objectives. I did this more so that Ash couldn’t… I was running out of wounds! Ash selected Broken ranks, but only did 10 wounds to a unit of Ardboyz, I had 4 ward saves… and made one! Ash has failed a Battle Tactic which could mean the difference here as it didn’t look like either of us was getting the Major. I took Monstrous takeover and moved the Maw Krusha forward a little… I did succeed in Hand of Gork this time and moved the Wurgogg behind the Sentinels within 12″ in case I got the priority.

Turn 4, and I did get the priority, however the Wurrgog was clearly tired from the previous games and only killed 7 sentinels before dying… boo! I did get my Battle Tactic (Wait for It Ladz), so I was 4-2 up… but Ash made up for his Broken Ranks failure and killed the Maw Krusha (Bring it Down) with the Sentinels doing one more wound than required! So 4-3…

Turn 5, and back to Ash with the priority giving his Furious Advance and killing unit of Brutes. I went for Broken Ranks on the Sentinels (the only ones I could reach), had to use 2 command points for Mighty Destroyers leaving a 10″ charge… failed and it was a draw which was a fair result.

Results

With 2-1-0 I was still unbeaten, and thanks to my first two games I was slightly ahead of Ash on the secondary score (VPs), so was fortunate enough to grab 3rd place! So 1st, 2nd, 1st, 3rd with Big Waaagh! Never been on a hot run like this before.

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to Savage Hammer and Greetings from the Warp for organising! I’ll definitely be back.

This event was sponsored by Sarah at SCN Hobbies, who also provides Peter & me with our toys at a 25% discount – which you can get too by asking to join the mailing list.

Chumps ride again!

The Chumps are off to Quest of Champions Heat 2 next weekend, which promises to have some difficult games – with a lot of people going to AoS Worlds (Prague, May) attending! It’ll be great to see how we all get on, and maybe we’ll get some more friendly fire and be drawn against each other again.

— Declan

If you want to read more Tournament Reviews we have a page listing them

Games Workshop

Tournament Review – Dazmaul Wargaming

March 22, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 5 Comments

2,000 point, 5 game Age of Sigmar Tournament, 19th & 20th March ’22

With COVID restrictions reducing more people are starting to run tournaments, so when I spotted Dazmaul Wargaming were running an event locally to me I signed up straight away. The date was then clashed with an event at Warhammer World but as this event was local I stuck with my original choice!

Dazmaul Wargaming are a great bunch of lads, or run a small youtube channel, so go check them out:

The gents talk about their plans!

I took Big Waaagh! with me and the same list as I have used for the last two tournaments. (Chumpionship and Raging Rivers GT)

Big Waaagh!

At Chumpionship I went 3-0 (1st) and at Raging Rivers 3-0 (2nd) so I was hopeful that I would be able to get a cheeky 4-1 and complete a Hobby Goal early in 2022.

Game 1 v Paul (Seraphon) -First Blood – Major Win

I had recently played Paul at Purple Sparkly Unicorns event at Element Games with a similar Seraphon list. Paul uses Kroak and a block of 30 Skinks who get all the buffs. Because of the recent Battlescroll changes to Salamanders (give up an extra VP) Paul swapped his Salamanders for an Engine of the Gods (not a bad unit to be able to tag in)!

The Dazmaul tournament was being played on 6’x4′ tables which took a little time to get used to – not least that easy turn 1 charges (with Gore Gruntas for example) became more difficult to achieve. It also meant that Kroak had to advance slightly more than normal leaving a suspicious Brutes size hole behind him!

Paul took turn 1, did a little damage and set up to take a charge, whilst I teleported Brutes behind Kroak but failed the charge.

Brutes with Violent Fury (+1 Damage) fail 9″ charge into Kroak.

Fortunately I won the second turn, and had the Maw Krusha join the Brutes near Paul’s table edge. Brutes charged into Kroak and the Saurus Guard and Maw Krusha charged the Realmchanger – but failed to destroy it.

I called the Waagh, Killed a unit of Saurus who had been summoned turn 1 and left the General on 1 wound. Unfortunately I failed to kill Kroak as Paul rolled an 8 on 3D6 to have him not pop (he needed a 10 to die)

But… I had Paul pinned back and not a lot left with Brutes coming in as well for turn 3. His Engine of the Gods did roll a triple 6 (double all attacks for the army (!) which meant the Brutes behind Kroak mostly died, and Kroak retreated. The Engine charged the MawKrusha and did a lot of wounds with double attacks, but I survived and killed the Slaan general.

In turn 3 Paul had to teleport his Skink block to get an objective leaving his Engine and 3 characters alone; and I caught them and killed them with the 2nd unit of Brutes allowing the Maw Krusha to catch Kroak.

Game 2 v Baz (Morathi) – Apex Predators – Minor Win

Baz was paying attention to TTT results as they came in and worked out that we would play each other… Morathi and the Bow Snakes on Apex Predators is my worst match up as I don’t have a consistent way of killing Morathi quickly… oh dear!

Knowing that my usual sit back approach wouldn’t work I went for a turn 1 charge with Brutes (teleport) and Gore Gruntas into the Shadowstalkers but failed them both leaving the two units in a lot of trouble!

Baz teleported little Morathi onto one objective to start racking up points from turn 2, and killed the Brutes and Gore Gruntas with Morathi taking the middle objective for no damage done.

Baz got the second turn and the racking up of points continued, whilst in my turn 2 Ironskulz Boys charged little Morathi and did 3 wounds, whilst the Maw Krusha took the third objective.

3 damage on little Morathi as I try to start the clock!

I went first into turn 3, which meant Baz removed my objective. I did 3 wounds on big Morathi with the Wurrgog and destroyed the 5 spear-snakes with Maw Krusha. I also teleported 10 Brutes behind his lines and killed his general. I left my Big Stabbas so that Morathi could charge them and keep the objective, in the hope I could do three wounds in Baz’s turn. Baz took Broken Ranks on the Brutes, and shot them so only 2 were left, setting the 10 snakes up for the charge… which he forgot to do – failing the Battle Tactic. I owe him a rematch!

My turn 4 and Wurgogg finished off Morathi giving me the middle objective and leaving Baz with no heroes. This allowed me to sneak back to a 18-18 draw, but I had completed all my battle tactics and Baz had missed Broken Ranks – a Minor Win to me in the most fortunate of circumstances.

Game 3 v Kelvin (Soulblight Gravelords) – The Vice – Major Win

Kelvin had a Soulblight Gravelord list with 3 ambushing units (2 Blood Knights and a unit of 3 Vargheists, as well as Manfred. He gave me first turn, and I cast Hand of Gork on some Brutes, with Violent Fury, and charged them into the 40 Zombies… they died! Whilst this was a reasonable start for body reduction it’s only 230 points and half could automatically come back, which they did!

The Vargheists came on ambush to attack my Big Stabbas but missed the charge, whilst Manfred bravely charged the Brutes. He survived, just, but would spend much of the rest of the game healing in a corner.

I kept up the steamroller, killing the Dire Wolves with the Gore Gruntas, whilst I consolidated my two objectives. I just failed to capture one of Kelvin’s. His 2nd turn saw the Blood Knights turn up and charge… straight into the Maw Krusha. He did his thing, stood his ground and killed 4 of them, but Kelvin had won the objective giving him an early lead.

I won turn 3, and counter charged the Blood Knights killing them all whilst the Gore Gruntas and Brutes took out Zombies on Kelvin’s objective; which he couldn’t take back as Manfred was still healing.

Turn 4, and the centre objective became active, but I parked most of my army on it, and killed the Skeletons leaving Kelvin with very little left to get points. The 6×4 made a difference again, with the Skeletons in particular struggling to make an impact with their small movement.

Game 4 v Johnny (Idoneth Deepkin) – Tooth and Nail – Major Win

Johnny was using the new IDK rules and flipped the tides so he would strike first in turn 2… unfortuantely the board made it impossible for him to reach me in turn 2 as he set up defensively and then couldn’t reach me. I just hid on my home objective whilst Ardboyz and Ironskulls Boyz held the 2 neutral objectives for 2 turns (after some poor shooting), getting me ahead in points.

This meant his Thralls didn’t see combat, and I got to charge his Turtle and Eidolon in the last turns to grab some Kill Points. We chatted afterwards and agreed that Johnny was a little too conservative and scared of the Maw Krusha… although it would have made a mess being amongst his units turn 2 with strike first would likely have killed it had I charged. Hopefully Johnny will get a better chance next time we meet.

Game 5 v Tom (Slaves to Darkness) – Feral Foray – Major Win

Being in the lucky position of having reached my target of 4 wins I could relax into game 5… although with Archaon on the board it would be interesting! Another big God model. Tom & my game was also recorded by The Hobby Room and you can find it here:

This was a game of manoeuvre and counter-manoeuvre with not a lot of fighting, but a great game!

Tom gave me turn 1, and I moved up the Gore Gruntas and teleported a unit of Brutes in the hope of capturing one of his objectives. The Gore Gruntas made it, but the Brutes sadly failed so I killed the Spawn but Tom kept the objective. In his turn Archaon teleported into my territory and he took one of my objectives with a Varanguard unit. Unfortunately for him he failed a charge with Archaon but it didn’t make a difference to the scoring.

Archaon’s dice of fate showed that Tom went first turn 2, and he killed my Big Stabbas on the right, consolidated the objective on my left and destroyed it. Archaon didn’t charge this time, but by choice! His minions could do the job. I charged Brutes into Varanguard with Violent fury but only did 6 wounds (!) leaving them with 2 models and still in combat. This did have a small advantage in that it gave me extra Waaagh points. Meanwhile the Maw Krusha teleported onto Tom’s left and took an empty objective, also burning it; although failing a charge attempt into the Iron Golems.

Archaon gave Tom turn 3, allowing me to destroy my own centre objective and leaving only 3 objectives on the table; one of which I held with a lot of Brutes, and a Wurrgog. So Tom teleported Archaon and tried to charge the MK (as he could charge and keep the objective), but failed the charge. I then teleported the MK to Tom’s right most objective, used Fast Un to be within 3″ of the Lord, charged, killed him, and burned the objective. It was dead level at 16-16 all! Would the priority decide it?

And… it went to Tom again. He picked Bring it Down, moved the Varanguard up to the MK allowing me to redeploy him… a 6!! This left Archaon with a 10″ charge after his 14″ move – the big tables came to my rescue again, and Archaon failed the charge, and the Varanguard chose not to go in on their own. Tom had failed a battle tactic though, so a door was open. All I need to do was succeed in Hand of Gork – thanks to Touched by the Waaagh it worked, and I teleported back to my last hime objective, gaining Monstrous Takeover and spread out the army to stop Archaon teleporting and charging in his turn.

Turn 5, and Tom killed the Wurrgog with Varanguard (after Archaon failed another charge roll, gaining him a StD Battle Tactic. In response I gained ‘Wait for it Ladz’ battle tactic, teleported the Maw Krusha again and picked up some kill points.

An incredibly close game, which Tom could easily have won with some different dice rolls. Thanks again to Ben & The Hobby Room for recording it – it was interesting to look back and sorry the Wurrgog never got to stare in this game!

Results

I had finished 5-0 which is my first 5-0 ever in over 20 years of gaming, and makes it 11-0 in the last three tournaments with Big Waaagh! I almost think I should take a break with them, but I had to hand in a list for a local one-dayer before this event so they are playing next weekend too!

After the soft scores were added in, I also was fortunate enough to win the tournament, which is also my first 2 dayer win ever as well! A weekend of firsts.

Thank you for Dazmaul for hosting, and for all my opponents you were all gents. I hope to see you all again, and give you a chance for revenge against the teleporting Maw Krusha.

— Declan

If you want to read more Tournament Reviews we have a page listing them

Age of Sigmar, Army Lists, Fantasy, Peter Holland, Tournaments

Top Three AoS Lists from Dazmaul Wargaming 2022 – 19/20th March 2022

March 21, 2022 Peter Holland 1 Comment

Dazmaul Wargaming 2022 was a five game event that took place in Daventry, England on 19th and 20th March. It saw 26 players fight it out to be crowned champion.

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1st Declan Waters – Big Waaagh

Our very own Declan gets to feature in a top three after winning all five games beating Seraphon/Fangs of Sotek in Round 1, 2nd placed Baz Norman Jr and his Daughters of Khaine/Khailebron list in Round 2, Soulblight Gravelords/Legion of Night in Round 3, Idoneth Deepkin/Fuethan in Round 4 and 3rd placed Tom Wainwright and his Slaves to Darkness/Hosts of the Everchosen list in the last round.

Allegiance: Big Waaagh
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
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: Fast ‘Un
– Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Wurrgog Prophet (150)*
– Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat

Battleline
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers

Units
4 x Ironskull’s Boyz (80)***
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)*

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Hunters of the Heartlands
***Ironjawz Fist

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 148
Drops: 11

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2nd Baz Norman Jr – Daughters of Khaine

Baz managed an impressive four wins and one loss, losing against 1st placed Declan and his Big Waaagh list in Round 2. He beat Cities of Sigmar/Living City in Round 1, Daughters of Kahine/Hagg Nar in Round 3, Maggotkin of Nurgle/Drowned Men in Round 4 and Ironjawz/Bloodtoofs in Round 5.

Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine
– Subfaction: Khailebron
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumph: Inspired

Leaders
Morathi-Khaine(660)*
The Shadow Queen (660)*
Melusai Ironscale (115)*
– General
– Command Traits: Mistress of Illusion
– Artefacts of Power: Whisperdeath

Battleline
15 x Blood Stalkers (540)*
– Reinforced: Twice
10x Blood Sisters (280)*
– Reinforced: Once
5 x Blood Sisters (140)*

Other
9x Khainite Shadowstalkers (120)*
9 x Khainite Shadowstalkers (120)*

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total Points: 1975/2000

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3rd Tom Wainwright – Slaves to Darkness

Tom also managed to get four wins with a single loss during their weekend, losing to Declan in Round 5. Beating Soulblight Gravelords/Legion of Blood in Round 1, Ogor Mawtribes/Bloodgullet in Round 2, Maggotkin of Nurgle/Drowned Men in Round 3, and Maggotkin of Nurgle/Befouling Host in Round 4.

Allegiance: Hosts of the Everchosen
– Subfaction: Sixth Circle
– Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADERS
Archaon (860)*
– General
– Spell: Mask of Darness
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)*
– Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
– Artefact: Arcane Tome
– Spell: Mask of Darkness
Chaos Lord (120)*
– Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch

BATTLELINE
3x Varanguard (280)*
3x Varanguard (280)*
8x Iron Golems (75)*
5x Chaos Knights (170)*

UNITS
1x Chaos Spawn (55)*

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1975 / 2000

Tournament Placings

Player	Faction	Subfaction	W	D	L
Declan Waters	Big Waaagh!	None	5	0	0
Baz Norman Jr	Daughters of Khaine	Khailebron	4	0	1
Tom Wainwright	Hosts of the Everchosen	Sixth Circle	4	0	1
Matthew Bell	Lumineth Realm-Lords	Zaitrec	4	0	1
Alex Ireland	Maggokin of Nurgle	Befouling Host	4	0	1
Daniel Tadman	Daughters of Khaine	Hagg Nar	3	0	2
Tom Lawler	Maggotkin of Nurgle	Drowned Men	3	0	2
Paul Burrow	Seraphon	Fangs of Sotek	3	0	2
Mark Poole	Ironjawz	Bloodtoofs	3	0	2
Toby Thomas	Ogor Mawtribes	Bloodgullet	3	0	2
James Linford	Beasts of Chaos	None	3	0	2
Kelvin Makepeace	Soulblight Gravelords	Legion of Night	3	0	2
Paul Heath	Ogor Mawtribes	Boulderhead	2	1	2
Johnny Poyser	Idoneth Deepkin	Fuethan	2	0	3
Andrew Cook	Stormcast Eternals	Hammers of Sigmar	2	0	3
Cal Everitt	Kruleboyz	Big Yellers	2	0	3
Marc Potter	Stormcast Eternals	Hammers of Sigmar	2	0	3
Alex Hamilton	Cities of Sigmar	Living City	2	0	3
Jack Hunter	Ossirach Bonereapers	Petrifex Elite	2	0	3
Tom Care	Soulblight Gravelords	Legion of Night	2	0	3
Barney Copper	Cities of Sigmar	Hammerhal	2	0	3
Jonathon Barlow	Soulblight Gravelords	Legion of Blood	1	1	3
Steve Hampshire	Seraphon	Dracothion’s Tail	1	0	4
Dan Smart	Ogor Mawtribes	Bloodgullet	1	0	4
Neil Bowden	Stormcast Eternals	Hammers of Sigmar	1	0	4
Daz Maul	Soulblight Gravelords	Legion of Blood	0	0	5

Games Workshop

Tournament Review – Raging Rivers GT

March 6, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 5 Comments

2,000 point, 3 game Age of Sigmar Tournament, 5th March 2022

On 5th March 2022, Rob Symes (of Honest Wargamer fame) ran another of his one dayer tournaments at his place in Nottingham. This is a great venue with 8 tables and plenty of space around each table meaning that the Vice doesn’t cause any issues! (Not that we played it). There is also lots of big scenary pieces with impassable and a better version of obscuring to make shooting more difficult. There are also some large garisonable buildings, but you can’t garrison into or out of combat.

You can check out Rob on Twitch & YouTube as well.

Once again, I took my Big Waagh list which was identical to the list I took to Chumpionship last weekend.

Big Waaagh!

– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs:

Leaders
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: Fast ‘Un
– Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Wurrgog Prophet (150)*
– Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat

Battleline
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers

Units
4 x Ironskull’s Boyz (80)***
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)*

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Hunters of the Heartlands
***Ironjawz Fist

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 148
Drops: 11

After my success last weekend – going 3-0 and picking up first place – I was hoping for a 2-1 here… although the draw would affect this.

Game 1 v David (Stormcast) – Power Struggle – Won 19-1

David brought a Stormcast list that he had collected through the Mortal Realms magazine and this was his first tournament. David later got his first tournament win as well – Congratulations to him.

David’s Army – Stormcast armies are small in model count now!

This meant he had the Longstrikes with Relictor and Translocation (teleport on 2+, re-rollable) so he had output. He also brought and Imperatant, Bastian Carthalos, Fulminators, 2 x 5 Vindictors, and 6 (!) Annihilators.

He started with the Annihilators and Fulminators off the board and decided to take the first turn.

I zoned out my deployment zone and heavily weighted my left flank (after re-deploy)
The Relictor is hiding behind the large Realm Gate in David’ deployment

Because the Maw Krusha could reach the Longstrikes turn 1, David took the first turn, moved the right hand (my view) Vindictors moved onto the central objective, and the other Vindictors moved up to protect the Longstrikes. The Longstrikes didn’t shoot in the hero phase, but in the shooting phase killed two of the Gore Gruntas. In my first turn I gave a unit of Brutes Violent Fury, then cast Hand of Gork successfully and teleported the Brutes onto the empty objective. This left them within 9″ of the Relictor! I charged; rolled the 9 and killed the Relictor.

Turn 2, I got the double turn, Hand of Gorked a Warchanter to the Brutes in David’s deployment zone, and then charged the world! Brutes into the centre, Brutes into Longstrikes and Maw Krusha into Vindictors and Imperatant. They killed everything, leaving David with only Bastian on the board, who did 3 mortal wounds on the Maw Krusha, charged him and did another 10 wounds to it. The Maw Krusha then Krush’d him back. Meanwhile the Annihilators dropped onto my back left objective and took it back, killing a Warchanter and some Ardboyz but leaving them within 12″ of the Wurrgog.

David got third turn priority, took it and I destroyed the objective under the Annihilators. They finished off the Ardboyz, and the Fulminators dropped, but failed their charge after shooting off some more Ardboyz. Wurrgog stared down 4 Annihilators and the Maw Krusha headed back to my board side. Unfortunately, David was out of the game at this point, but he did get Savage Spearhead, and I failed Broken Ranks with a charging Maw Krusha which meant David got 1 tournament point. A great game, which would have been very different if I hadn’t got the double turn into 2.

Game 2 v Thomas Waller (Flesh Eater Courts) – Apex Predators – Won 13-7

Thomas & I have been to a lot of tournaments in the last 6 months, but not played against each other, so it was great to get a game. He brought his FEC with 2 Terrorgheists and a Zombie Dragon and lots of summoning!

The Big Beasties from Thomas’ Army. He also has 3 x 10 Ghouls!

I struggle with Apex Predators, because I don’t like putting my Warchanters & Wurrgog in the middle of danger. Thomas asked me to go first and I got Hand of Gork off again. Getting a 12″ charge I had a choice between the two small casters or a Terrorgheist. Because one of the casters was in cover, I went for the Terrorgheist and killed it. Thomas’ revenge was swift – his Zombie Dragon took one of the objectives, he summoned lots of units including a Vargulf near another objective. His other Terrorgheist took off the Brutes in his deployment. A fair swap I think!

I won Priority turn 2, but gave it to Thomas as he wasn’t set up to benefit hugely and his Zombie Dragon was effectively ‘stuck’ on the objective. His Vargulf took another objective and the Terrorgheist moved towards the centre. Quick turn but Top was 10-3 up now! Time to strike! The Maw Krusha trigged Fast Un and Mighty Destroyers to give me a charge on the Varghulf – I succeeded and he died, giving me the objective. The rest of my army cleared out some of the screens including the Ardboyz charging the centre Ghouls protected by the Terrorgheist in order to get me to 16 Waagh Points (+1 to hit). I was 10-6 down, but all to play for.

Thomas won priority 3, took it and I destroyed the objective which the Zombie Dragon was holding, this freed him up and he took the centre objective whilst the Terrorgheist went hunting my Wurgogg and Warchanters, who were guarded by a unit of Ardboyz. The Terrorgheist took a lot of damage, but killed the Ardboyz, and did some damage on the characters. Unfortunately Thomas forgot he had a Varghulf available to summon. My turn three, and the Wurrgog stared at the Zombie Dragon leaving it on three wounds. My Maw Krusha left his objective and charged the Zombie Dragon killing it, whilst the Warchanter killed the Terrorgheist – upon death it did 2 wounds to the Brutes and both Warchanters… killing both Warchanters (Thomas deliberately played for this – it was great to see)! So with only one character left for me, and Thomas having 2 who couldn’t dislodge the Maw Krusha plus a summons it was very tight. (11-13)

Turn four, Thomas won the Priority but was struggling with Battle tactics – the Varghulf came on ready for turn 5. I killed a unit of Ghouls whilst retaining the centre objective to take the lead (16-13). Turn five saw me win Priority getting me ‘hold one, hold more’ whilst Thomas moved the Varghulf to gain the 2nd objective in his turn. A very close 23-17!

Cheers to Thomas for the game – it was great to play eventually although I was glad it wasn’t against one of his Destruction armies, the FEC were still difficult to get over in this mission. Maw Krusha & Wurrgog once again shared model of the match for me!

Game 3 v Charles (Beasts of Chaos) – Feral Foray – Won 11-9

Charles (Twitter name Colonel Cabbage) is well known in the UK tournament scene but we’ve never played. He brought an old struggling army, but one which had just got the White Dwarf treatment… Beasts of Chaos. I was interested to see what they could do, but also a bit anxious… lots of summoning and massive rend – with some huge monsters.

All around the Herdstone – but what a great army!

Charles had 3 x 3 Bullgors, 5 Doombulls, and 3 Ghorgon’s. Plus some supporting units. Each hero would turn into a spawn when it died (one a 2+) which can be put into combat… so there were a lot of wounds to get through. Added to that everything gets -1 rend in turns 1 & 2 and then -2 rend in turns 3+. This meant the Doombulls were on -4/-5 at the end of the battle… who needs mortal wounds! They’ll even slice through Bastiladons.

As far back as possible (maybe next time I’ll deploy a little further foward.

I had the choice of first turn as Charles has 17 drops, so not being used to this, I gave the turn to Charles. His Ungor raiders captured the middle objective and did some small shooting, chipping a few wounds here and there. I then charged with pretty much my whole army giving my 7 Big Waagh points by turn 2, giving my +1 to hit. Not surprisingly the Ungor raiders vanished in a puff of blood!

Charles won priority and charged in with the second line of attackers – the 3 Bullgor units, and a Ghorgon. The Ghorgon killed 5 Brutes (ouch) and could easily have killed more, whilst the Bullgors in the centre killed 5 Ardboyz. The Bullgors to left and right though fluffed completely doing 3 wounds in total to Ironskull’s Boyz and a unit of Ardboyz. The Brutes then killed the Ghorgon which had hurt them, and I did some wounds to the Bullgors. In my turn the Wurrgog did 10 wounds on one unit of Bullgors, whilst the Maw Krusha charged the ones in the centre, getting Broken Ranks. I had claered the next line out, and because I had killed a monster, was back to within a point (10-11)

Charles won priority, and I destroyed his objective on my right, whilst he brought in yet more ungors and Gor! There were almost litterally thousands of them! He was also getting -2 rend from now on… and it was sure to hurt. On came the Doombulls, supported by the Jaberslyth and one Ghorgon. They smashed into my lines killing 2 Gore Gruntas (and being unlucky not to kill a third) and some Brutes on my right. The Jaberslyth gave the Brutes an extra attack (but 1s would do mortals). After my attack the Jaberslyth was dead but so were 4 Brutes leaving one left (Brutal!). The Ghorgon on my right had to charge within 3″ of the brutes so the Ardboyz made way, and the Brutes killed the Ghorgon. He also took my left most objective with some Ungor Raiders.

In my turn 3, I counter charged, killed all the Doombulls and the Ungor Raiders. However I forgot the Spawn and one of them appeared on my unguarded right objective… oops!

Turn 4, and Charles moved his spawns to block me in between the three buildings, whilst yet more Gor appeared on my board edges. Some Ungor raiders re-took my objective despite me killing the Spawn, but couldn’t get within 1″ to destroy it; however Gor summoned in turn 3 destroyed my right-most objective. My Wurgogg killed one of the Spawn in the way allowing the Maw Krusha to charge off into Charles’ central objective killing his general and 3 ungor and taking the objective. There wasn’t a lot left and I was 21-22 behind… could I win a priority roll.

Well, no, Charles won it and took the turn. A summoned Gor unit took my central objective, burned it and gained a battle tactic (wow!), whilst his other units moved to ensure I couldn’t get his left objective. I fortunately still had a battleline alive (Brutes), and the Maw Krusha within 9″ of the Herdstone, so I walked to within 1″ of the objective and burned it. We were level at 27-27, but I had stopped Charles’ Grand Strategy giving me the narrowest of wins! (30-27)

I finished 3-0 in my second tournament in a row with Big Waaagh! They are doing a lot of heavy lifting and really fit my play style of sit back and wait. I still struggle to win ‘big’ in the 20-0 system because of the conservative approach but I prefer to take my Gitz to tournaments where this is primary.

I also picked up Best Sports which I am very happy with – it is after all the best trophy to win and the only other time I’ve won it at AOS3, is with Gitz.

Thanks to Rob, and I highly recommend his events – well run, great terrain, good location (and easy to get to).

— Declan

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Allegiance Abilities

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The Top Three AoS Lists

Final Tournament Placings

The List!

The Old…

The New…

The Ugly…

The Fast…

Da Plan

Postscript (added 10th July 2022)

1st Declan Waters – Big Waaagh

2nd Baz Norman Jr – Daughters of Khaine

3rd Tom Wainwright – Slaves to Darkness

Tournament Placings

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