This is the top three AoS lists for the Cake of Death tournament that took place in Vancouver, Canada on the 8th and 9th of April. 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.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Army Subfaction: Eternal Conflagration – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny
LEADER1 x Magister (120)* – Spells: Shield of Fate – Tunnel Master 1 x Kairos Fateweaver (440)* 1 x Fluxmaster (170)* – General – Command Traits: Daemonspark – Artefacts: The Eternal Shroud – Spells: Unchecked Mutation
BATTLELINE10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Pink Horror Hornblower – Split and Split Again 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Pink Horror Hornblower – Split and Split Again 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield 9 x Untamed Beasts (90)*
ENDLESS SPELL1 x Burning Sigil Of Tzeentch (60) 1 x Daemonic Simulacrum (70) 1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)
OTHER6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (360)*
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
So the last hurrah of Tzeentch before the Battlescroll update (which would actually knock this list up to 2030 points) and a refreshing list without a Krondspine!
While not being as summoning heavy as some Tzeentch lists have been recently, this list can still reliably have 10-15 fate points turn 1, just enough to throw some annoying Blue Horrors in the way and keeping them away from the juicier Pinks and/or wizards behind. The Untamed Beasts are handy to get that screen up early doors with their pre-game move. Kairos is lurking behind those screens, ready to throw out a fairly easy 10 – 15 mortal wounds.
The Enlightened are also lurking, with a potentially guaranteed 28″ move/charge with two Destiny Dice 6s. As a one-drop, Matt could more than likely give the turn away at the start of the game, guaranteeing that the Enlightened get the +1 to wound bonus for taking the bottom of the turn.
Add in some flexible Endless Spell support: Sigil to turn would-be chargers into spawn, keeping the enemy at arms’ length; Simulacrum to ruin any wizard’s day; Jaws to eat up Galletian Champions with their low movement, and you’ve got a great all-comers list that can take on and beat anything (even Gitz twice!)! Congratulations, Matt – can’t wait to see what you have cooking up for Tzeentch post Battlescroll.
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Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Subfaction: Glogg’s Megamob – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Dankhold Troggboss (200)* – General – Command Traits: Loonskin – Artefacts of Power: Glowy Howzit Skragrott, the Loonking (160)** – Spells: The Hand of Gork Madcap Shaman (70)** – Artefacts of Power: Moonface Mommet – Spells: Itchy Nuisance – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Alice: A real bruiser list and a nice departure from the usual squig spam in Gitz as of late. The Troggs are naturally the focus of this this list, and everything is build around supporting them. The General, a Dankhold Trogboss sits at the core of the Troggoth hordes granting +1 to Attack when using All Out Attack on one of the (many) Troggoth units. Their Loonskin command trait is a free faction endless spell which is definitel a nice perk. The Trogboss is decent in combat as well, with their artefact giving them a 4+ Ward.
Supporting them is Skragrott who is just in general one of the best Wizards in the game, and the Madcap Shaman to fill a cheap Galetian Champion and a good debuff piece with Itchy Nuisance to put Strike-Last on the opponent.
Rounding things off is the Sneaky Snufflers to grant a trogg unit a 5+ ward or +1 attack, and the Gobbapalooza to teleport the very slow Troggs where they need to go, in addition to a repertoire of buffs and debuffs to hand out.
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Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: Barak Nar – Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies – Triumphs: Inspired
KHARADRON CODE – Artycle: Settle The Grudges – Amendment: Prosecute Wars With All Haste – Footnote: There’s No Reward Without Risk
LEADERS Aetheric Navigator (85) * – Artefact: Voidstone Orb Arkanaut Admiral (125) * – General – Command Trait: Stormcaller – Artefact: Celestium Burst-grenade Brokk Grungsson Lord-Magnate of Barak-Nar (220) * Endrinmaster with Endrinharness (90) ** – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
BATTLELINE 10 x Arkanaut Company (100) *** – 1x Skypikes – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns 10 x Arkanaut Company (100) *** – 1x Skypikes – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns 9 x Endrinriggers (360) ** – Reinforced x 2 10 x Grundstok Thunderers (270) *** – 2x Aetheric Fumigators – 2x Decksweepers – 2x Aethercannons – 2x Grundstok Mortars – Reinforced x 1
BEHEMOTHS Arkanaut Frigate (300) – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon – Frigate Regittings: Magnificent Omniscope Arkanaut Frigate (300) – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon – Admiral’s Flagship
Alice: The Kharadron Overlords book is still working itself through its paces, which is an exciting time to see people try different things. Navigators are a solid auto include with their ability to half movement. The Admiral is essentially a free CP each turn with its free command to one of the Frigates, and between him and Brokk the list is rewarded whether it causes the ships to run and shoot or stay in place and shoot better. The Endrinmaster is a cheap support GC that can keep the ships maintained and kicking.
The rest of the list functions as you might expect. The Arkanauts are cheap workhorse infantry that are great at holding points, while Endrinriggers and Thunderers can shoot extremely well. The Arkanauts and Thunderers in the Sharpshooters can snipe out any pesky Galetian Champions to deny battle tactics while the Endrinriggers in Galetian Command can work as a team with the Endrinmaster.
The two ships function as both shooting and support, carting all these units around. While a lack of Ironclad is noticeable, the Frigate can bring solid firepower to bear and allow more room for more infantry to hold objectives.
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– Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Subfaction: Ironsunz – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! LEADERS Orruk Megaboss (140) – General – Command Traits: Hulking Brute – Artefacts of Power: Gryph-feather Charm Kragnos (720) Orruk Megaboss (140)* – Artefacts of Power: Destroyer – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Killa Beat BATTLELINE Orruk Ardboys (80)* – Ardboy Boss – Waaagh! Drummer – Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer – 2 x Orruk-forged Shield Orruk Ardboys (80)** – Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer – Waaagh! Drummer – Ardboy Boss – 2 x Orruk-forged Shield Orruk Brutes (300)** – Brute Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka – Boss Klaw & Brute Smasha – 2 x Gore-choppa Orruk Brutes (150)*** – Brute Boss – Brute Choppas – Gore-choppa – Boss Klaw & Brute Smasha Orruk Brutes (150)*** – Brute Boss – Brute Choppas – Gore-choppa – Boss Klaw & Brute Smasha CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord **Ironjawz Fist ***Ironjawz Fist TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000 Created with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The App
Brett: With the death of Bounty Hunters the Brutes have returned in a lot of lists. Pretty straight forward with 20 Brutes, MSU ardboyz for screening and objective holds, 2 megabosses and Kragnos. That’s right it’s Ironsunz with Kraggy – ready for 3d6 charges at the end of your charge phase? Potentially 2 units with the Megabosses issuing commands. Hulking Brute and Gryph-feather charm is a great combo, encourages you to charge (mostly in support of Kragnos) but you should survive the clap back. Destroyer and Tunnel Master is fun to.
The rarely seen Killa beat on a warchanter and the even rarer double IronJawz Fist battalion (free all out attack/defence). This army is all about the smash. Unfortunately Tzeetch cares not for the smash and Ogres smash hard. Any shootin’ or magic and this army is going to struggle (not that Meatfist has much shooting). 3 from 5 is a solid showing with Ironjawz and an example of what a move away from the Pigs brings. In the end though 4+ saves, Bravery 6 and a 1 damage weapon are starting to a look a little dated for an elite army.
This is the top three AoS lists for II CN – II GT de CAT that took place in Spain on the 25th and 26th of March. 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.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Krulghast Cruciator (150)** – General – Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon – Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox Guardian of Souls (150)* – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Spirit Torment (120)** Lord Executioner (130)** – Artefact: Tuskhelm (Galletian Champion) Veremord’s Shamblers – Corpse Cart with Balefire Brazier (180)**** – Allies
Battleline 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (360)*** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (360)*** – Reinforced x 1 3 x Spirit Hosts (130)* 10 x Chainrasps (110)* – Dreadwarden 10 x Chainrasps (110)* – Dreadwarden
Units 20 x Veremord’s Shamblers – Deadwalker Zombies (0)**** – Allies 2 x Chainghasts (90)* 4 x Myrmourn Banshees (100)*
Kel Pigg: A nighthaunt lists takes 5-0, while not an impossible task Nighthaunt have not been doing as well in this season as many originally believed they would so it’s great to see a strong performance.
Marc took a relatively standard Scarlet Doom list taking 40 Bladegheist revenants and having all the nighthaunt aura tech in play, offensives from the guardian of souls and the chainghasts and defensively from the cruxiator and the banshees, giving him the added benefit of being able to shrug off some of the more pesky spells.
Uniquely, though, Marc decided to bring out one of the new regiments of renown. This has been a hotly debated topic in nighthaunt for when this regiment is good, but looking at his list, Marc may be going for more of a counter strike playstyle. The regiment of renown for death gives you access to a corpse cart and some zombies. The corpse cart subtracts 1 from wound rolls within 9 and reduces enemy cast rolls by 1 within 18. But special to the regiment, the corpse cart also reduces the enemy ward and save rolls by 1 within 12 of it. Adding a nice bit of both offensive and defensive tech to a scarlet doom army. The only problem is that the corpse cart only has a movement of 4, meaning it’s needing 4+ runs just to keep up with the base movement of nighthaunt.
That’s why I believe Marc most likely let his opponent hit his line first, absorbed most of the damage with his cavalcade of defensive tech, and then, on his turn, really pushed back hard. His opponent matchup was mostly melee, so they would play into the strengths of this list, and personally, I believe it would be difficult to overcome. But all in all, Marc had an effective list using the new regiment and really showed off it’s potential.
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Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Army Subfaction: Blessed Sons – Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Orghotts Daemonspew (320) 1 x Lord of Plagues (140)* – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Gift of Disease – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Lord of Afflictions (230)* – General – Command Traits: Overpowering Stench – Incubatch – Dolorous Tocsin – Artefacts: The Splithorn Helm 1 x Be’lakor (355)* – Ally 1 x Bloab Rotspawned (320)** – Spells: Magnificent Buboes
Alice: A very interesting off-shelf model for Nurgle. Very Herohammer friendly, with only 20 infantry models these guys are hoping to win through magical might.
Blightkings are resiliant enough, and Orghotts, the Lord of Afflictions and Lord of plagues can fight alongside them very well. Bloab and the Rotmire Creed offer support from the rear, peppering opponents with debuffs and Disease Points.
Be’lakor is here to do what he always does: Shut down the enemy’s most powerful tool for a turn (possibly two if they get a double) and then scrap with the rest if they can. Even if they fail to do significant damage, pinning down a major threat is reward enough.
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Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Army Subfaction: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Kairos Fateweaver (440)* 1 x Curseling (180)* – General – Command Traits: Cult Demagogue – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Shield of Fate – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Magister (120)* – Spells: Glimpse the Future – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
BATTLELINE 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Pink Horror Hornblower – Iridescent Horror – Split and Split Again 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Pink Horror Hornblower – Split and Split Again 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield
BEHEMOTH 1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)* – Allies
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Tome of Eyes (40) 1 x Shards of Valagharr (40)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
So it’s a Krondspine list, Jim, but not as we know it! The changes from the Kaleb inspired lists of previous weeks are that it’s Host Arcanum rather than Guild of Summoners, cutting out the Call for Change battle tactic (summoning a Lord of Change) but allowing for a variety of units to be summoned (probably Horrors still!). It also features a different Endless Spell, with Shards of Valagharr being a useful tech piece to slow the enemy down if they try to go around the Incarnate to get to you.
In terms of other spells, The Curseling has Shield of Fate that they can cast on a double, or two Destiny Dice of the same value, and it can’t be unbound. Combined with the -1 to hit in melee on the Pinks from a Daemon character being in range, a 5+ ward can really increase the survivability of these screens. It might seem a small thing, but keeping those Pinks alive and standing on circles just drains the opponent of points, not only on the primary, but also with battle tactics as well. Add in a Krondspine pinning the enemy in place and you’ve got a recipe for victory.
In terms of opponents, Jordi clearly knows how to pilot his Tzeentch, taking out the Helon Lumineth Realm Lords boogeyman, Teclis and all, on the way to third place. Their only loss was to Marco’s second place list that you will find just above. Nice work, Jordi!
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Army Faction: Beasts of Chaos – Subfaction: Quakefray – Grand Strategy: Protect the Herdstone – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Doombull (160)** – General – Command Traits: Bestial Cunning – Artefacts of Power: Slitherwrack Helm – Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Beasts of Chaos Tzaangor Shaman (115)*** – Spells: Tendrils of Atrophy Great Bray-Shaman (95)**** – Artefacts of Power: Brayblast Trumpet – Spells: Tendrils of Atrophy Great Bray-Shaman (95)**** – Spells: Viletide Great Bray-Shaman (95)**** – Spells: Viletide
Alice: A powerful mix of hordes and elites. Tzaagors and Gors supported by a whopping a Tzaangor Shaman and a whopping three Great Bray Shaman. Hey at that cheap why not right? The gors hold a solid role as cannon fodder while Tzaangors can do the same, but actually put back a bit of bites
The Cygors and Doombull are the hammer, meant to come in once the enemy has tied themselves up with cheaper chaff. All in all an interesting approach to beasts.
These are the top AoS lists for Adepticon that took place in the USA on the 23rd and 24th of March. It involved 204 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
There was some controversy around the scoring for Adepticon, so we decided as a team to focus on all those lists that went undefeated or were in a tournament winning position (4 wins from 4 after round 4).
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Guild of Summoners – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)* – General – Command Trait: Arcane Sacrifice – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion Lord of Change (400)* – Artefact: Nine-Eyed Tome – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist Curseling, Eye of Tzeentch (180)* – Lore of Fate: Glimpse of Future – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Magister (120)** – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate
Battleline 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)** – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)** – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Tzaangors (180)** – 8x Pair of Savage Blade
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)** – Allies – Bound to Magister
Endless Spells & Invocations Umbral Spellportal (80) Purple Sun of Shyish (90) Burning Sigil of Tzeentch (60)
Kaleb returns with a variation on his LVO list. Kairos is replaced with a Lord of Change; the extra 40pts are then used to upgrade the Changecaster to a Curseling and to enable Kaleb to take Burning Sigil instead of Tome of Eyes to get the summoning train rolling. The list goes up from 2 drops to 4 drops to allow the Lord of Change to have a re-roll casts relic to practically guarantee that those casts will go off, most likely Umbral Spellportal and then the Warscroll spell for a consistent 6 mortal wounds or so a turn.
The reason that Umbral Spellportal is the key spell is so you can feed it to the Krondspine. How the combo works is that the Magister successfully casts their first spell and then uses the Destiny Dice to cast a second, with the double killing the Magister, sending the Incarnate wild. Spellportal can then be chucked out near the Krondspine’s charge target. Obviously another spell could be cast through it (or even move the Purple Sun through it) but the main job of the portal is for the Krondspine to be able to charge in and then Devour the endless spell to go up to level 3. It is a slight risk as it goes down a level if it fails, but Kaleb would just need to roll a 4 on 2D6 for it to be successful. With it more than likely being successful, the Krondspine is hanging around for a bit, no matter what it goes into.
If not more important than an indestructible Krondspine is that the Battle Tactics and Grand Strategy for Tzeentch are among the most straightforward to achieve, demonstrated by Kaleb scoring all 5 Battle Tactics every turn and Master of Destiny being arguably the easiest Grand Strategy in the game to complete.
One of those Battle Tactics, the Guild of Summoners specialises in: Call for Change, which is to summon a Lord of Change. Normally these would need 27 fate points, but in Guild of Summoners, the first Lord of Change is only 9 fate points and the first fate point is the auto-cast at the start of the game with Arcane Armies.
Congratulations on another superb showing from Mr Tzeentch himself and very much a trendsetter for several Tzeentch lists doing well in tournaments…
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Allegiance: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Wurrgog Prophet (170)** – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (290)** – General – Command Trait: Egomaniak – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Orruk Warchanter (120)*** – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Megaboss (140)*** – Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm (Galletian Champion) – Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (260)*** Skragrott, The Loonking (160)** – Allies
Battleline 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)* 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)* 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)*
Other Units 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)** – Jagged Gore-hackas 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)*** 24 x Squig Herd (240)* – Allies – Reinforced x 1
Big Waagh is enjoying a kind of thematically Ghurish resurgence, due to their access to great GCs and the simple fact they can also now take some Gitz allies, who, as you may have heard, have enjoyed somewhat of a glow up.
Either way, a 5-0 Waagh is a thing to be celebrated, so let’s dive into how it got there. The compliment of heroes has a few interesting surprises – you have ol’ laser eyes with his 4+ ward, a Warchanter and Megaboss as standard, and Gobsprakk for his anti-magic tech – but we also see here a Snatchaboss. Even though he’ll only be buffing one unit of 3 Boltboyz, he’s a well rounded solo operator, and Rob has slapped Egomaniak on him – I wonder if some of the Ardboyz acted as a bodyguard, making him a relatively fast and very durable monster with MW spike potential.
Then there’s the newly much-more-expensive Skagrott. At 210, I wonder if Ron would still ally him in – but as it stood, he’s an insanely high value allied spellcaster with a nasty, long range MW spell.
The other allies on loan from Gitz are the Squid Herd – a super cheap way to gain access to a high volume of attacks and further mid-range MWs when they fail a battleshock test – although they also have a recursion mechanic, meaning if you don’t kill the whole unit, the pain train keeps on comin’.
Overall, it’s a fantastic hero-hammer Waagh that makes great use of their spicy new allies. The points don’t quite add up anymore, but the fact it took down high profile armies such as Ogors, NH, Slaves, and Gitz themselves speaks to the versatility of the list – and Rob’s prowess of course. The Orruk book as a whole might be a complete bin-fire, but Big Waagh clearly offers the best way to make like an Orruk and slap whatever manic, vaguely green muscle you can lay your hands on into a potent krump!
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Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords – Great Nation: Helon – Mortal Realm: Hysh – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Archmage Teclis and Celennar, Spirit of Hysh (700)* – General Scinari Cathallar (110)* – Lore of Hysh: Total Eclipse Scinari Loreseeker (160)* – Artefact: Tuskhelm (Galletian Champion) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
Battleline 5 x Hurakan Windchargers (130)* 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)* – Lore of Hysh: Overwhelming Heat 20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)* – Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh – Reinforced x 1 10 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (150)* – Lore of Hysh: Overwhelming Heat 10 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (150)* – Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh
I call this list archetype the ‘can’t wait for the next Battlescroll’! Lead designer Matt Rose has highlighted that Helon and Sentinels are in line for an adjustment, for what should by now be fairly obvious reasons.
Tell you what though, it’s quite fun seeing the Tuskhelm on the Loreseeker. Imagine him popping up wherever he wants pre-game, then yeeting himself into you with a flaming weapon like a less sneaky version of the Masque.
Otherwise, there’s not much to say – it’s Sentinels projecting extreme prejudice at range and up close, with Teclis doing Teclis things. The only thing of interest left about this kind of list is how hard it’s going to get hit by the nerf bat!
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Kragnos (720) 1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (450)* – General – Command Traits: Voice of the Avalanche – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder – Spells: Flaming Weapon
BATTLELINE 1 x Stonehorn Beastriders (310)* – Blood Vulture 1 x Stonehorn Beastriders (310)* – Blood Vulture 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist
TERRAIN 1 x Great Mawpot (0)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1960/2000)
Since the Ironblaster points hike, bar the very occasional Stonehorn heavy podium, Ogors have settled comfortably into a ‘top 5’ army, as though they have a nice big dinner early on and then get a bit too sleepy to bother chasing the absolute top spot.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course – we don’t want every faction to be Lumineth Slaanesh! Taking down three tanky melee armies, the shooty Ogors and a summoning heavy Tzeentch list for a 5-0 is a great result, either way.
So how did Tony do it? Well, he took Kragnos and a bunch of Stonehorns. The name of the day here is killing stuff on the charge – why risk having to roll attacks? Kragnos is capable of a OHKO of a big monster with the right roll of course, but probably the main thing he offers is a 3d6 charge aura. Given Stonehorns do mortals on a 4+ for dice equal to their unmodified charge roll – which a 3d6 is – you can start to see the appeal.
That’s about all there is to it. Like the Ogors themselves, it’s big and not very clever, but gets the job done.
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Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Subfaction: Gnarlroot – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Bloodthirsty – Seasons of War: The Burgeoning
LEADERS Spirit of Durthu (350) – General – Command Traits: Gnarled Warrior – Artefacts of Power: Greenwood Gladius The Lady of Vines (290) – Spells: Verdant Blessing Alarielle the Everqueen (820)* – Spells: Verdant Blessing
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Spiteswarm Hive (40) 1 x Chronomantic Cogs (70)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1980/2000
This list from Joey Trizenberg is so elite and character focused that it might be playable in Marvel Ultimate Crisis. The Lady of Vines and Alarielle’s summoning mechanics bulk out the wound count and utility this list needs with 30 dryads and a unit of tree revenants satisfying most of your objective-sitting needs. The reason such a limited selection of units can get away with this is that both Alarielle and Durthu demand answers, immediately, and can either murder or pin vast quantities of the opponent’s army, limiting their scoring options.
Durthu with the Gladius and Gnarled warrior is a brutal beatstick, and ethereal 3+ keeps him healthy over the game and the gladius makes him hit like a brick. Combine this with a 6+ ward and the number of wounds in this army gets a sneaky boost to keep it in the game. This said, the selection of the Burgeoning as the Season of war requires a 70 point investment in the form of Cogs to make the quantity of spellcasting in this list work, especially so, when you consider that Gnarlroot is being taken for 3d6 casting, messaging that Joey wants to ensure he’s spreading trees and getting up the very important LoV’s 5+ ward spell, which is rather inconsistent when raw-cast as a 7+ on 2d6.
Legitimate analysis aside, I’d pay good money to see this list smack around Sons of Behemat, that’d be a great table to watch. Great work Joey, a great achievement to get an uncommon 5-0 for sylvaneth, let alone with a list that is a major departure from what we usually see.
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Subfaction: Meatfist – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Tyrant (150)* – Big Name: Brawlerguts Kragnos (720)* Icebrow Hunter (120)** – General – Command Traits: Touched by the Everwinter – Prayers: Keening Gale Tyrant (150)** – Artefacts of Power: Gryph-feather Charm – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master – Big Name: Brawlerguts Tyrant (150)** – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Flaming Weapon – Big Name: Brawlerguts
Continuing their recent hot-streak of great results is another 4-1 Alarielle finish! Oh how people bemoaned the Everqueen upon the book’s release – and in fairness, she takes a bit of figuring out, as her power doesn’t lie in her melee power but rather in her zoning and revival ability.
She’s backed up here by the standard Arch-Rev with Warsinger to make stuff speedy – make that extra-super speedy when also combined with the Spiteswarm Hive. It’s also nice to see a brace of Dryads as surprisingly effective screens – sure they turn into splinters once hit but, with -1 to hit and wound, the can be like reeds in a breeze…. and a reinforced blob of Seekers for doing Seeker things (namely pinning stuff at speed and just never, ever dying due to their abilities to heal themselves and bring their own models back automatically).
Overall, a nicely balanced list that gives Big Momma and her Fancy Beetle a good run out against a tough variety of opponents.
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Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords – Subfaction: Helon – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Archmage Teclis (700)* – Spells: Healing Zephyr Scinari Cathallar (110)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Silver Wand – Spells: Total Eclipse – Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
BATTLELINE Hurakan Windchargers (130)* – Windspeaker Seneschal – Standard Bearer Hurakan Windchargers (130)* – Windspeaker Seneschal – Standard Bearer Hurakan Windchargers (130)* – Standard Bearer – Windspeaker Seneschal
OTHER Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)* – High Sentinel – Spells: Overwhelming Heat Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)* – High Sentinel – Spells: Speed of Hysh
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Rune of Petrification (60) 1 x Emerald Lifeswarm (60)
TERRAIN 1 x Shrine Luminor (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
More LRL! Funnily enough, this list has also opted for Helon, and who cares how many Sentinels. But they also go hard on WIndchargers! A cunning tactical ploy to have slightly fewer shots on slow bodies and slightly more shots on fast bodies. I’m sure the dilemma was agonising.
Since this tournament, and indeed my comments on the 3rd place list, Sentinels, Teclis, and Windchargers have gone up a few points. So lists like this will no longer be able to take quite so many endless spells! I’m sure the effect on their efficacy will be devastating.
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Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Army Subfaction: Guild of Summoners – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Magister (120)* – Spells: Shield of Fate – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur 1 x Curseling (180)** – Spells: Glimpse the Future – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)** – General – Command Traits: Arcane Sacrifice – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Arcane Suggestion 1 x Lord of Change (400)** – Staff of Tzeentch and Rod of Sorcery – Artefacts: Nine-Eyed Tome – Spells: Ghost-mist
BATTLELINE 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield 10 x Tzaangors (180)* – Twistbray – Icon Bearer – Brayhorn Blower – 2 x Tzaangor Mutant – Pair of Savage Blades
BEHEMOTH 1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Burning Sigil Of Tzeentch (60) 1 x Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
Please read the review for Kaleb’s winning list and substitute the word ‘Kaleb’ for ‘Jonathan’! Seriously, I wasn’t kidding about Kaleb’s list being a trendsetter!
I should probably include a few more words on Jonathan’s path to 13th place so that Peter doesn’t get mad at me and assigns me 500 words on each variant of contrast paint. He did fantastically well to get to table 2 in Round 5 but then faced the Kryptonite of many Tzeentch lists: Kragnos and Stonehorns. With the ability to ignore so much magic AND the speed of Tony’s 4th placed list (see above) it was always going to be tricky. While having some monsters to eat would be handy for the Krondspine, Jonathan wouldn’t have been given the time to get the summoning going and so had to settle for a still very impressive 4-1 in the end.
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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Mortis Praetorians – Grand Strategy: Unrelenting Efficiency – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Arkhan the Black (340) Katakros (430)* Mortisan Soulreaper (100)* – Spells: Protection of Nagash – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master Mortisan Soulreaper (100)* – General – Command Traits: Katakros’ Chosen – Artefacts of Power: Artificer’s Blade – Spells: Drain Vitality
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Nightmare Predator (40)
TERRAIN 1 x Bone-tithe Nexus (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
A list reminiscent of classical pre-Stalkers as Battleline lists for Ossiarch Bonereapers. Obviously, this list was before the new battletome so a few things need to be considered. Katakros and Arkhan are the headliners, with Arkhan being one of the few legitimately good units in OBR with his +2 to casting and blazing fast speed. Katakros offers a ton of buffs from stealing a command point on a 4+, -1 to hit on an enemy unit, and giving +1 to hit and to saves for all units within 36″. Mortis Praetorians doesn’t see as much play as Petrifix Elite but if you’re going to run Katakros it’s about the same with his +1 to save aura, though you do lose the -1 Rend from Petrifix Elite. Rounding off the list is two Soulreapers, which while not very good allow him to slip in 2 Galetian Champions at 2000 points.
As for units this list doesnt really have much of a hammer. That’s clearly not the point though, with 60 Mortek Guard you can gum up the board pretty bad, 30 3+ Save, 6+ Ward wounds aren’t easy to cut through if you didn’t bring a Monster to roar them. While they may not hit nearly as hard as Stalkers, they’re not totally impotent either, and can usually win a grind out war over 2-3 turns of combat against nastier things. The Immortis guard are a workhorse unit to protect Arkhan from ranged fire, since an 11 wound 4+ Save Monster makes him a giant red bullseye for enemy fire.
Leaders The Contorted Epitome (240)* – General – Command Trait: Feverish Anticipation – Artefact: Oil of Exultation – Host Option: General – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Sigvald, Prince of Slaanesh (210)* – Host Option: General Glutos Orscollion, Lord of Gluttony (440)* – Lore of Pain and Pleasure: Battle Rapture Infernal Enrapturess, Herald of Slaanesh (120)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Slaanesh: Born of Damnation
Battleline 22 x Blissbarb Archers (280)** – Reinforced x 1 11 x Blissbarb Archers (140)** 11 x Blissbarb Archers (140)**
As Peter put it the other day, Old Slaanesh (the previous Battletome) was in play. This is a popular “old list” right now. Slaanesh, like all aelves, has always been very difficult to balance, at the moment though they are a bit of a sleeper. Mobile with mad summoning, decent shooting and surprisingly durable with Revel in Pain.
Laron’s doubled down on the Epitome with Fuelled by Ghurish rage on top of Oil (+1 wound) and Flaming Weapon. Glutos, the mobile road block, is here with Sigvald to snipe out annoying Galletian Champions and the Enrapturess to make sure those casts go off. Beyond wards, bravery and damage spells, the army is packing all 3 Hedonite Endless Spells. Mortal wounds for everyone and a fight last as well. Mandatory Blissbarbs and the soon to be extinct Cockatrice (the monster keyword isn’t on the new scroll). The Cockatrice still has a place to generate DP and for their fast movement, letting them score early points.
And that’s the conundrum of facing the chaos aelves – target the Blissbarb, and apart from being stung, you’ll give them a lot of DP (summoning points). And as you kill them, they’ll get harder to kill. Worse, Glutos and the Epitome will be free to act. Target the heroes, and the Blissbarb will make you look like a porcupine. The old HoS book is a dps check. You need to deal with them fast enough that their summoning doesn’t matter. Preferably from range.
Laron took the list to 4-1 handily defeating several top armies (and Stormcast). Pretty amazing with a list that shouldn’t have a lot of surprises and was at the time running with a 47% win rate. That success should tell you how good the general was.
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Allegiance: Sylvaneth – Glade: Heartwood – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
Leaders Alarielle the Everqueen (820)* Arch-Revenant (120)* – General – Command Trait: Warsinger – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Deepwood: Verdurous Harmony
Units 10 x Dryads (100)* 10 x Dryads (100)* 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)* 6 x Revenant Seekers (480)* – Reinforced x 1
Continuing the 4-1 with Alarielle trend – which I’m personally happy to see given Momma Nature is such a great model, is this Heartwood list that, well, pretty much follows the template.
Probably the most important synergy in overall playstyle here is the way the Seekers compliment what Alarielle can do. Beetle-bum is much more of a mixed phase zoning piece with her big’ ol….base and surprising speed, so you need something like the Seekers to be able to zoom in on smaller, more versatile bases, do a good amount of damage, and actually stay where they end up – something they’re willing to risk due to their built in healing, 5+ rally and ability to bring a model back. With Dryads and Tree Revs as annoying, teleporty objective grabbers and screens, and the 3 Greatbows doing plinky-plink damage at long range, this kind of list can be very difficult to actually navigate around. And of course, by the time you finally kill Alarielle, she’s liable to come back in later rounds when you no longer have the tools to take her off again.
Losing only to a Gnarlroot Sylvaneth semi-mirror, and taking down a good variety of other lists en route, this new list archetype (I’m calling it Beetle-Momma and the Seekers) clearly has legs/wings/roots…. I’ll leaf it there. Big up to Matthew!
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Allegiance: Idoneth Deepkin – Enclave: Mor’Phann – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Akhelian Thrallmaster (110)* Isharann Soulrender (120)* – Artefact: Rune of the Surging Gloomtide – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Akhelian King (250)* – General – Bladed Polearm – Command Trait: Unstoppable Fury – Mount Trait: Voidchill Darkness
Battleline 6 x Akhelian Morrsarr Guard (360)* – Reinforced x 1 6 x Akhelian Morrsarr Guard (360)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Namarti Reavers (340)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Namarti Reavers (170)* 20 x Namarti Thralls (260)* – Reinforced x 1
This list makes use of some of the best Idoneth units avaiable in the book, without relying on Lotann or the Leviadon. Two champs are there to support the Namarti units, both defensively and offensively, and the Artefact allows the Isharann character to summon a Gloomtide Shipwreck at the end of the first movement phase. This is particularly good with Tunnel Master, because the Soulrender can pop up anywhere on the board and drop a large piece of line of sight blocking impassable terrain.
The eels and king can work in tandem to deal a lot of damage. The eels can charge in first, eat the Unleash Hell while still getting their mortal wound bomb off, while the king can pop himself and possibly both eel squads into high tide, creating the possibility of an alpha strike against any enemy who may have deployed too aggressively.
Following on from Danny and Patrick’s excellent Battletome review we thought it would be great to give you an option for a beginners army based on the new Vanguard: Disciples of Tzeentch.
Vanguard: Disciples of Tzeentch
This new boxed set priced at £80 through Games Workshop comes with 27 models in total to give you an (almost) complete beginners army. I say almost, the total points in this set amounts to 730 points.
Included in the box you have:
1x Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (145 points)
3x Screamers of Tzeentch (100 points)
3x Flamers of Tzeentch (190 points)
10x Tzaangors (175 points)
10x Kairic Acolytes (120 points)
But we want a full 1,000 point army that we can start playing with, so to add to the above I’d possibly look at buying a Fluxmaster, the Tzeentch Endless Spells and a Chaos Spawn (buy a couple, they can be summoned by certain spells).
What will it all cost?
Battletome: Disciples of Tzeentch £32.50
Vanguard: Disciples of Tzeentch £80
Fluxmaster £27.50
Tzeentch Endless Spells £27.50
Chaos Spawn £30
That’s total of £197.50 at Games Workshop prices for everything you need to play at 1,000 points with Disciples of Tzeentch.
You can of course get these cheaper through your local retailers. Element Games offer between 15-25% off on these prices and the total of this army would cost just £166.37 through their store. Why not use our affiliate link below to start your army today?
The List
Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Subfaction: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny
LEADERS Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (145)* – General – Command Trait: Arch Sorcerer – Artefact: Spiteful Shield – Spell: Arcane Suggestion – Spell: Infusion Arcanum – Spell: Shield of Fate – Spell: Bolt of Tzeentch Fluxmaster (170)* – Spell: Unchecked Mutation – Spell: Blue Fire of Tzeentch
ENDLESS SPELLS AND INVOCATIONS 1x Burning Sigil of Tzeentch (50) 1x Tome of Eyes (40)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 990/1000
Aside from the Acolytes and Tzaangors this is a quick army with all of the other units moving a minimum of 9″ per round. We’re also magic heavy in true Tzeentch fashion with the ability to use 6 spells from their lore and two endless spells. Movement and casting with your leaders will be key.
How it could play
Magister on Disc of Tzeentch
Our general for this particular list. He’s quick with a 16″ move which should be enough to both keep him out of combats you don’t want him to be part of, as well as keeping him range for casting one of his myriad of spells.
He’s a single cast wizard with the ability to cast two at the 17% risk of changing into a Chaos Spawn. I would only cast two spells with this chap if you’re on the ropes in a game, otherwise stick to one.
It’s not a great model for melee, so try and keep it out. That said if it is in combat then we have the Spiteful Shield which will cause two mortal wounds on an attacker if you make any save rolls of 6 in melee.
In terms of the spells this model knows we’ve given it the Arch Sorcerer command ability to give it access to two more spells for a total of four.
Bolt of Tzeentch will allow it to cause D6 mortals on a unit, Arcane Suggestion will allow you to debuff enemy units making them easier to wound or making it harder to attack for them. Shield of Fate will give one of your units a ward save. While Infusion Arcanum will give buffs to its own attacks in combat. Something for every eventuality and that’s not including the two Endless Spells we’ve picked.
Fluxmaster
This “chap” comes with his own Arcane Tome ability which, once per style will allow you to re-roll one casting roll for this unit, it also allows you to add 3 to that casting roll when you do so. For its spell I’ve chosen Unchecked Mutation to go alongside its Blue Fire of Tzeentch.
Blue Fire of Tzeentch is particularly tasty, rolling nine dice for an enemy unit within range. For each 5+ roll that unit suffers 1 mortal wound and your force gains 1 Fate point. Unchecked Mutation causes D3 mortal wounds on a unit and if that successfully removed a model then you cause an additional D3 mortals.
As with the Magister you’ll ideally be keeping both of these characters out of combat and casting as many spells as you can to raise fate points. You should be able to manage two or three Fate points per turn giving you an opportunity to summon units at around turn three or four.
Tzaangors
As mentioned, these and the Acolytes are the slowest units in your force. That being said, both units are still movement 6″…. And they can run and charge in the same turn. If they do charge then each model can add 1 to the number of attacks they make with their beaks. This doubles those attacks from 10 to 20!
If you have 10 of these all with paired blades you’ll find they’re kicking out 30 attacks at 3+/3+/-/1 giving you on average a damage output (along with their beaks) of 16 before any saves (19 on the charge). That’ll remove some lighter units in a single turn. With both these and the Acolytes you’ll want to work in concert with your magic to make sure you’re removing the units you need to remove in order to win, as damage output is not the best with Tzeentch.
With the amount of damage this unit has the potential to do, it makes it your hammer. Tie up units with the Acolytes or Screamers then pile these boys in to bring them down.
Kairic Acolytes
Coming with Sorcerous Bolt at 18″ range, this is your only unit with any ranges firepower. Hitting on 4+, and wounding on 3+ with no rend (but this can be improved to -1 through their own spell) and only a single point of damage they aren’t Sentinels. They do an average of 3.3 damage at range and so make perfect units to chip damage off lightly armoured enemy.
They are classed as a wizard (with a +1 and so can cast a spell and also unbind in each hero phase. A lot of the time you may be improving the rend of their Sorcerous Bolts, but that’s good, as any successful spell can generate you a summoning point for more units!
Get them as near to enemy casters as possible, as each time they successfully cast near this unit they’ll suffer a mortal wound on 4+.
Finally, this unit has the option to take three models with shields. These shields give you a ward save of 6+ so remove these after you’ve removed other models to keep your ward save going.
Screamers of Tzeentch
These are quick, and they can dish out mortal wounds as well. With a 16″ move, if you use the movement to go over another unit you’ll cause mortal wounds to that unit on 4+ for each Screamer. Meaning on average you’ll score one to two mortal wounds. This is great for perhaps adding some chip damage to a hero or for whittling down an enemy anvil unit.
Once in combat they’re ok but not great. Causing on average 4 damage at rend -1. They’re better for harassing the enemy and using the pass over skill to cause mortals. Also use them to capture objectives quickly.
Remember to use Locus of Change if these are in combat and within 12″ the Fluxmaster as enemies will suffer a -1 to hit against them.
Flamers of Tzeentch
Another fairly decent ranged unit. It’s 18″ attacks should cause on average 6 damage (8 if the target has 5 or more models) before saves, which isn’t to be sniffed at. They’ll wipe small cheap screens like Hobgrots with ease.
If you summon an Exalted Flamer, be sure to place it near to these chaps to give them +1 attack each. That’ll push their average damage before saves up to 10 if they target a unit with more than 5 models.
Like the Screamers, they’re fairly fragile in combat so keep them out of it unless absolutely necessary or you need to finish off a unit. Take advantage of their ranged attacks.
Like the Screamers, remember to use Locus of Change if these are in combat and within 12″ the Fluxmaster as enemies will suffer a -1 to hit against them.
Other Notes
We’ve included two Endless Spells in this list. The first being the Burning Sigil of Tzeentch. This spell cause D3 mortal wounds to enemy units within 9″. If this is successful, then you also get to drop a Chaos Spawn model within each unit that suffered a casualty from this spell. Chaos Spawn‘s can be great to pin down units that are causing you problems as they’ll heal ALL their wounds if there is a friendly wizard within 9″ of them that successfully casts without their spell being unbound. They won’t stick around long as they’re only five wounds with a five plus save, but they’re worth it, especially if a spell is giving them out for free.
The second Endless Spell is the Tome of Eyes. Which when summoned will follow its caster around allowing them to re-roll their casting rolls. It also gives the caster access to yet another spell, The Parchment Curse, this will allow you to cause D3 mortal wounds to an enemy unit within 18″ of the caster on 3+. For each model slain by this they have to subtract 1 from their bravery for the REST OF THE GAME.
As Disciples of Tzeentch a wizard in your army can automatically cast a spell (the enemy doesn’t get an opportunity to unbind) that summons one of your Endless Spells. As this happens before the first Hero Phase it may be better to cast the Tome of Eyes to give the casting benefits to your caster in your first Hero Phase.
The other key thing to remember with Disciples of Tzeentch is that you can automatically unbind a spell with one of your Wizards in the first, third and fifth battle round thanks to our subfaction Hosts Arcanum.
You also have access to Destiny Dice where you roll nine dice at the start of the game and place them to one side. These dice can be used to replace a roll you have made for:
Casting Rolls
Unbinding Rolls
Dispelling Rolls
Run Rolls
Charge Rolls
Hit Rolls
Wound Rolls
Save Rolls
Rolls that determine the number of attacks or damage of a weapon
Battleshock Rolls
Remember to keep track of your Fate Points! You’ll get a Fate Point each time you successfully cast a sell that isn’t unbound. You can use Fate Points to summon units into your army. Once at 10 (which is the minimum needed to summon) you’ll have enough to bring either 3 Screamers of Tzeentch, 10 Brimstone Horrors or 10 Blue Horrors onto the table.
The army should be a lot of fun, especially if you like dominating the Magic Phase.
Where to go next?
I’d possibly look at buying a few of the summonable units such as Blue Horrors and another box of Screamers.
You get great value for money from the Burning Chariot kit. This can be used to build a Fateskimmer and an Exalted Flamer, a Fluxmaster and an Exalted Flamer, a Burning Chariot and a Changecaster or a Blue Scribes kitbash and a Changecaster.
Either way you go, have fun and let us know how you do!
The Changers of Ways return! And fittingly, we’ve decided to try and change our review format a little. Mainly because, to support the new release, we’ve decided to break things up and create a conversational, high-level review, a more detailed guide to playing the faction, and the next in our ‘Getting Started’ style series.
So read on to discover what two of the finest (and by finest, we mean, ‘most attracted to bright colours’) minds of Woehammer had to say about the new Tzeentch Tome.
What’s CHANGED in this Tome? Eh? *cough*
Danny: So, Patrick – let’s start with what we were hoping for from this book. Put simply, I was hoping for balance. I feel like 3e books (apart from the opening brace of SCE and Orruks, who suffered from time honoured first-book syndrome) have been wonderfully balanced, internally and externally. Such a control and magic heavy army as Tzeentch risked being problematic to balance, so I thought if they could make a few of the lesser seen units more viable without breaking the game, we could all be happy. How about you?
Patrick: I like variety and flavor, and with a few exceptions (looking at you, Gore-gruntas) AoS 3e has been good about making enough units viable in each tome to prevent mono-build and spam lists. Like you said, heavy magic armies make that balance and viability a little more difficult, but I was mostly hoping to see some varied lists start to show up in the top 10 spots at tournaments.
As someone who plays against Tzeentch rather than as Tzeencth, a selfish part of me was also hoping that the army would be bad. I don’t think I got my wish.
Danny : Good segue to your ‘favourite’ 3 things about this book, and a one line summary of where you think it will land competitively?
Patrick: My favorite part of the book is the spell lores. There are two spell lores with 11 spells between them. All of those spells are great, with maybe one or two exceptions. Tzeentch players are going to be able to customize their Wizards to perform whatever specific task they want. Past there, I think the summoning mechanic is interesting, and generating summoning points with every spell successfully cast means that even high level units like Lords of Change will see summons. I also like that the mechanic gives some counterplay, since your opponent can technically block your summons by killing your heroes, or swarming them with units.
The Change Covens are also great, and you will easily see two different Tzeentch armies have very different playstyles based on the chosen Coven. While some are going to be chosen more often than others for competitive games, I think there is play for each. Guild of Summoners will probably see the most play, but there’s something to be said for Pyrofane Cult and Cult of the Transient Form, both of which improve the utility of your battleline units. Competitively I think we’re going to see this army float to the top for a while.
The options that are presented are strong. I will say that I think the army is going to suffer against some current top contenders, though. Thunder Kroak lists are going to create problems for spellcasting and may be effective enough to delay summoning, and some top-tier Stormcast and Ironjawz lists will present problems for Tzeentch’s relative squishiness. That all being said, Tzeentch was in a good position before this book came out. We’ll see if the win rate breaks the 55% barrier that they were already flirting with.
Big Bird Make More Stuff Cast Good Now
What about you? I expect that you have more experience to see some exciting changes.
Danny: Yep, the new Guild of Summoners capping the 2nd LoC summon at 18 is potentially huge, especially given there are now plenty of ways to generate fate points, including one off guarantee chunks of them. The spells, predictably, do kick ass too – the strongest for me is easily Arcane Suggestion due to the tactical flexibility of it. Choosing whether to turn off commands, -1 to hit and wound, or put an extra -1 rend on a unit is absolutely game-changing in many circumstances
Danny: I’m not sure I agree on the Change Covens though. I like that they offer plenty of conditional battleline now, but they’re definitely not all created equal. Eternal Conflagration giving extra rend to flamers is potentially very strong – combo with the above spell for -2 rend flamers for example, screened by horrors etc. But I think Hosts Arcanum (one free unbind and nothing else), Transient Form (very unhelpful fight on death on Acolytes with a 6 generating a Tzangor) (and Pyrofane Cult super niche extra damage from Acolytes shooting) are all hot garbage, basically, and I see no reason to take any of them outside of fluff or really loving your Acolytes and wanting to juice them to the max.
Patrick: Interjection: I do love fluff and Acolytes.
Danny: Interjection noted!
As a counterpoint, I’m going to list my 3 least favourite things about the book.
1. A whole bunch of the artifacts are geared towards melee (e.g. Daemonheart being a once per battle, number of MWs equal to battleround within 1″ of the bearer) with no good melee heroes to utilise them.
2. The aforementioned Change Coven internal balance – I think there are basically 2.5 competitive ones and 3 assuredly garbage ones. It’s a shame, given they could really have been a way to elevate Tzangors or similar that doesn’t really exist anywhere else in the book.
3. Warscroll wise, there are quite a few heroes who just don’t really seem to have a well defined niche and are variations on a theme. There’s some missing identity and fun factor there for me.
Patrick: I 100% agree on the relics. There are some strong choices, but there’s never a good reason to put a melee-focused option on a Tzeentch Hero. You’re always better off with something that’s going to improve your spellcasting like the Nine-Eyed Tome, or your Destiny Dice mechanic like The Eternal Shroud. I don’t see a lot of good uses for the Arcanite Artefacts at all, though. Especially the “deal mortals equal to the battle round” appearing twice. That is either going to do nothing, or only deal a solid chunk of mortals too late in the game to do anything. I also don’t like the number of “feels bad” mechanics in the book.
The ability for a Lord of Change to simply turn your endless spells back on you is going to feel rotten every time it happens. The presence of a non-interactive Grand Strategy that only requires you to have Destiny Dice equal to or greater than 9 at the end of the battle is bad. It guarantees that you succeed without giving your opponent the opportunity to play around it.
Danny: Moving on – we’re not going to talk about every damn allegiance ability and army enhancement. Some stuff got taken away, some stuff has been streamlined – but let’s quickly talk about Arcane Armies, which is an excellent new rule allowing for a Tzeentch endless spell to be auto-cast before the start of the first turn, which can’t be unbound in the first battle round – how do you see that playing out?
This is huge!
Patrick: I really like Arcane Armies. I think we’ll mostly see the Tome of Eyes to get rerolls on casting. That will guarantee an effective first hero phase, especially for a unit like a Lord of Change, and push some summoning points early on. If the ability was not restricted to faction endless spells I think it would be broken. A guaranteed turn 1 purple sun, or deploying in a way for all of your wizards to get the benefit of the Chronomatic Cogs would be devastating. As it is, it’s a nice ability that won’t be game changing.
Danny: Tome of Eyes is great but it’s hard to overlook Sigil – the ability to do multiple instances of d3 mortals and turn stuff into spawn in both turns of the first battle round – maybe pinning units in place and killing more in melee is potentially huge. I think it is a game changer!
Now, we both agree the artifacts are, overall, a missed opportunity. Do we feel the same way about the command abilities? Any stand outs for you?
Patrick: The Command Abilities either stink or they’re amazing, and there isn’t a lot of in-between. Cult Demagogue providing a 1/6 chance of automatic casting without the ability to be unbound is incredible, and Arcane Sacrifice can seriously improve the function of your wizards early-game, since your opponent will generally want to deploy outside of the 18” danger zone. I personally don’t love the Daemon traits, they don’t seem to synergize well with what the units want to do outside of Arch-Sorcerer providing two extra known spells. (edited)
Outside of those, we are once again seeing a few abilities to improve the melee capabilities of your Arcanite units, which you will never take, and they wasted ink by putting them in the book. (edited)
Patrick: I’m interested in your thoughts on the matched play rules, particularly the grand strategies. I have some strong opinions, but maybe you can provide some counterpoints to my rage. (edited)
Danny : They’re undoubtedly strong. Maybe close or equal to the strongest of any book in 3e so far. Master of Destiny – ‘add the total value of your unused Destiny Dice – score the GS if they’re above 9’ is effectively guaranteed. The others are good, but why would you ever not take this one?
The battle tactics… Call for Change wants you to summon a LoC. In Summoners, with an obvious combo of Enhancements/units, you’ll be able to guarantee this on the appropriate turn at near zero risk. Mass Conjuration needs a wizard casts 3 spells that go off and aren’t unbound in a turn. You’re Tzeentch so this isn’t hard. Ninefold Dismantlemant asks you to kill a unit with 9 or more models, or a monster with 9+ wounds. This will be almost any unit, in reality, on the board. Reckless Abandon wants a moral more than 18″ from an enemy to complete a charge – bit naff but ways to get it done. And Tides of Anarchy wants you to take control of an objective from your opponent and have 9+ models within 6″ of it.
Now, as a DoK player I’ve heard plenty of salt about trivially easy to score battle tactics. They’re obviously one of the main vectors a book can become unbalanced along. And it’s pretty clear to see DoT are going to have an incredibly easy time of scoring 3-4 of their book tactics every game. Given I think the army plays the mission very well anyway, yeah I’m going to agree with your implication Patrick, these are over-tuned and almost impossible for your opponent to deny in most match ups.
Should we move onto the warscrolls? Who do you think are the biggest winners?
These guys hit hard now.
Patrick: The changes to Arcane Tome for the Fateskimmer and Fluxmaster are great. The security provided by a reroll alone is excellent, but adding 3 to the value of the second attempt makes most spells a guaranteed cast. The Blue ascribe is also an insanely flexible caster, and I expect we will see him used in most lists. The gaunt summoners created some rumblings over their new Lords of the Silver Towers ability, potentially one-shotting an enemy hero. The summoner has to survive the initial attacks to use the ability, however, and if an opponent can’t kill a Gaunt Summoner in one round then they deserve what’s coming.
I think Tzaangors Skyfires are going to show up a good bit, too. Their speed and flying makes them an excellent harassing unit, and the ability to ignore hit/wound penalties with their bows means they might pose a threat to more targets. Special shout out to Kairos Acolytes. I wouldn’t describe them as good, but Arcane Cataclysm made them pretty bad. The Battletome corrects all the changes, and leaves them pretty much identical to their 2e profile.
Danny: Agreed, Skyfires doing d3 mws on 6s combos nicely with Fate Dice, and I think a unit of 6 will be common given how reliably they can snipe off support heroes at range – their movement and relative durability make them excellent objective grabbers too. I think it’s fair to say everything that was already good, stayed good – including Screamers, even if they lost their extra damage to wizards, at 100 points and with their newly reliable combat profile, they’re fantastic value. In general, things got more consistent – especially flamers.
For me, the losers are Tzangors, on foot and Enlightened. I just don’t really get what they do now, aside from look pretty. I also nominate a fair few heroes – Curseling, the Ogroids, Tzaangor Shaman especially – as being highly uninteresting now. But overall, there are some serious buff bots here with plenty of fun and powerful rules. Be prepared to have many of your models turn into spawn…
Ok let’s wrap this up. I wanted to hold back my reaction to your competitive rating until now – and I think I agree. Some folks are bemoaning what the book has lost, but overall I think it contains board control (horrors, Sigil, fast cheap grabbers), extremely powerful magic, and A+/S tier matched play rules.
Weaknesses will be fast, aggressive armies and powerful shooting that can shut down their casting momentum. I predict it’ll take some time to bed in, but then we’ll absolutely see it taking down podiums but not reaching the heights of Nurgle, Seraphon or SCE – certainly not this season anyway.
Patrick: I completely agree. I expect that they will break the 55% win rate barrier. There are a handful of rules that they lost, but I think what they gained more than makes up for it. The only real complaint I have comes from me being an opponent rather than a player, but I don’t want to restate what I’ve already said. Overall, this is a great tome, and I think Tzeentch players have a lot to love.
And there you have it! Bird fans – agree, disagree, just want to talk about how good big birds are? Let us know in the comments, twitter or discord! We’d also love to know what you think of this review format. Don’t be shy now.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Miniparadice Anniversary Tournament that took place in Germany on 23rd and 24th July. It involved 38 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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The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Krysothea – The Lady Of Arcana (400)* Lord of Change – Staff of Tzeentch and Rod of Sorcery – General – Command Trait: Spell Hunters – Artefact: Wellspring of Arcane Might – Lore of Change: Tzeentch’s Firestorm Kai & Ross – The Surfing Bird(s) (435)** Kairos Fateweaver – Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch Birdie Mc Birdface (140)** Changecaster, Herald of Tzeentch – Artefact: The Fanged Circlet – Lore of Change: Unchecked Mutation – Krondspine Bonded Vilitch & Thomin (180)** Curseling, Eye of Tzeentch – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate
Battleline 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (100)* 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (100)* 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (100)*
Behemoths Changespine, Incarnate of Tzeentch (400)* Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur – Allies
Endless Spells & Invocations Umbral Spellportal (70) Chronomantic Cogs (40) The Burning Head (20)
Peter: This army revolves around the quick Screamersof Tzeentch (16″) and buffing them with heroes while the Krondspine eats stuff and the casters chip away mortal wound damage via various spells.
This Hosts Arcanum army will allow you to move D3 of those Screamersof Tzeentch units 6″ before the battle even begins. Meaning that with their 16″ move they have the potential threat range of 34″ in the first turn alone. They’re ok in combat as well with 3 attacks each hitting on 4+ and wounding on 3+, no rend though and only 1 damage per attack. That puts their average damage output at 3 damage before any saves are made. They’re better against monsters as the damage changes to D3 and means that average damage output jumps up to 9 damage.
The Fanged Circlet, which has to be taken in a Hosts Arcanum list as the first Artefact isn’t exactly a burden to take when once per battle it will allow you to summon a unit of 6 Screamers of Tzeentch near the Changecaster.
But really the Krondspine is here to do all the smashing while the Screamers of Tzeentch cap off the objectives.
This is a strong magic list made stronger by the ability to auto unbind one spell in the 1st, 3rd and 5th rounds. If they don’t want you to get Purple Sun off then it’s unlikely you’ll manage it unless in rounds 2 or 4. On top of that the Lord of Change has the Wellspring of Arcane Might allowing it to re-roll it’s casting and unbind rolls. The Chronomantic Cogs will also give this ability to other casters as well.
This list has three spells for causing mortal wounds on the enemy, Tzeentch’s Firestorm (CV9) allows the player to target an enemy unit within 18″ and roll 9 dice with each 6 causing D3 mortal wounds. Unchecked Mutation (CV6) also with a range of 18″ can also cause D3 mortal wounds on a unit, if that successfully removed a model then it will cause an additional D3 mortal wounds on the same unit. Finally there’s Bolt of Tzeentch (CV7) also with a range of 18″ which automatically cause D6 mortal wounds on a target unit within range. But where you’re reading 18″ these can be extended to 36″ with the use of the Umbral Spellportal.
In summary this list is designed to dominate the hero phase unbinding enemy spells and doing a lot of mortal wound damage with its own.
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Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Filthbringers – Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Rot Coven Rotbringer Sorcerer (120)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease – Lore of Malignance: Cloying Quagmire Rot Coven Rotbringer Sorcerer (120)* – Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease – Lore of Malignance: Cloying Quagmire Rot Coven Rotbringer Sorcerer (120)* – Lore of Malignance: Blades Of Putrifaction – Lore of Malignance: Magnificent Buboes
Battleline 10 x Putrid Blightkings (500)*** – Reinforced x 1 5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)*** 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)** 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)** 10 x Plaguebearers (150)***
Units 2 x Nurglings (105)**
Endless Spells & Invocations Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (60) Shards of Valagharr (50) Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
Peter: Another Rotbringer Coven list that leans heavily into magic – it even has the much discussed Purple Sun.
It’s no surprise that it perhaps drew with the other magic heavy Disciples of Tzeentch list that won the event as they would perhaps cancel each other out.
With offensive units (Pusgoyle Blightlords) and defensive units (Plaguebearers) this army is going to try and get all over the objectives as soon as it can. All the while the Nurgle magic and disease points will be taking their toll on the opponent
Brett: Moggotkin are popular in Germany it seems with 2 of the top 3 armies from the faction. They represent the 2 most popular sub-factions (Filthbringers and Drowned Men) which are either side of the magic/combat divide. Colin appears to like variety, the Blightlords aren’t battleline of course. Nurglings in Bounty Hunters is interesting but there isn’t room anywhere else for them. How embarrassing to be killed by a damage 2 Nurgling.
At it’s heart this is a castle type army that can sit on objectives while being hard to remove. Including the Blightlords give it some offensive punch, particularly as Bounty Hunters but they will almost be sniping since you don’t want them to be isolated and unsupported. The Endless Spells round out the offensive part of the list. Shards of Valagharr (CV5) and Gnashing Jaws (CV6) are both reasonably easy to cast. Shards is an interesting and unusual inclusion, removing fly and having movement makes it much easier for slow moving Blightkings to come to blows. You want that because every 6 is a disease point. It’s easy for the large unit 10 thing unit to max disease points every turn.
One last point, each of the Endless spells is also diseased since it was cast by a Rotbringer. All up this is a pretty tight army that should outlast most others. If you can avoid the Blightlords and remove the Rotbringers it should be easier to tackle. It’s not flashy but board control and consistent mortal wound output will win games as you can see here. Even the chosen spells lean into the toughness (debuffing your opponent) and increasing the application of disease points. Host Arcanum into this army would have been very interesting to watch. The Host Arcanum army featured big daemons for the most part that aren’t also the best at combat. Into an army with 5+ wards that can resist a lot of their magic forcing them to rely on combat. Where the HA will get mortal wounds (from disease points) that they can’t shrug.
Otherwise the army saw off all comers including Sons of Behemat, I can’t see the list but I’m guessing it had Manchrushers. It’s an interesting win since this isn’t a DPS army and Sons are a DPS check. Goes to show that playing the mission and not the player is the important part.
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Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Drowned Men – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Lord of Afflictions (210)* – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench – Artefact: The Splithorn Helm Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (360)* – Allies
Battleline 4 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (440)** – Reinforced x 1 4 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (440)** – Reinforced x 1 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)* 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*
Peter: This is a time honoured list from the earlier General’s Handbook and one that was fairly common. Lots of Pusgoyle Blightlords with their 8″ movement plus the pre-game movement as well. The Lord of Afflictions gives options to drop two fly units with him from reserve. The whole list revolves around pinning you in your deployment zone and making your way through the really tough Nurgle units. Board control is its key.
Be’Lakor has been added to this list in place of a second Lord of Afflictions. He’s a beat stick himself, but can add to the pinning effect with his once per battle ability The Dark Master where on a 3+ in each phase the chosen unit cannot act.
A quick army (8″ move) with a tough hide means you’ll be hard pressed to steal the objectives away.
Brett: As Peter said this is a fairly common army that reaches back to before Season 1 kicked off. It plays well into the new harder Battle Tactics with it’s combination of resilience and movement. Drowned Men giving everything other than Belakor a 8″ pregame move is a big part of this. You can see how your opponent deploys and reacts. That also makes taking Bounty Hunters and a Battle Regiment more palatable, reducing the sting if you don’t finish deploying first.
The inclusion of Belakor brings 2 casts/unbinds to a list with little magic and is a combat monster with several powers to enhance his combat effectiveness, or longevity at least. The army is very combat focused, his high mobility with the Lord of Afflictions The Swarm Descends giving long range and threatening home objectives. The Blighlords can chew through screens efficiently giving the army a strong chance to deal with shooting. Through the event he only lost to the winner (in the final round) and took down several armies with access to solid shooting. The mobility and robustness of the army would have been an issue for both Idoneth and Stormcast.
Disease points make staying in combat for any length of time a loosing proposition. It gives a solid advantage against Ossiarch and Stormcast who have good saves but whose damage output might not be as high as the elves.
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Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords – Great Nation: Zaitrec – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
Leaders Vanari Lord Regent (155)* – General – Command Trait: Fast Learner – Extra Spell: Lambent Light – Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh Hurakan Windmage (120)* – Extra Spell: Guiding Flurries – Lore of the Winds: Transporting Vortex Scinari Loreseeker (170)* – Artefact: Gift of Celennar – Extra Spell: Lambent Light – Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh
Battleline 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)* – Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)* – Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)* – Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh 30 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (510)* – Lore of Hysh: Total Eclipse – Reinforced x 2 30 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (510)* – Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh – Reinforced x 2
Peter: Players often complain about Lumineth, but right now after the release of the new handbook, they’re not in a good place with a sub 45% win rate. That’s why I chose this list, Daniel’s done exceptionally well to claim four wins in the tournament.
Brett: I’d complain about this list as well – that’s 60 archers with 30″ range and potentially MW on 5+. This sort of list was common on the release of Lumineth and faded when no one would play them. An average 20 MW a shooting phase is enough to get anyone’s notice. Here Daniel has played into the small heroes to maximise troops so has 3 x 10 Wardens, arguably better than the Sentinels, for screening and generally being painful to deal with. If you charge into them they get extra rend and wound on a 3+. Assuming they don’t redeploy and leave you hanging for the next shooting phase.
Everything in this list is a wizard and everything has unbinds so your hero phase is likely to be “interesting”. Their spell lore is incredibly good at buffing and protecting the slightly soft Aelves, Speed of Hysh, doubling movement, Lambent Light, rerolls hit rolls with missile weapons, Protection of Hysh, 5+ ward. Guiding Flurries adds range and Transport Vortex, well that’s just a teleport. To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, you’d be mad to give an elf a chisel lest he carve his initials in your forehead with it. This lot would probably expect you to thank them.
The heroes are here mostly as buff characters but do offer some combat capacity if pushed (not the Windmage though). The army can easily divide into 2 shooting castles and dare you to engage. If need there is still the ability to teleport using vortex. This style of army was popular in the past but faded with the rise of DoK and Sons. And probably the painting of so many Sentinels. There are definite counters and because virtually the whole army is Galetian Veterans they are very susceptible to Bounty Hunter units. Good work from Daniel in piloting such an army and particularly in taking out 2 armies thought to offer good counters.
Final Tournament Placings
For the full tournament placings and other lists see Tabletop.TO
GGMaitland Age of Sigmar GT was a five game event that took place in Maitland, Australia on 5th and 6th March. It saw 37 players fight it out to be claimed champion.
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The 1st and 3rd Lists (2nd place not available)
1st Ashley McEwan – Sons of Behemat
Ashley won all five games beating Big Waaagh! in Round 1, Blades of Khorne/Reapers of Vengeance in Round 2, Seraphon/Fangs of Sotek in Round 3, Cities of Sigmar in Round 4 and Seraphon/Thunder Lizard in the last round.
Allegiance: Sons of Behemat – Tribe: Taker Tribe – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
1 x Mancrusher Gargants (170)** 1 × Mancrusher Gargants (170)**
Endless Spells & Invocations Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
Core Battalions *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent **Footsloggas – Unified
Additional Enhancements Artefact
Total: 1895 / 2000 Wounds: 129 Drops: 3
Declan – Having been top of the pile at the beginning of AOS3, Sons of Behemat have taken a bit of a hit in the meta as players moved to other Tier S armies. Ashley’s smashing face like its 2021 but with an endless spell and a (virtually) guaranteed triumph.
The Gatekeeper will be doing the smashing, but it’s good to see the two small guys attending as well, who will be helpful for holding objectives. Whilst they are easy to kill individually, you have to make the decision not to shoot / attack the bigger guys instead.
It’s still a good list and Ashley’s done really well to beat two Seraphon lists on his path to victory.
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3rd Joel Graham – Big Waaagh!
Joel managed an impressive four wins and one loss, losing against 1st Sons of Behemat/Taker Tribe in Round 1. Then continuing to beat Ogor Mawtribes/Bloodgullet in Round 2, Slaves to Darkness/Despoilers in Round 3, Lumineth Realm-Lords in Round 4and Daughters of Khaine/Khelt Nar in Round 5.
Allegiance: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Beast Master – Triumphs:
Kragnos, The End of Empires (720) Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (280)* Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Wurrgog Prophet (150)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)** – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)** – 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)** – 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)* – 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers
Declan – Ah, Big Waaagh! It’s a great allegiance that I love playing but Joel has gone in a very different direction. With three big monsters (Kragnos, Maw Krusha & Gobsprakk), a Warchanter and Wurrgog to keep the points flows. As readers of this blog will know the Wurrgog is a monster if you go within 12″ of him with his stare ability, and Kraggy and Maw Krusha can smash into most foes and do crippling damage, whilst Gobsprakk provides some magic defense.
I really like Big Waaagh because there are so many ways to play it and Joel has gone very differently to my version – and done well.
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Wildcard – Jacob Strachan – Lumineth Realm-Lords
Jacob managed to get four wins anda single loss during their weekend and finished 4th. Beating Lumineth Realm-Lords in Round 1, losing against Soulblight Gravelords/Vyrkos Dynasty in Round 2, then beating Sons of Behemat/Taker Tribe in Round 3, Daughters of Khaine/Hagg Nar in Round 4 and Sons of Behemat/Breaker Tribe in the final round.
– Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-Lords – Subfaction: Zaitrec – Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Scinari Loreseeker (170)* Sevireth, Lord of the Seventh Wind (345)* Vanari Lord Regent (155)* – General – Command Trait: Fast Learner – Artefact: Gift of Celennar – Spell: Speed of Hysh – Spell: Protection of Hysh
Declan – LRL as a wildcard is an interesting choice from Peter and this one is what I would call a ‘typical’ LRL build. A maximum unit of Sentinels with 30″ no line of sight mortal wound shooting. Meanwhile Severith and the Spirit of the Wind dance around the opponent and are virtually impossible to catch given their ability to move 12″ in both shooting phases (forget redeploy!).
Either surround them, shoot them or hope for the 12″ charge!
War in the North was a five game event that took place in Cairns City, Australia on 5th and 6th March. It saw 26 players fight it out to be claimed champion.
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The Top Three Lists
Zenith Mills-Shorter – Idoneth Deepkin
Zenith won all five games beating Sons of Behemat/Taker Tribe in Round 1, Nighthaunt/Emerald Host in Round 2, Flesh-eater Courts/Court of Delusion in Round 3, Disciples of Tzeentch/Hosts Duplicitous in Round 4 and Cities of Sigmar/Phoenicium in the last round.
Declan – The last swimming attacks before the new book! I don’t play against them often, and with the army about to change significantly… lets just say congratulations and well done to Zenith for giving a right royal send off!
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Josh Carroll – Disciples of Tzeentch
Josh managed an impressive four wins and one loss, losing only against 1st placed Zenith and his Idoneth Deepkin/Fuethan in Round 4. Along the way he beat Ironjawz/Blooftoofs in Round 1, Kruleboyz/Big Yellers in Round 2, Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar in Round 3and Stormcast Eternals/Hallowed Knights in Round 5.
Allegiance: Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Duplicitous – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Kairos Fateweaver (435)* – Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch Ogroid Thaumaturge (165)* – General – Command Trait: Will of the Phantom Lord – Artefact: Brand of the Spirit Daemon – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (255)* – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion
UNITS 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)* 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)* 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)* 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (100)* 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (100)*
Declan – Ah Tzeentch! Not seen them in a top three recently, but Josh has brought them back with a great 4-1 result. As with many Tzeentch armies this is all about the spells, and pinning the opponent into their deployment with the Soulscream Bridge and the Pink Horrors. Don’t be taken in by that wound count… each pink horror unit is 50 wounds, but only counts as 10 so that’s another 120 wounds to add (or 195 total)… plus summoning!
This is not easy to kill – so how to you fight it; well get on the objectives as quick as you can; have teleports (outside 30″ range) and make sure that you take into account Kairos’ ability to change a die roll – don’t let it cause you to lose a battle tactic!
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Ty Gordon – Cities of Sigmar
Like Josh, Ty won four games and lost only to eventual winner Zenith and his Idoneth Deepkin/Fuethan list in Round 5. Along the way he beat the Maggotkin of Nurgle/Befouling Host in Round 1, Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar in Round 3, Nighthaunt/Emerald Host in Round 3 and Flesh-eater courts/Court of Delusion in Round 4.
Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Phoenicium – Grand Strategy: Dominating Presence – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix (315)* – General – Command Trait: One with Fire and Ice – Golden Mist – Artefact: Phoenix Pyre Ashes Assassin (80)* Assassin (80)* Assassin (80)** Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (280) – Lore of the Phoenix: Golden Mist Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix (315)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon 10 x Phoenix Guard (175)* 10 x Phoenix Guard (175)* 10 x Phoenix Guard (175)* 10 x Shadow Warriors (120) 10 x Shadow Warriors (120)** 1 x Scourgerunner Chariots (80)* *Warlord **Vanguard ***Hunters of the Heartlands Artefact
Declan – The Pheonix ride with 4+ Ward save and very difficult to kill, with the range on the Hurricanum causing mortal wounds at range, and the assassins striking out of the Pheonix Guard units. It’s got a lot of tools, but is not a common or ‘net’ list so it’s good to see something different doing well. The double Frostheart is vicious… I can’t kill one with a Maw Krusha if it’s full health (although a Wurrgog is useful), so although it’s only 106 wounds, this has a lot more effective resistance.
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Wildcard – Matthew Kimber – Gloomspite Gitz
Matthew managed to get two wins and two draws during their weekend and finished 8th. Beating Lumineth Realm-Lords/Helon in Round 1, losing against Soulblight Gravelords/Legion of Blood in Round 2, drawing against Sons of Behemat/Taker Tribe in Round 3, beating Stormcast Eternals/Hallowed Knights in Round 4 before drawing against Nighthaunt/Emerald Host in the final round.
– Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Subfaction: Glogg’s Megamob – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Kragnos (720) Dankhold Troggboss (240)* – General – Command Traits: Shepherd of Idiotic Destruction – Artefacts of Power: Aetherquartz-studded Hide Fungoid Cave-Shaman (95)* – Spells: The Hand of Gork
BATTLELINE 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (155)* 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (155)* 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (290)* – Reinforced: Once 3 x Rockgut Troggoths (145)*
OTHER 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150)*
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1950/2000
Declan – 2 wins and 2 draws with Gitz… Great result from Matthew and a great pick from Peter. It is true that Kragnos is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here, and – if you can keep him away from mortal wound shooting – he’ll smash through what he charges. The Troggoths can do some damage, and the 5+ ward on the Rockguts is a nice additional defense measure. Whilst the Marshcrawla provides +1 to hit in a huge bubble.
It’s good to see Gitz recovering a little, but they seem to only be able to do this with Kragnos at the moment – it’s a shame the book isn’t good enough on its own!
The Ragnarok Hobbies event is a one day event that took place in on the 5th Feb in the UK. It involved 16 players duking it our over three glorious rounds of AoS.
Most Selected Faction/Subfaction
Win Rate
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The Top Three Lists
These were the top three lists from the Ragnarok Hobbies.
Joseph McGough – Disciples of Tzeentch
Joseph won all three games beating Gloomspite Gitz/Jaws of Mork in Round 1, Seraphon/Thunder Lizard in Round 2 Ogor Mawtribes in the last round.
Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Subfaction: Eternal Conflagration – Grand Strategy: Unknown – Triumph: Unknown
Core Battalions ———- *Command Entourage **Hunters of the Heartlands
Total Points: 1995 pts
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Russell Taylor – Seraphon
Russell won all of his three games. He beat Sons of Behemat/Taker Tribe in Round 1, Flesh-eater Courts/Gristlegore in Round 2 and Seraphon/Thunder Lizard in Round 3.
Behemoth ———- Bastiladon with Solar Engine (250) Bastiladon with Solar Engine (250)*
Units ———- 8x Salamander Hunting Pack (280)* – Reinforced: Once 8x Salamander Hunting Pack (280)* – Reinforced: Once
Endless Spells ———- Emerald Lifeswarm (60)
Terrain ———- Realmshaper Engine (0)
Core Battalions ———- *Battle Regiment
Total Points: 1995 pts
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Tom Bell – Flesh-eater Courts
Tom won two games and drew a third, he drew against Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar inround 1. Then beat Soulblight Gravelords/Legion of Night in Round 2 and Sons of Behemat/Taker Tribe in Round 3.
– Army Faction: Flesh-eater Courts/Gristlegore – Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS ———- Abhorrant Archregent (245)* – Artefacts of Power: The Dermal Robe – Spells: Flaming Weapon Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (445)* – Artefacts of Power: Blood-river Chalice – Spells: Blood Feast Crypt Ghast Courtier (70)* Duke Crakmarrow (135)*** Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Zombie Dragon (430)*** – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Spectral Host Crypt Haunter Courtier (115)*** – General – Command Traits: Dark Acolyte, Spell Lore – Deranged Transformation,
BATTLELINE ———- 6 x Crypt Horrors (220)* – Reinforced: Once 20 x Crypt Ghouls (170)** – Reinforced: Once 20 x Crypt Ghouls (170)** – Reinforced: Once
OTHER ———- 6 x The Grymwatch (135)***
TERRAIN ———- 1 x Charnel Throne (0)
CORE BATTALIONS ———- – *Warlord – **Hunters of the Heartlands – ***Warlord TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
These were the top three lists from the Justice Series GT 5th November 2021
Simon W – Disciples of Tzeentch
Simon won the event with five wins from five and 150 tournament points.
Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Subfaction: Hosts Duplicitous – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders ———- Lord of Change (General) (420 pts)+ – Command Trait: Will of the Phantom Lord – Artefact: Brand of the Split Daemon – Spell: Tzeentch’s Firestorm Changecaster (135 pts)+ – Spell: Bolt of Tzeentch
Battleline ———- Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (645 pts)+ – Reinforced: Twice Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (430 pts)+ – Reinforced: Once Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (215 pts)+
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