An Age of Sigmar short-story by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Web of Ruin was released in 2023 but re-released in the free ‘Black Library Celebration 2025’ anthology available in English, German & French either from a local Warhammer store or free from Black Library with most purchases.
This coincides with World Book Day (6th March), and as avid readers ourselves we will be marking this occasion by reviewing all 4 stories in the anthology – and encouraging reading of course!
From the book:
The Tarantulos Brood are Slaves to Darkness who seek out mutagenic substances to uplift their mortal forms and grow ever closer to the sacred shape of their spidery god. In order to reach the top of their power structure they must demonstrate that they can wrangle the most deadly arachnids into servitude. Follow as one Broodkin seeks out his Chaos tained prey.
When Warcry was released Warhammer Community put one of the models from the Tarantulos Brood on the Rumour Engine… and all the Gloomspite players thought that we would be getting new spiderfang grots… or something. Because spiders were always a Destruction thing. To say that the Destruction community was ‘not happy’ with a Slaves to Darkness unit taking their spiders would be an under statement.
Well Adrian Tchaikovsky brings us a story from the Tarantulos Brood as they are ambushed (unsuccessfully) by a Grot Shaman and are told of the location of a Arachnarok spider who is close to death. The Brood can’t resist and force the Grot to lead them to his spider… who will emerge victorious.
This is another great short story, and has characters that even those new to Age of Sigmar will be able to understand. There are humans worshippping Chaos via a Spider God and Grots (goblins) trying to ambush them and then stop them reaching their version of a Spider God – and Arachnarok Spider (although Tchaikovsky never uses this term).
Could this be the revenge Destruction want from their false spider brethren, or will Slaves to Darkness arise triumphant?
Whilst this is a good story, I again have to question why it was in the compilation for 2025… a quick look at the Games Workshop website to see Warcry and the game itself is ‘Online only’… oh dear!! but you can’t even buy the Tarantulos Brood – they are discontinued. Weird!
But the star rating is for Adrian Tchaikovsky’s writing, not the strange editing decision.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
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This is the top three AoS lists for Sydney Slaughter that took place in Australia on the 10th and 11th of June. It involved 71 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Quick note, Win/Loss was not the only criteria for ranking, for more information see the Mortally Wounded podcast.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
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Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Hedonites of Slaanesh – Army Subfaction: Pretenders – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER Lord of Pain (135)* – General – Command Traits: Strength of Godhood – Artefact: The Crown of Dark Secrets Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (360)* Great Bray Shaman (95)* – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE 22 x Blisssbarb Archers (300)* – Reinforced x 1 22 x Blisssbarb Archers (300)* – Reinforced x 1 22 x Blisssbarb Archers (300)* – Reinforced x 1 22 x Blisssbarb Archers (300)* – Reinforced x 1
OTHER 5 x Blissbarb Seekers (200)*
CORE BATTALIONS: 1 x Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1985/2000)
Joshua Bennett: Greetings readers, have you ever seen the movie 300? If you have, you know the famous scene where the Persian tells Leonidas that their arrows will block out the sun. Well, if you play against this list, you will fully understand what that statement means.
With 88 blissbarb archers, it sends a total of 160 shots your way. Teamed up with pretenders, it allows three of those units to auto run 6 inches, and since the warscroll allows you to run and shoot, you are looking at a 30-inch threat range for them. Also, they are allowed to all out attack three of those units. So 120 of those shots hitting on 2s and wounding on 3. Which makes them a very reliable source of damage. At rend 1 people almost shrug them off but teamed up with the blissbarb seekers they become rend two and pick up most of anything that they are shooting at.
Oh Be’lakor, this guy does great in mitigating some of the bad matchups by shutting down the units that cause problems. Also, him being a 4 plus save, he can help tank some of the high rend units that might put unwanted pressure on the list. Lord of pain is used to ensure that last unit of blissbarbs and also hitting on twos or negating any negatives to hit and wound. The common trait strength of Godhood also allows him to handle his own in combat. The Crown of Dark Secrets takes an enemy hammer unit and cripples its ability to deal damage by reducing the number of attacks to one. I need to say that again, not reduced by one, reduced to one.
If you think I have to hit this list super hard super fast, I would urge you to really think about how you’re going to do this. Charging into this list is very dangerous due to the fact that pretenders can unleash hell three times. That’s a potential 120 shots into a hammer or 40 shots three times over to three different units. Makes charging this list a little tricky.
Look, this is an amazing list and very similar to the list I personally run. But if you are looking to play something like this, be prepared to have no friends. (i’m just kidding) If you’re playing against this list and it’s bright in the area you are playing, fear not for soon the arrows will black out the sky.
Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz – Gittish Horde: Jaws of Mork – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADERS Skragrott, The Loonking (210)** Grinkrak The Great (190)** Loonboss (85)** – General – Command Trait: The Clammy Hand Madcap Shaman (70)* – Artefact: Moonface Mommet – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (100)* 36 x Squig Herd (390)* – Reinforced x 2 20 x Squig Hoppers (360)** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Boingrot Bounderz (280)** – Reinforced x 1
UNITS 5 x Gobbapalooza (160)** 6 x Grinkrak’s Looncourt (0)* 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150)**
CORE BATTALION *Battle Regiment **Battle Regiment
Total: 1995 / 2000
Army Faction: Kharadron Overlords – Army Subfaction: Barak Urbaz – Artycle: Settle the Grudges – Amendment: Trust to Your Guns – Footnote: There’s No Reward Without Risk
LEADER Arkanaut Admiral (125)* – General – Command Traits: Stormcaller – Artefact: Masterwrought Armour – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Gurish Rage Aether-Khemist (80)* Aetheric Navigator (85)* Codewright (90)** Edrinmaster with Endrinharness (90)** – Artefact: Phosphorite Bomblets Edrinmaster with Endrinharness (90)**
BATTLELINE 20 x Arkanaut Company (200)* – 2 x Skypikes – 2 x Light Skyhooks – 2 x Aethermatice Volley Guns – Reinforced x 1 3 x Endrinriggers (120)* 3 x Endrinriggers (120)* 1 x Grundstock Gunhauler (170)** – Main Gun: Sky Cannon – Gunhauler Modifications: Coalbeard’s Collapsible Compartments
OTHER 6 x Skywardens (260)***5 x Grundstock Thunderers (135)*** – 1 x Decksweepers – 1 x Aethercannons
BEHEMOTHS Arkanaut Frigate (300) – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon – Frigate Regittings: Prudency Chutes
Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Blessed Sons
LEADERS Bload Rotspawned (320)* Lord of Afflications (230)* – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench – Artefact: The Splithorn Helm – Dolorous Tocsin – Incubatch Orghotts Daemonspew (320) Sloppity Bilepiper, Herald of Nurgle (130)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Battleline 10 x Plaguebearers (150)* – Icon Bearer – Piper – Plagueridden 4 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (500)* – Dolorous Tocsin 20 x Rotmire Creed (260)* – 1 x Reinforced – 2x Witherlord
OTHER 9 x Corvus Cabal – Allies
TERRAIN Feculent Gnarlmaw
CORE BATTLIONS Battle Regiment
Roland Rivera: Thomas Oliver’s list is a spicy one indeed. While it includes the common elements to most successful Nurgle lists in Bloab and Orghotts as quality Hero Monsters, the Lord of Afflictions as a hard-to-kill disruption piece, and Pusgoyle Blightlords as durable fast-moving frontliners, it is complementing them with some interesting choices in a Sloppity Bilepiper, some Plaguebearers, a reinforced unit of Rotmire Creed, and some Corvus Cabal.
The combination of Sloppity and Plaguebearers is intended to hold opponents in place by engaging enemy units (or forcing them to engage you) in situations where they will find it difficult to bring their full force to bear against the Plaguebearer unit, then using the Sloppity’s ability to disable pile-ins to prevent repositioning. This combination is often seen in Daemon-centric lists, but Mortal-centric lists rarely reach for it, making its inclusion here very interesting.
Units of Rotmire Creed in Blessed Sons Nurgle lists are quite common, but they are usually minimum-sized units whose purpose is to fulfill Battleline requirements cheaply while providing you with shooty screens for your Hero Monsters. This reinforced unit is likely intended to be a dedicated objective sitter that can soften opposing units up with its shooting and potentially put an Unleash Hell or two out there.
Lastly, the Corvus seem to be here in order to provide the same deepstriking nuisance function Nurglings typically serve at enough of a points discount to not make the list go over. Overall, a very interesting list with a solid result to back up its viability.
Brimingham AoS GT took place in Birmingham, UK on 21st and 22nd May. It involved 59 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three, 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.
1st Place – Daniil Osudin
Daniil won all five games over the weekend. Along the way he beat Daughters of Khaine/Khailebron in round 1, Idoneth Deepkin/Ionrach in round 2, Maggotkin of Nurgle/Drowned Men in round 3, Blades of Khorne/Reapers of Vengeance in round 4 and Seraphon/Thunder Lizard in Round 5.
Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Gavespawn – Mortal Realm: Aqshy – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)* – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage Beastlord (95)* – Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade
Battleline 30 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (525)* – 18x Pair of Savage Blade – 12x Savage Greatblade – Reinforced x 2 20 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (350)* – 12x Pair of Savage Blade – 8x Savage Greatblade – Reinforced x 1 10 x Gors (75)* – Gor-Blades & Beastshields
Units 3 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (180)* 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1
Danny: We’ve seen Beasts of Chaos win events since their Tome Celestial – one of the most impactful of its kind so far – and hats off to Daniil for winning what was by all accounts a supremely competitive event with them! Tzaangor Enlightened have quickly become a favourite due to their speed, sheer number of attacks – and a hugely clutch ability to re-roll ALL hits and wounds if an enemy unit within 3″ has already fought. The list is rounded out by plenty of big chaff blocks (who can still blend with a few buffs on them – typically from the Herdstone) and hero utility picks – interestingly, he foregoes a lot of the usual big beasties! Less sheer threat, but gives up less points and allows much greater board-control, a very techy and clearly adaptable list.
2nd Place – Dominic Stonebridge
Simon managed four wins and a draw over the two days.. Along the way they beat Seraphon/Thunder Lizard in round 1, Nighthaunt/Emerald Host in round 2, Skaventide in round 3. Drew against Soulblight Gravelords/Kastelai Dynasty in round 4 and beat Maggotkin of Nurgle/Blessed Sons in the last round.
Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz – Option: Glogg’s Megamob – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Dankhold Troggboss – Trev (240)* – General – Command Trait: Shepard of Idiotic Destruction – Artefact: Aetherquartz-studded Hide Fungoid Cave-Shaman – Freddie the Fungoid (95)** – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork Madcap Shaman – Madcap Max (80)** – Artefact: Moonface Mommet – Lore of the Moonclans: Itchy Nuisance Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth – Mr Marvin Brute (180)* – Allies
Battleline 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (290)*** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (290)*** – Reinforced x 1 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (155)*** 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (155)**
Units 5 x Spider Riders (100)* 3 x Rippa’s Snarlfangs (70)* 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth – Drummer Dave (150)*
Behemoths Aleguzzler Gargant – Gary (165)*
Endless Spells & Invocations The Burning Head – Steve the Swamp Trogg (20)
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment **Warlord ***Hunters of the Heartlands
Danny: What. a. hero. Two of my club-mates played this list (1 lost, one held them to a draw) and described it as super techy and flexible, and the pilot as galaxy-brain level. The list roughly works around what my club-mate called ‘little shaman bastards’ handing out -1 save to a unit in the combat phase, the troll boss giving reroll 1’s to hit in an 18″ bubble and the Marsh-crawler (aka Murder Dobby) giving +1 hit in an 18″ bubble. So every trogg unit is 2’s rerolling 1’s and a -3 effective rend to one unit. Add in Gary the Gargant for monstrous ‘stuff’ in general (scoring, actions) spider-riders and Snarlfangs to function as fast flankers or emergency screens, and you have what was apparently a near impossible army to beat. Bonus points for naming his heroes!
3rd Place – Alexander Theophanos
Alexander finished the weekend with one loss and four wins. His path saw him beat Nighthaunt/Reikenor’s Comdemned in round 1, then Seraphon/Thunder Lizard in round 2. In round 3 he beat Soulblight Gravelords/Kastelai Dynasty. He had a bye in round 4, this was then followed by a loss to 1st place Daniil and his Beasts of Chaos/Gavespawn in round 5.
Danny: It wouldn’t be a top 3 without a Thunder Lizards list now would it? There’s not a huge amount to say about it other than it’s gone the interesting route of taking a Troglodon with Kroak. The way this works is, Kroak’s horrible MW spells only has a 10″ range but can be measured from any Skink Oracle unit on the board – and guess what keyword the Troglodon has? So it’s a mobile range-extender essentially – more utility than a spell-portal and can obviously do stuff in its own right (not much though, it’s fairly useless in melee). It’s a huge amount of points to invest in a Kroak-combo but it does add value and clearly didn’t make the list too vulnerable overall.
Wildcard – Tom Welsh
Tom won three games and drew two, ending his weekend in a very respectful 6th. Along the way he beat Ossiarch Bonereapers/Mortis Praetorians in round 1, Stormcast Eternals/Knights Excelsior in round 2 and Nighthaunt/Emerald Host in round 3. Then in the last two rounds he drew against the Gloomspite Gitz/Glogg’s Megamob of Dominic in round 4 and Soulblight Gravelords/Kastelai Dynasty in round 5.
Leaders Radukar the Beast (315) Prince Vhordrai (455)* – spell: Amethystine Pinions Wight King on Skeletal Steed (130)* – General – Command Trait: Rousing Commander – Artefact of Power: Grave-sand Shard Vampire Lord (140)* – Spell: Spirit Gale Coven Throne (290)** – Spell: Amaranthine Orb – Artefact of Power: Fragment of the keep
Battleline Grave Guard with Great Wight Blade (280)** – Reinforced: Once Blood Knights (195)** Blood Knights (195)**
Danny: My club-mate Tom Welsh came 6th after a nail-biting tie with the 7th place SBGL player, after he beat Nighthaunt, Stormcast, and drew with 2nd place Gitz. It’s a general SBGL good-stuff Kastelai list, with 2 units of Blood Knights who can come in from a board edge and get progressively stronger as they kill stuff, the usual great chaff units and two synergistic hammers. The first is Radukar + Graveguard – after a nearby unit makes a successful charge, the wolf-vampire-man can pop a CA for an aura of +1 attack – and because it’s an aura, it leaves the Graveguard themselves open to an All out Attack – meaning a unit of 20 is doing 60 2/4/-1/2 attacks, with additional mortals on 6s to wound. Utterly brutal.
The even more horrific combo is Coven Throne with Vhordrai, the named vampire lord on dragon that isn’t taken quite so often. The Coven Throne can pop a targeted command for +1 to attack, wound and save – add that to Vhordrai’s insane offensive stat-line on the charge and you have a super fast flying monster that can blend almost anything in the game – and, with All out Defence and EITHER mystic shield or Finest Hour, be on a 2+ ignoring rend 2 with a ward of 6 and multiple ways to heal, in and out of combat. Big congrats to Tom and Vhordrai for a great result!
