This is the top three AoS lists for Welsh Open that took place in the Cardiff, Wales on the 29th and 30th of April. It involved 51 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: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Big Chungus(450)* Frostlord on Stonehorn – General – Command Trait: Voice of the Avalanche – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder Queen Divine(330)** Huskard on Thundertusk – Blood Vulture – Mount Trait: Rimefrost Hide – Prayer: Keening Gale
BATTLELINE Netflix Comedy Special (310)* Stonehorn Beastriders – Weapon: Blood Vulture Lesbian Bed Death (310)* Stonehorn Beastriders – Weapon: Blood Vulture The TERF Eater (310)* Stonehorn Beastriders – Weapon: Blood Vulture White Male Privilege (270)** Thundertusk Beastriders – Weapon: Blood Vulture
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment **Torrbad
TOTAL: 1980 / 2000
Taking down the Welsh Open in a SPICY meta (it’s the stomping ground of the Team Lit folks, among many other reputable gaming clubs around the greater area) is this Monster truck list from competitive stalwart, Hazel Moon.
vroom vroom! Aside from the galaxy-brain race-horse style names, there’s not a tonne unusual about this list. Big Stonehorns never really go out of style – but one thing that makes them especially interesting in this season is their vulture attacks – it’s 1 MW on a 2+ per stonehorn but it doesn’t actually count as a shooting attack and can therefore target those lovely squishy GCs with, on average, 5 MWs per shooting phase.
Other than being strong on objectives, having fantastic charge mortals (especially helpful in this -1/2 hit meta we’re seeing), this is a super reliable list with all the tools to do well – the fact Hazel took down BoC, KO and Fyreslayers twice is testament to the that. Keep on truckin’ Hazel!
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Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Vostarg – Grand Strategy: Master of the Forge – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADERS Auric Runefather (120)** – General – Command Trait: Spirit of Grimnir Auric Runemaster (130)** – Artefact: Volatile Brazier – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse Battlesmith (150)** – Artefact: Nulsidian Icon – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Auric Runesmiter (120)*** – Forge Key – Prayer: Ember Storm Auric Flamekeeper (90)*** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) Auric Flamekeeper (90)***
BATTLELINE 30 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (480)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)* 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)* 15 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (450)** – Poleaxes – Reinforced x 2
ENDLESS SPELLS AND INVOCATIONS Molten Infernoth (40)
Kevin Lathers: Now you may ask yourself, have I seen this list before? Well, sort of.
Slight permutations of this list have been making the rounds. Sometimes it’s Greyfyrd, but I think Vostarg has taken over a bit: it’s easy to see why with its huge bonus to vulkites (+1 to hit and wound on charge). That usually trumps two extra artefacts.
Pulling the previous summary of the list: it relies on blocks of infantry holding objectives and looking for openings to run + charge (ember storm prayer) into important units. The 10-man Vulkite units are both screens and hammers while the Hearthguard are immovable block that can strike first into anyone thinking charging it is a good idea.
The smaller Vulkites and HGB feed into the 30-man Vulkite unit which can pick anything in the game up off the board with dual-flamekeeper buffs. Between 90 and 120 attacks (if Runefather buff is active) on that 30-man black at 3-damage each means even if an opponent is saving on a 2+ they are going to get toasted.
Once the engine of the flamekeepers gets going it’s hard to stop unless opponents can somehow take them out. But they can be well protected behind the infantry and focus on them means Vulkites are staying alive. And with how many Vulkite and Hearthguard Berserkers there are, this is a lot of wounds to chew through.
It’s notable that Alex had to play against not one, but two, Helon LRL lists. LRL usually can give FS a tough time with their AoE spellcasting and precision MWs, but Alex managed to massage that Nulsidian Icon (4+ spell ignore) to a win against both opponents. Further, this list has the benefit of high wound amounts which can sometimes thwart LRL attempts at unit removal.
His other three opponents used combat armies (Khorne, Ogors, and NH) which always struggle into FS lists like this. Once they get stuck in and start killing vulkites it only makes the next combat even worse for them and they quickly getting burned to the ground by the incredible damage stacking of flamekeepers.
As long as we remain in this GHB I will expect to continue seeing this list, or ones very similar to it, show up.
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Allegiance: Sylvaneth – Glade: Heartwood – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Alarielle the Everqueen (820)* Arch-Revenant(120)* – General – Command Trait: Warsinger – Artefact: Seed of Rebirth (Universal Artefact) – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
BATTLELINE 6 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (460)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)*
UNITS 5 x Gossamid Archers (210)*
ENDLESS SPELL AND INVOCATIONS Spiteswarm Hive (40) Season: Dwindling
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL: 1990 / 2000
The Mathmallow version of the current Sylvaneth hotness adds a unit of Gossamid archers as an additional, incredibly mobile, screen to prevent opponents from interfering with the backline artillery station of 9 Kurnoth hunters.
This style of list has only gotten more popular as the way Sylvaneth is built in GTs has been honed to a fine edge, Alarielle creates a terrible problem for an opponent with her self-recursion and enormous wound count demanding answers, and quickly, to prevent Sylvaneth stabilising on board state and achieving enough positive trades to begin to take over in the late game when Alarielle returns. This long-game style of play, combined with enormous range of influence, excellent mobility and uninteractive trading make sylvaneth more than capable of taking all comers – an absolute must for a GT.
This list is relatively well-spoken about so I’ll avoid going into it too much but in this humble writer’s opinion the Gossamid archers are the most interesting inclusion in this list, an obvious answer to alpha-strike style combat armies, the gossamids are intended to give an extra layer of screening to objectives and provide time for the relatively medium output of the kurnoths to do their work. They do decent damage on their own but strike me as a tech piece aiming to address one of the major flaws of the list: it being so light on bodies. I’d be interested to hear what Mathmallow thinks of them after using them consistently in a few GTs.
A man that needs no introductions, posting another truly LIT performance, well done Mathew
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Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Hagg Nar – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Hag Queen on Cauldron of Blood (280)* – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Prayer: Sacrament of Blood High Gladiatrix (90)** – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master High Gladiatrix (90)** Bloodwrack Medusa (140)** – Artefact: Crystal Heart – Lore of Shadows: Mindrazor
BATTLELINE 20 x Witch Aelves (240)** – Pairs of Sacrificial Knives – Reinforced x 1 20 x Witch Aelves (240)** – Pairs of Sacrificial Knives – Reinforced x 1 10 x Witch Aelves (120)** – Pairs of Sacrificial Knives 10 x Witch Aelves (120)** – Pairs of Sacrificial Knives
UNITS 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)* 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)*
BEHEMOTHS Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)** – Allies
DoK have seen a fairly dramatic fall from grace this season since their points hikes, a shallow book and a number of strong new tomes, but they’re still fundamentally a good army – especially, for my money, when they focus on Aelf swarms.
Those scantily glad murder-vixens don’t look like much on paper – but buffed with +1 to wound by the Gladiatrix, +1 to save by proximity to the Blood Wagon, and starting at Blood Rites 2 in Hagg Nar, they can really perform. If Mindrazor goes off on them too, which the Krondspine’s +1 to cast will help with, they can reach silly level of output, with 3 attacks at 2/3/-2/2 on the charge.
Speaking of Spinedog, we haven’t seen him around these parts for a while, but here he acts as a Morathi-proxy who is, under some scenarios, actually harder to kill and can really allow the Aelf hordes to get into position and choose favourable engagements.
A smart list which I don’t envy having to push around – dems a lorra liddle bases! Makes me wonder – are DoK in line for some new units (and I don’t mean useless Underworlds warbands etc) – perhaps with the Dawnbringer books? That little extra depth could be what they need to shine/bathe in blood again!
This is the top three AoS lists for Highground Brewsky GT that took place in the Michigan, United States on the 29th and 30th of April. It involved 42 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Hedonites of Slaanesh – Army Type: Pretenders – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Shardspeaker of Slaanesh (125)* – Spells: Born of Damnation 1 x Contorted Epitome (190)* – Spells: Phantasmagoria – Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage 1 x Keeper of Secrets (400)* – General – Command Traits: Strength of Godhood – Shining Aegis – Artefacts: The Crown of Dark Secrets – Spells: Flaming Weapon
BATTLELINE 11 x Blissbarb Archers (150)* 11 x Blissbarb Archers (150)* 30 x Daemonettes (375)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Mesmerising Mirror (60)
OTHER 5 x Symbaresh Twinsouls (140) 5 x Blissbarb Seekers (200)* 5 x Slickblade Seekers (200)*
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Crematorians – Grand Strategy: The Scales Balanced – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Liege-Kavalos (180)* – General – Command Traits: Diversionary Tactics Mortisan Ossifector (120)* – Artefacts of Power: Gothizzar Cartouche – Spells: Empower Nadirite Weapons – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master Arkhan the Black (370)*
Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (450) – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder 1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (450)* – Mount Traits: Belligerent Charger 1 x Tyrant (150)* – Artefacts: Nightflyer Cloak – Big Name: Deathcheater 1 x Icebrow Hunter (120)* – General – Command Traits: Touched by the Everwinter – Prayers: Keening Gale 1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (450)** – Mount Traits: Metalcruncher 1 x Bloodpelt Hunter (140)** – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE 2 x Frost Sabres (80)** 2 x Frost Sabres (80)** 2 x Frost Sabres (80)**
This is the top three AoS lists for Border War 2023 that took place in the Albury, Australia on the 29th and 30th of April. It involved 43 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.
Kharadron Code – Artycle: Settle The Grudges – Amendment: Prosecute Wars With All Haste – Footnote: There’s No Reward Without Risk
LEADERS Arkanaut Admiral (125)* – General – Command Trait: Stormcaller – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha Aetheric Navigator (85)* – Artefact: Voidstone Orb Endrinmaster with Endrinharness (90)*
BATTLELINE 9 x Endrinriggers (360)* – 1x Grapnel Launchers – Reinforced x 2 10 x Arkanaut Company (100)* – 1x Skypikes – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns Arkanaut Frigate (300)* – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon 10 x Grundstok Thunderers (270)* – 2x Aetheric Fumigators – 2x Decksweepers – 2x Aethercannons – 2x Grundstok Mortars – Reinforced x 1
UNITS 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (170)* – Main Gun: Sky Cannon – Gunhauler Modifications: Zonbarcorp ‘Debtsettler’ Spar Torpedo
BEHEMOTHS Arkanaut Ironclad (500)* – Main Gun: Great Sky Cannon – Major Installation: Zonbarcorp ‘Dealbreaker’ Battle Ram
CORE BATTALION *Battle Regiment
Total: 2000 / 2000
Sometimes, it pays off to lean into the highlights of a new Battletome, and Luca Foerster’s Barak Zilfin Kharadron Overlords list does this perfectly. One of the biggest loses to Kharadron Overlords was the loss of Aethergold in the new book, which was often used for an on-demand +1 to wound, Luca offsets this by taking the new Settle The Grudges Artycle which gives all Kharadron Overlords units a static +1 to wound against a target chosen at the start of the game. Less versatile, for sure, but often more impactful when multiple units are needed to ensure that something is made dead.
Luca starts things off with a classic Admiral taking Stormcaller and Leadership of the Alpha. Stormcaller allows for the rerolling of dice from the Navigator’s Read the Winds ability, which I will talk about in a moment. He follows that up with an Endrinmaster with Endrinharness, which pays the tax of allowing Endrinriggers to be battleline. Lastly, for heroes, he has taken a Navigator who gets an unbind/dispel and is carrying a Voidstone Orb, which is a once per game Artefact that will auto-unbind a spell. A powerful deterrent against trying to snipe heroes with spells or setting up crippling -1 to hit/wound auras. However, the real power of the Navigator is its Read the Winds ability, which allows it to roll six dice and then choose an effect. It can choose to either pick an enemy unit for each “one” it rolls to deal d3 mortal wounds and half movement until its next hero phase or for each “six” pick a friendly Boat and immediately normal move it D3+3 inches. The extra movement is great, but the real value is crippling fast enemy units, and combined with the reroll from the Admiral’s Stormcaller ability it can flat out win games by crippling the opponent’s ability to advance up the board to contest objectives or complete battle tactics. Sometimes, the best way to win is to not allow your opponent to play, and I especially feel for the poor Sons of Behemat player who ran afoul of this.
Moving onto his troop selection, Luca has taken a sample of the Kharadron mainstays. He has a double reinforced unit of Endrinriggers, which brings a bucket of rend -2 to the game both at range and in melee. They can also heal the boats, but that is just a bonus. The native rend -2 is the real benefit here. Next up, we have a common theme within Kharadron in this edition, the extremely efficient reinforced Thunderers with Special Weapons. They bring a massive amount of firepower at shotgun range, but back that up with a native 3+ save, 20 wounds, debuffs, and even mortal wounds in melee. They are a classic, “Move Me” objective holder with just enough range that they can not be ignored. A unit of Arkanauts rounds out the troop selection.
To finish off the list, Luca brought one of each of the Kharadron boats. An Ironclad toting around the Battle Ram to combo with the once per game 3d6 charge from his Footnote, a battleline Frigate courtesy of Barak Zilfin, and a cheeky Gunhauler to give the larger boats a 6+ ward save and a fast mover to cap objectives later in the game. He packages all of this into a one-drop Battle Regiment at an even 2000 points.
This is a classic list that can do well at range and in melee. It presents a difficult challenge for opponents as the Battletome Battle Tactics allow it to avoid interaction but greatly punishes opponents who spread out to score their own. Combined with Luca’s outstanding play, I pity the poor souls who had to face it.
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Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Boulderhead – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Frostlord on Stonehorn (450) – Artefact: Vial of Manticore Venom (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder Frostlord on Thundertusk (400) – Mount Trait: Matriarch Huskard on Thundertusk (330)* – Blood Vulture – Mount Trait: Rimefrost Hide – Prayer: Keening Gale Icebrow Hunter (120)* – General – Command Trait: Touched by the Everwinter – Prayer: Pulverising Hailstorm – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
BATTLELINE 6 x Mournfang Pack (510)* – Gargant Hackers – Reinforced x 2 2 x Frost Sabres (80)* 2 x Frost Sabres (80)*
We’ve an absolute legend joining our team for the top three comments this week.
Peter Atkinson (AKA Plastic Craic) has recently made a return with a revamped website and a crack team of top AoS gamers to help him!
Peter Atkinson: Thanks for having me on gents – long time listener, first time caller.
“It’s gotta be Little Lisa Simpson, Springfield’s answer to a question NOBODY ASKED!”
– Ned Flanders
Well he’s pulled one out of the bag here, hasn’t he? The Thundertusk answers the question nobody asked, namely “how can I do chip damage to a chaff unit in the shooting phase?”. The whole point of shooting is that you get to pick where the damage goes, but the limitations around where (and how much) the Thundertusk can apply its output are usually seen as crippling in the hands of most players.
Well, up steps The Mayor to show he’s not most players.
The Factory-standard Frostlord is of course present, with the Manticore Venom artefact being a slightly unorthodox pick, but all Stonehorns will take consistency of output where they can get it. I like it. In fact, I might just copy it.
Then Mat goes off script with the double Tusks: one as a Frostlord for the 3+ save and at least some kind of melee output, and the other packing the 5++ ward Trait. Coupled with the Boulderhead extra wounds and neg -1 to wound on the big lad, Mat has layered up the durability buffs in this army, but he’s done the same with his charge bonuses too. Both Frostlords add stacking +1s to charge in an aura, and the 3rd Mount Trait does the same (for Thundertusks only), so they’re all supporting each other to charge at +2” or +3”. It won’t boost the charge mortals, but it can blow the game wide open with some unexpected long bombs.
And how about those Mournfang? He has the prayer for extra movement on them, so with dual Frosties nearby and their native plus 1” to charge, they’re often gonna be zipping around at +3” to move and +3” to charge. This unit is a ride-on lawnmower, and your army is the mole poking its head out of the ground.
They give zero fucks about overwatch too, so with all their charge mortals added in, KO might not be as scary as you think; and speaking of KO, those Thunderers make a prime target for Thundertusk shooting. You don’t want the pricks rallying back, but bringing them into combat means they can’t use Rally anyway.
In fact, expensive combat units with good saves are where Thundertusks want to be generally, and there’s a lot of that in the meta right now; so if they will ever have a time to shine this is it. They won’t go too badly into Khorne’s Mighty Skullcrushers for example, with a double-tap putting enough mortals into them that a decent charge or two could clean them up without even worrying about that stupid 0+ save. OBR springs to mind too.
In practice though, I think I’d use the Thundertusks just as often to bludgeon through a support hero. 2 mortals, another 2 mortals, Blood Vulture, bam. That’s a 5-wound hero gone. The chances of spiking off a 6-wound hero are not trivial, and across two turns of shooting it’s very likely they’re toast. Efficient sniping? No, but sometime’s a Tyrant’s gotta do what a Tyrant’s gotta do. And something like a Krulghast or Death Frenzy can just switch off your win condition, so efficiency goes out the window at that point and you just do what you have to.
The kitty cats are an ace in the hole, popping up to secure Desecrate and then (because they can’t be shot in cover) usually forcing a far-more-expensive combat unit to hit reverse gear and clear them up. They’re not half bad at soaking up a mortal-wound overwatch too.
I know Mat has owned this army for aeons but it rarely sees the tabletop in competitive play. So I’ll be honest, I looked at this list and thought Mat was bringing a palette-cleanser pick for his hometown GT, so he could relax into his games with no pressure.
Well the more you look at it, the better it gets. It’s surprisingly strong into a couple of dominant new books and you write it off at your peril. Strutting onto the podium with such a unique list is a great achievement – well done mate.
If you found this write-up informative, check out our site over at Plastic Craic where we’re smashing out regular, high-quality Age of Sigmar coverage. See you there.
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Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Archaon the Everchosen (860)* – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed Chaos SorcererLord (120)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Chaos Familiar – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – The Lore of the Damned: Chaotic Conduit
BATTLELINE 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 5x Fellspear – 1x Daemonforged Blade – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided 5 x Chaos Knights (220)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Ensorcelled Banner: The Blasted Standard
Ok folks, we’ve reached the Slaves sass threshold. What that means is we’ve now seen enough good results, with similar-enough lists, in a short enough time period, that I get to be a little bitch about them.
So what we have here is lots of the two good units in the book (cavalry) in the sub-faction that makes cavalry able to run and charge, with Archaon slapped on top for good measure. Archaon does offer a lot of tactical flexibility thanks to his picking a mark before deployment and not in the list building stage, and even though he’s always been frustratingly easy to kill and frustratingly bad at killing when I’ve run him, when he inevitably gets the Nurgle mark he’s definitely an annoying man-mountain that can stomp an objective while the 6 Varanguard do their thing.
I’ve also spotted that the Chaos Knights have been marked Tzeentch so that they can be yoinked around a bit by the Tzeentch Sorceror Lord. I wonder if that ever actually went off? At least it’s new!
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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Karazai, The Scarred (550)* Lord-Castellant (160)* – Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm (Galletian Champion) Lord-Relictor (150)* – General – Command Trait: High Priest – Prayer: Translocation – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE 4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (480)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Liberators (120)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield 10 x Vanquishers (220)* – Reinforced x 1
UNITS 6 x Praetors (280)* – Reinforced x 1
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS Holy Command: Call for Aid
Joel’s a really knowledgeable Stormcast Player and has been running a version of this list for most of the edition. You can check out the development of the list and how it plays on his channel Measured Gaming. Some of the most entertaining Battle Reps you’ll watch, but I warn you, it’s very definitely NSFW.
The concept is simple, go first and jam Karazai into something. He is either going to be a wrecking ball or serve as a fantastic distraction (you can’t let him run around). There are still 2 Galetian Champions for battle tactics, the Lord Castellant is one of the strongest here, with a 5+ ward to make him harder to shift. Scions of the Storm lets you get him where you want him if you keep him off the board. There is the choice of either the Vanquishers or the Fulminators to accompany him. 7 Units, only half are allowed in the storm chamber, giving a few options. The Praetors are along to provide their bodyguard to Karazai. Staying close to Karazai is the trick though.
The Praetors are probably a surprise for anyone who hasn’t played against them. With 3 attacks and 2 damage, they have solid output, especially into 4+ and 5+ saves. If your army relies on a big block of something or a couple of models, Karazai is your worst nightmare. Most of the lists Joel faced suffered from that issue or would struggle to affect Karazai as MSU (Bladegheists). If you have a lot of threats and enough units though, you can overwhelm this list and score where they aren’t. I’ll let Kieron cover how the Skaven list worked against Karazai. I’m predicting disposable clan rats helped clog up the works.
If you have the chance it’s worth watching how Joel plays this list, it’s fun if nothing else. He’s also one of the few people that seem to be perfectly fine with the standard Liberator.
This is the top three AoS lists for the Hampshire Grand Tournament that took place in the UK on the 14th and 15th of April. It involved 82 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: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Vostarg – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Indomitable
Leaders Auric Runefather (120)* – General – Command Trait: Spirit of Grimnir – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Auric Runemaster (130)* – Artefact: Volatile Brazier – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse Battlesmith (150)* – Artefact: Nulsidian Icon – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Auric Flamekeeper (90)** Auric Flamekeeper (90)** Auric Runesmiter (120)** – Runic Iron – Prayer: Ember Storm
Battleline 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)* 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)** 30 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (480)*** 15 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (450)*** – Poleaxes
Endless Spells and Invocations Molten Infernoth (40)
Kevin Lathers: This list, or ones like it, have been making the rounds recently. The recent changes on rally limits (to 10 wounds maximum per rally) will certainly put a ding in the list, but not one big enough to knock it out.
While occasionally Greyfyrd, Ricky has taken the list as Vostarg in order to buff the Vulkite Berserkers when they charge (giving them +1 to hit and wound).
The list relies on blocks of infantry holding objectives and looking for openings to run + charge (off ember storm prayer) into important units. The 10-man Vulkite units are both screens and hammers while the Hearthguard are immovable block that can strike first into anyone thinking charging it is a good idea. Ricky played 3 different Sylvaneth players and all 3 would have found the combination of fight on death and fight first quite troublesome. Making matters worse for Sylvaneth, a flamekeeper can allow a Vulkite unit to charge them in their own combat phase and then fight first on them, killing things before they can bounce out.
The smaller Vulkites and HGB feed into the 30-man Vulkite unit which can pick anything in the game up off the board with dual-flamekeeper buffs. Between 90 and 120 attacks (if Runefather buff is active) on that 30-man black at 3-damage each means even if an opponent is saving on a 2+ they are going to get toasted.
Once the engine of the flamekeepers gets going it’s hard to stop unless opponents can somehow take them out. But they can be well protected behind the infantry and focus on them means Vulkites are staying alive. And with how many Vulkite and Hearthguard Berserkers there are, this is a lot of wounds to chew through.
Further, this GHB has a lot of low objective count, or tight objective location, battleplans. This means the lack Magmadroths is less of a hamstring than normal. Adding to that, the current GHB disallows shooting into foot heroes. There’s a lot of reasons the current meta favors such a list.
There’s a lot of moving parts and a lot of auras to keep track of, but an experienced Fyreslayers player can navigate these to pull out some fantastic plays.
Oh, and the Molten Infernoth, a staple which can end any GC’s whole career quickly.
I expect this list to continue to see play, even if it has some slight changes, for as long as this GHB lasts.
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Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Underguts – Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder – Triumphs: Inspired
Leads Firebelly (130)* – Lore of the Sun-Eater: Billowing Ash – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Butcher (140)* – Cleaver – Artefact: Gruesome Trophy Rack – Lore of Gutmagic: Molten Entrails Frostlord on Stonehorn (450)* – General – Command Trait: Touched by the Everwinter – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder – Prayer: Keening Gale Huskard on Thundertusk (330) – Harpoon Launcher – Mount Trait: Rimefrost Hide – Prayer: Pulverising Hailstorm
Battleline 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)* – Culling Clubs and Hackers with Ironfists 2 x Mournfang Pack (170) – Culling Clubs and Hackers with Ironfists 2 x Mournfang Pack (170) – Culling Clubs and Hackers with Ironfists
Artillery Ironblaster (200) Ironblaster (200)
Core Battalions *Warlord
Additional Enhancements Mount Trait
Total: 1960 / 2000
Now that Ironblasters are 200 points, Ogors really seem to have settled into their groove as an army that can do well in the right hands but isn’t the meta boogeyman, and I’m here for it. While it looked for a while like monster trucks (as in, nearly/all Stonehorns) was going to be the competitive go to, various lists – like this one from Russ – are proving that there’s plenty of play in a nice balanced mix.
So we have the two big Stonehorns here, with Keening Gale on the Frostlord to ensure maximum speed on him or the 3×2 battleline Mournfang – who themselves present a nice middle-ground of speed and killing power, while also being -1 to wound vs shooting weapons and a great way to bypass unleash hell threats with their ‘UH only hits on 6s’ ability.
The 2nd Stonehorn is a Huskard for buff and further prayer support, and then you have the magic number (I reckon!) of two Ironblasters – and this list is in Underguts to ensure they have the extra rend to really be worth their points.
A cheeky FIrebelly also makes an appearance as a cheap caster and GC who has a nice -1 to hit aura spell, which I’m also surprised we don’t see more of. He is Finecast, mind you…
All in all, a lovely balanced list from Russ that proves spam may be tasty (especially for a hungry Ogor) but isn’t always strictly necessary to compete!
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Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Greyfyrd – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs: Inspired
Auric Runemaster (130)** – General – Command Trait: Master Priest – Artefact: Volatile Brazier – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Auric Runemaster (130)** – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse Auric Runesmiter (120)** – Runic Iron – Prayer: Prayer of Grimnir’s Fury Auric Runefather (120)*** – Artefact: Axe of Grimnir – Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox Battlesmith (150)*** – Artefact: Nulsidian Icon Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar (330)*** – Allies
Battleline 5 x Auric Hearthguard (120)* 5 x Auric Hearthguard (120)* 5 x Auric Hearthguard (120)* Grimwrath Berzerker (110) Grimwrath Berzerker (110)** Grimwrath Berzerker (110)** Grimwrath Berzerker (110)*** – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Grimwrath Berzerker (110)*** – Artefact: Draught of Magmalt Ale
Endless Spells and Invocations Molten Infernoth (40) Zharrgron Flame-spitter (40)
Kevin Lathers: Now, here’s a list with some chest hair! And wow, it played into two different KO opponents, notorious counters to almost all Fyreslayers lists.
This is a rarely played list archetype that has seen some tournament success in the past: Grimwrath Berserker spam with MSU AHG for cheap battleline.
Five Grimwrath Berserkers (GWB) and a Celestant Prime add hammers that can be dificult to deal with for opponent. Target priority for opponents becomes difficult as splitting damage can leave a GWB on low wounds but putting all your attacks/damage into one means you’re overkilling a unit with only 7 wounds. Meanwhile, the Celestant Prime is deepstriking anywhere and immediately becoming a problem for anything lacking the right depth of screens.
Speaking of screens, they will be having a difficult time. AHG, while not the hardest hitting units, when combined with a Flamespitter and Infernoth can quickly clear screens or put opponent’s heroes on a countdown. The projected damage combination can’t be underestimated as it will create openings for the GWB and CP. The infernoth particularly can be a nightmare for KO players if it tags a ship and rolls doubles instantly dunking on everything inside.
Further, the AHG are slowing opponent’s units and handicapping their movement plans if they are not taken care of in promptly. The AHG slow combined with a well-placed infernoth can often stop large-based units (like a gargant) from going where they need to.
This is an aggressive list that will force opponents to make hard decisions about what they need to fight and if they choose wrong it can allow one Grimwrath to end their entire gameplan.
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Allegiance: Sons of Behemat – Tribe: Breaker Tribe (Fierce Loathing: Idiots with Flags) – Grand Strategy: Tame the Land – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant (520)* – General – Command Trait: Monstrously Tough – Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact) Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant (490)* Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant (520)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
Battleline 1 x Mancrusher Gargants (150)
Regiment of Renown Big Grikks Kruleshots (310)
Core Battalions *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent
Declan It’s fair to say that Sons have been struggling of late with the battle tactics. As an army of 4 big lads, or fewer and some smaller lads, the completion of the Champion required Batttle Tactics is impossible. Not good to wipe out many choices.
But with the release of the Regiments of Reknown into Age of Sigmar Connor has grabbed the Kruleboyz to make the army more interesting. Its difficult to say that warscrolls from the worst army in the ge should improve things but these bring shooting to the Sons… and that all important reach. I like the change up (although I dislike the Regiments of Reknown concept in general because it’s impossible to balance well.)
I’ll go out on a limb here though and say I don’t think this is the start of a resurgence in Sons. They’ll still struggle until GW changes the seasons or takes another look at the Battletome Battle Tactics – well done to Connor for trying something new and taking it to a 4-1.
This is the top three AoS lists for the Neapolis GT that took place in Italy on the 1st and 2nd of April. 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.
EDIT: We mistakenly claimed you could still take Flaming Weapon due to Arcane Tome post-FAQ – you can’t!
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Subfaction: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Frostlord on Stonehorn (450)* – General – Command Traits: Voice of the Avalanche – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder – Spells: Flaming Weapon Slaughtermaster (140)* – Spells: Molten Entrails – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Losing only to the shootier version of Ogors, Vincenzo has brought a tried and tested archetype to bear here – lots of bloody great big cows. It’s nothing we’ve not seen before but it has perennial appeal and value – 4 big bodies that are surprisingly fast, count for 10 each on objectives, are durable thanks to their in-built 5+ ward and do a whole bunch of mortals on the charge just works.
Tech wise, the general has Voice of the Avalanche, enabling him to issue a command to a unit anywhere on the board, which is helpful when you’re this low on bodies, and the Arcane Tome with Flaming weapon (which doesn’t work after the FAQ) to ensure he hits not just hard, but really fuckin’ hard. The Slaughtermaster acts as the token GC, with the only spell you should take in this kind of list – Molten Entrails – to further buff the Stonehorn damage.
The ‘compromise’ to this being just woops-all-cows is a unit of Mournfang, who’re just excellent fast all rounders with great tech to avoid unleash hell safely, an ironblaster for some ranged screen clearing or sniping units it would be a waste to commit a stonehorn to, and some cheeky snowcats for being cheap objective grabbers.
It’s a fun list honestly, and it does the business – so long as you’re careful with your positioning and timing. Well done Vinny!
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Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Army Subfaction: Jaws of Mork – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Fungoid Cave-Shaman (90)* – Artefacts: Moonface Mommet – Spells: The Hand of Gork – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Squigboss (80)** – General – Command Traits: The Clammy Hand 1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (160)**
BATTLELINE 20 x Moonclan Stabbas (125)* – Moonclan Boss – Bad Moon Icon Bearer – Gong Basher – Stabba – 3 Barbed Nets 36 x Squig Herd (360)** 10 x Squig Hoppers (180)** – Squig Hopper Boss 30 x Squig Hoppers (540)** – Squig Hopper Boss
TERRAIN 1 x Bad Moon Loonshrine (0)
OTHER 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150)* 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (110)** 5 x Gobbapalooza (145)** – Spells: Squig Lure
I think we’ve all seen multiples of this list now. Like a vicious Cream of Mushroom soup, all those Squigs like to be up in your face munching through the opponents troops as soon as they can. Even when you do destroy them, they can be bought back at half strength on a 4+ so that you have to do it all over again… They’re harder to counter, which is why we keep seeing this list, or at least versions of it with slight variations.
We’ve got top fun-guy, Skragrott, and even with the recent points hike in the Battlecroll he’s pretty much going to be a go-to for Gitz players still. Then of course we’ve the Marshacrawla which appears in more Gitz lists than it does Kruleboyz lists (as a percentage, because us Kruleboyz players are a rare breed nowadays).
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Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Stomper Tribe – Grand Strategy: Make the Land Tremble! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Kraken-Eater (490)* – Artefacts: Amulet of Destiny 1 x Warstomper (450)* – General – Command Traits: Monstrously Tough – Artefacts: Club of the First Oak 1 x Warstomper (450)** – Artefacts: Glowy Shield of Protectiness 1 x Warstomper (450)**
BATTLELINE 1 x Mancrusher Gargant (150)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent **Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
Sons still standing tall, their popularity has dropped, but they are still effective. It’s one of the gatekeeper factions, and if you can’t terminate a Gargant, a turn your list is going to struggle. As an army, it lends itself to beautiful conversions and painting. On the table, it’s just mean.
Luca has gone with the 4 big gargants, the Kraken-Eater, and 3 x Warstompers, leaving points for a Mancrusher manoeuvre unit. The Kraken-Eater is likely out front (enjoying the small but important ward) while the General has the expected Monstrously Tough and the less common Club of the First Oak. Only available in Stomper Tribe, and why this list isn’t Taker tribe, the club heals a wound a round and (more importantly) a 5+ ward. He’s a massive tank with 120 effective wounds – your best bet is to ignore him and target everything else to begin with. The Glowy Shield of Protectiness is complicated:
It’s a very tanky list that was very effective. Luca beat 2nd place and only lost in the final round to the winner. That would have been an interesting match-up, Stonehorn on Gargant. The superior mobility and the ironblaster were probably the difference between the 2 giants of the scene.
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Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS The Shadow Queen (700)* Morathi-Khaine (700)* Melusai Ironscale (120)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Crown of Woe – Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
BATTLELINE Witch Aelves (120)* – Hag – Sciansá and Bladed Buckler – 2 x Death Pennant Bearer – 2 x Hornblower Blood Sisters (300)* – Gorgai Blood Stalkers (540)* – Krone
OTHER Khinerai Heartrenders (100)* Khinerai Heartrenders (100)*
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1980/2000
Since the price hikes on Morathi and the Stab sneks, DoK have (rightly) fallen in line a bit, but that doesn’t mean they can’t do the business still. Although interestingly, this list has opted for the teleporting shenanigans of Khailebron in order – I presume – to take more advantage of the triple reinforced bow sneks, both enabling them to bug out of a scary situation or set up a favourable sniping position.
It’s standard fare from there, with double Khinerai for battle tactic auto-scoring and good objective harassment from there, and a min squad of Witches to round out the battleline and – rather pleasingly – take the list to 2k on the dot.
The key to DoK is trading, timing, and using Morathi as a pin piece, so I can see why this list’s only loss was to the retreat-and-charge madness of Nighthaunt. Otherwise, it probably very much enjoyed the squishiness of double Ironjawz, but that’s not taking anything away from Stefano, who achieved a great result. Now, let’s hope for some new DoK units soon so their players have any kind of reason to mix things up even more.
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.
Each Datacard has three distinct sections; Charge Chance, Resilience and Average Damage Output.
Charge Chance
This graph shows the move and charge distances each unit can achieve and shows the chance of them achieving this distance as a percentage.
Resilience
This table shows how much damage would be required on average to destroy the unit. This is split into the various rend types most commonly found in Age of Sigmar. For example, the unit shown in the image above would need 18 damage from -2 rend weapons for the enemy to have a chance at destroying it.
This can be cross-referenced with another units average damage output to see what kind of damage they’ll do to it.
Average Damage Output
This simply shows how much damage on average the unit is expected to inflict after saves against the various save types. If there are multiple load-out choices, then these are shown separately, as is any missile damage.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Big Bristol Brawl that took place in the UK on 3rd and 4th December. It involved 41 players (Including our very own Danny) 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.
Pre-Tournament Analysis
I thought I’d add a bit about the meta at the event before we jump into the meat of the article. If this is popular I’ll continue doing this on future top three articles.
Ranked Players Below shows the players already ranked in our Woehammer rankings form events before the Bristol GT.
11 Players had already taken part in 1 GT before this event, with the highest ranked player (Luke Churchus) being 22nd in the UK. Remeber these rankings are based on our own handicapped rankings system explained here.
Faction Breakdown
The Bristol Brawl saw an unusually high number of Daughters, Blades of Khorne and Slaanesh armies, with all three seeing double their expected representation based on the current worldwide meta.
On the flip side of this, the tournament saw no representation from Ironjawz, Slaves, Cities, Kharadron and Big Waagh where we would have expected at least one army to be present.
Of the high win rate factions Beast of Chaos and Disciples are as expected while Ogor Mawtribes and Soulblight see a slightly higher number than compared to the meta.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (955)* Spirit Torment (115)* – General – Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon
Battleline 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)*
Declan: Greg has been using Nagash since AoS3 dropped, and quite a bit before that. In early AoS3, there was a period we met 3 or 4 times and he beat me every time with a Soulblight version…. here he has taken Nighthaunt instead which allows him to use the Nighthaunt alleginace abilities on the charge and back it up with Nagash’s magic dominance.
Games Workshop / Wahapedia
When they charge the Bladegheists are almost certain to roll 4+ and get one of the debuffs on the table. But the truly frightening thing is that these debuffs stack. I’m not a fan of the mechanism, but it’s the core of how Nighthaunt work and it is scary when a 10+ is rolled followed by a few 8+ (because you can always go down the table).
There’s no denying that Nagash is the centrepiece though and – although he is seen as weaker in the last update – he can still take on an army (and at 955 points he needs to). I’d love to tell you how to kill him, but the truth is I still don’t know but I imagine it’s got something to do with mortal wounds (preferably at range). It’s definitely not a Mangler Squig (last time I charged one in, I did no wounds to Nagash).
If you’ve not met him before he lives up to his role as the Lord of the Undead… with 8 spell casts, all with bonuses and the piece de la resistance… Arcane Bolt as many times as you like. (see you’ll be glad you brought the ranged mortal wounds. He’s a beast and sometimes the best thing to do is get ahead on points, stand on objectives and hope he and the Bladegheists can’t shift you. Good luck; you’ll need it!
Games Workshop / Wahapedia
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Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Lofnir – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Auric Runefather on Magmadroth (360)** – General – Command Trait: Blood of the Berzerker – Artefact: Axe of Grimnir – Magmadroth Trait: Coal-heart Ancient Battlesmith (150)** Battlesmith (150)**
Battleline Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Artefact: Master Rune of Unbreakable Resolve – Magmadroth Trait: Flame-scale Youngblood Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Magmadroth Trait: Lava-tongue Adult Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)** – Ancestral War-axe
Edit: The maximum number of Magmadroths you can take in a Lofnir list is six, not five as the comment below eludes to.
Ethan: This Lofnir list leans on heavy on the idea that more is more, taking as many magmadroths as you can fit in 2000 points. It’s obviously an effective strategy, having worked out well for Alex, with his only loss being Hagg Nar where I can only predict Morathi’s unkillable rules made for a major issue for an army so light on units.
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Boulderhead
LEADER 1 x Kragnos (720) 1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (445)* – General – Command Traits: Touched by the Everwinter – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder – Spells: Flaming Weapon – Prayers: Heal(🎶Living on a Prayer🎵) 1 x Butcher (135)* – Cleaver – Spells: Molten Entrails
BATTLELINE 2 x Mournfang Pack (175)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist 1 x Stonehorn Beastriders (310)* – Blood Vulture 2 x Mournfang Pack (175)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1960/2000)
Danny: Andy helped me out with our Ogor Tome Review – so it’s awesome and very interesting to see him go 4-1 and 3rd at this highly competitive event – WITHOUT cannons or Gnoblars. Andy has basically stuck with this tried and tested core of a Frostlord backed by Kragnos – the big(ger) man offering 3d6 charges for those sweet 3d6 MWs on the charge, along with a huge pressure piece while the Frostlord, specced out with Arcane Tome + Flaming weapon for more reliable damage and Touched by the Everwinter to also make him a priest with the ability to heal himself – or Kragnos. So he’s doing it all. Another ‘big cow’ joins the pressure party as the first battleline pick.
Two units of Mournfang fill out the tax, allowing for some excellent objective play, hardly inconsiderable damage and their new and improved resistance to shooting attacks.
Andy also included a Butcher for some utility spell casting and to babysit the mawpot, although he informed me that he regretted including him overall as he always ended up out of range to be useful and felt like wasted points overall.
Andy had a tough route to 4-1, remaining on top table most of the event, taking a big win against IDK to kick off, followed by a tough Blood Knight list, then the Kroak list that beat me, a grudge match over the ‘new’ 4x Ironblaster + leadbelcher Ogor list before finally losing to the event’s winner Greg. The amount of pressure this list can put out can clearly only be resisted by unrendable ghosts with Nagash bringing loads back and shunting fistfuls of MWs through Kragnos’ 2+ save – definitely a counter to what is otherwise clearly a list that very few armies in the game can really withstand.
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Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Army Subfaction: Hagg Nar – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Melusai Ironscale (115)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts: Crown of Woe(hammer) 1 x Morathi-Khaine (680)* 1 x The Shadow Queen (680)*
BATTLELINE 10 x Witch Aelves (115)* – Hag – Death Pennant Bearer – Hornblower – Sciansá and Bladed Buckler 15 x Blood Sisters (420)* – Gorgai 10 x Blood Stalkers (360)* – Krone
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (60)
OTHER 9 x Khainite Shadowstalkers (150)* – Shroud Queen 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (95)* – Shryke
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1995/2000)
Danny: It me! First things first, I’m working on an in-depth tourney report including some deeper thinking on my list and a breakdown of the games, so for now I’ll give you the digest of HOW the list works rather than get bogged down in the why.
It’s relatively simple – a twist on the Morathi on the bowsnakes. I took 15 spears and 10 bows to lean more heavily into the reliable MWs. Witch aelves are a cheap screen and battleline pick with bladed bucklers for some hopeful clutch saves and mortal wound bouncing. I took Ironscale to make the sneks battleline and enable the run+charge for some key threat projection, but also because I wanted Hagg Nar to speed up Blood Rites, which saves me loads of CP and helps Morathi perform a lot better in early rounds (when she’s still alive!)
This event didn’t allow book battle tactics, so instead of a 2nd squad of Khinerai, I opted for Shadowstonkers, who are also just a relatively tanky and super mobile scoring piece.
Jaws rounds out the list as a spare point filler and another source of MWs against slower targets that my spear sneks might be scared or unable to get into. It’s all wrapped up in a one drop bat reg because this list really, really wants to avoid getting doubled. Of course, sometimes you come up against another 1 drop in round 5 and lose the roll-off….more on that and other exciting, brain-melting moments in my full report.
Want to say a quick but big kudos to both the organisers (Alex and Jonny) from our club, Sigmar’s Pilgrims, and to all my opponents and everyone else there – it was a hugely competitive field but the vibe was friendly and jolly as all hell – a fantastic, super hard fought event!
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Outlaw Open at LSO that took place in Texas, USA on 23rd and 24th July. It involved 46 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament. A return to the correct order with a Daughters of Khaine (DoK) taking the event pushed hard by the Sons of Behemet. Ogor Mawtribes make a welcome showing at the top table as well, just underlining how open the meta is.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Army Subfaction: Zainthar Kai – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x The Shadow Queen (680)* 1 x Morathi-Khaine (680)* 1 x Bloodwrack Medusa (130)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts: Shadow Stone – Spells: Mindrazor
BATTLELINE 10 x Witch Aelves (115)* – Paired Sciansá 10 x Witch Aelves (115)* – Paired Sciansá 15 x Blood Sisters (420)**
Brett: Morathi and Gotrek together feels wrong somehow, like shouldn’t Gotrek be after Morathi. Not in this army though, they’ve worked together to go 5/0 and take the event. Elves are fragile and die easily – not this army, that’s 1165 points of the nigh on impossible to kill. We saw a lot of Gotrek early in 3rd edition but he has faded as people have learnt to play around his slow movement. Including him here is a great idea because your opponent really wants to get at the Shadow Queen. You really need to be in combat with her to max your wounds against her. She only takes 3 a turn, so you need to be able to shoot or attack her in your turn and fight back in her players turn to get more than 3 wounds a round. Now you have to go through Gotrek.
Until you kill the Shadow Queen you can’t kill Morathi who is both casting spells and working as a blender in combat. A 3 cast wizard with a special command to make a unit shoot or fight in the hero phase (it’s eligible to fight again in the shooting or fight phases). She knows the full spell lore, includes a mortal wound and has 3 casts. All up the army has 4 casts and 4 unbinds available. The Bloodwrack Medusa has Zealous Orator for a boosted rally (models return on a 4+), Shadow Stone for +1 to cast and is casting Mindrazor. Mindrazor has a CV of ,8 hence the stone, but provides (additional rend and +1 damage to a unit within 18) . On the Blood Sisters that adds to 46 attacks on 3s with -2 rend and potentially 3 damage (into Galletian Veterans).
The Medusa lets a single unit advance the Blood Rites table for that phase and her warscroll spell lets you subtract 1 from wound rolls for 1 unit. Blood Rites is a Battle Trait for DoK that gives an army wide buff starting with add 1 to run rolls and ending with a 5+ ward. Advancing the table might let you surprise your opponent with getting something into combat or being more lethal. This is a combat army with next to no range attacks (the Shadow Queen has some). It doubles down on the combat with Gotrek, Reducing incoming attacks to 1 damage, 3+ ward, as long as something is within 3″ fighting again (and again). Unfortunately most of the buffs in the army are keyworded to the elf units and Gotrek isn’t sharing them.
Choosing Blood Sisters and Witch Aelves with no Heartenders or Blood Stalkers is interesting. This list is either going to come at you hard (first 2 Blood Rite abilities) or force you to come to them through some heavy damage dealers. Which way you take it would depend on your opponent, as a 3 drop army it will choose priority much of the time. In this event 2 armies had strong shooting, although SCE have fallen off with the change to holy command. Really though that strong combat, particularly with the ever popular Blood Sisters, is going to let you dictate battle around the objectives you choose. Good solid on meta army that without specific experience is hard to counter. Well done.
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Allegiance: Sons of Behemat – Tribe: Breaker Tribe (Fierce Loathing: Idiots with Flags) – Grand Strategy: Stomping Order – Triumphs: Inspired
Brett: Did the Sons ever go away? Or did they just sleep for a little while. For a while they were taking less events but they are still a good army and difficult to play into. Using a faction Grand Strategy has attracted some attention lately with some of the Battle Traits and Grand Strategies being easier than the new Season 1 choices. Stomping Order means that they are going to run or charge every turn, it may be one of the less interactive ones. Bosses of the Stomp gives either one drop or an additional Enhancement. Christopher has chosen to go for a one drop, giving the opportunity of a 1st/2nd round double, very very frightening.
2 Gatebreakers, 2 Warstompers, no casting, the general has 40 wounds (up from 35) and a 6+ ward for that little extra something. The Fierce Loathing is a solid choice, any unit with a Totem or a Command Model gives up a +1 to hit. There are a lot of units with Command Models baked in particularly Stormcast but pretty much all of the troops with higher wound counts have the ability. A bit of extra work for players. Limited ranged attacks – Gatebreakers – and horrific melee. The Warstomper’s Titanic Boulderclub shouldn’t surprise anyone now with it’s attacks characteristic of however many models are within 3″, +4 for monsters and +* (for the warscroll table) to a maximum of 10.
His matchups for the most part were pretty favourable, although pulling KO twice must be pretty rare. The melee SCE list would suffer horrible clap back, interestingly those are shield Annihilators with much lower damage. The KO lists concentrate their shooting in Ironclads and use a “super hero” either the Incarnate or Gotrek. Gotrek is a bit slow to chase Gargants (but is effective into them since they struggle to kill him) and Sons are one army that can deal with the Incarnate quickly. The Kragnos/Ogor and Sons match up that ended in a draw would have been very interesting to watch live. Can Kragnos out stomp Gargants?
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Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Bloodgullet – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs:
Leaders Frostlord on Stonehorn (430)* – General – Command Trait: Nice Drop of the Red Stuff! – Artefact: Splatter-cleaver – Mount Trait: Metalcruncher Butcher (135)* – Tenderiser – Bloodgullet 2nd Spell: Ribcracker – Lore of Gutmagic: Greasy Deluge Butcher (135)* – Tenderiser – Artefact: Bloodrock Talisman – Bloodgullet 2nd Spell: Molten Entrails – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate Kragnos, The End of Empires (720)
Battleline 2 x Mournfang Pack (160)** – Culling Clubs or Prey Hackers with Iron Fists 2 x Mournfang Pack (160)** – Culling Clubs or Prey Hackers with Iron Fists 2 x Mournfang Pack (160)** – Culling Clubs or Prey Hackers with Iron Fists
Brett: An army that does extra damage on the charge with Kragnos who grants an 18″ charge to units within 12″. What could go wrong with that? A very clever army that probably shows the struggle for Destruction at the moment. Really strong units but it’s difficult to survive, score and hit back however Jacob scored well during the weekend.
Bloodgullet grants an extra spell (and cast but not dispel) to the Butchers. Both of the chosen spells are offensive (very – these are Ogors) – Ribcraker taking 1 from a unit and Molten Entrails for +1 to damage for a unit. As we are seeing a lot of there are 2 Endless Spells, Chronomatic Cogs (rerolls) and Gnashing Jaws. Bloodrock Talisman adds +2 to the roll for an Endless Spell so we know who is most likely to cast the 2 Endless Spells. Levitate is a useful spell, letting you grant flying to a unit. Flying Kranos anyone? Certainly doable, meaning you could easily prevent early rounds shooting but you probably want to get him out early to buff charges.
The Frostlord brings the mandatory trait and artefact on top of his ward and ability to command a unit to reroll their charge. Everything does mortal wounds on the charge (except the Butchers of course) and the Mournfang can do (really occasionally) MW on 6s with their range attack for just a little more sting. Good quality attacks punish MSU hurting several of his opponents. Short range shooting is very vunerable to the long charges Kragnos brings. The Frostlord and even more Kragnos could hit the Incarnate hard enough to slow it’s growth (but are vunerable to it’s type of attacks). And of course there is no battleline infantry for Bounty Hunters to worry at. All up a very well rounded army for the current meta. Coming 3rd by 1 pt with Mawtribes, not one of the stronger factions, is a great achievement.
Leaders Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (340)*** Mortisan Boneshaper (115)*** – General – Command Trait: Mighty Archaeossian – Artefact: Godbone Armour – Lore of Mortisans: Empower NadiriteWeapons Mortisan Soulmason (115)*** – Artefact: Gothizzar Cartouche – Lore of Mortisans: Drain Vitality
Battleline 20 x Mortek Guard (280)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield – Reinforced x 1 20 x Mortek Guard (280)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield – Reinforced x 1 10 x Mortek Guard (140)** – Nadirite Blade and Shield 10 x Mortek Guard (140)** – Nadirite Blade and Shield
Brett: This is the first time I’ve seen the same unit in both Bounty Hunters and Expert Conquerors, do they get on or is the squabbling in the ranks? Petrifix Elite, which grants -1 rend to all units and lets you increase rend by 1 for a unit per phase (so it can have +1 rend in both yours and your opponents combat phases). A better Armour of Contempt for the 40k players. Like most older books this has mandatory items, an artefact and command trait. Both are very good – +2 wounds and melee weapon set to rend -3 so they aren’t a burden. Command Entourage was taken as the battalion for the leaders to access an additional artefact, Gothizzar Cartouche, +1 to wound rolls is the target does not have the DEATH keyword. Particularly good with the crawlers.
For non DEATH targets that means hitting and wounding on 2s doing 5 damage. Nice. The army has very strong magic as we are seeing a lot in Season 1, with all up 6 casts covering 2 Lore of Mortisans spells, 3 endless spells and 3 solid warscroll spells. Arkhan’s +2 to casts/dispells is clutch for getting Purple Sun out, the play being Chronomatic Cogs then Purple Sun so you have a reroll. Bone-tithe can be cast by anyone that is close enough to make sure one of the Mortek Guard units gets +1 to hit. Arkhan’s Curse of Years from his warscroll sounds nasty but on average is slightly better than Arcane Bolt. If it spikes though, it could be a lot worse.
You’d also want the Soulmason to cast his Soul-Guide most turns, re-roll 1s to hit on a larger block of Guard. That’s worth 6 hits (if they have Empower Weapon) from the average 6 x 1s you roll in 41 attacks. Hopefully you’ve gotten the idea of what this list is like, other than Arkhan everything is only moving 4″ or 5″. Move a block to the centre or better yet stay back and make the opponent walk through your Endless Spells, spells and Crawler fire causing chip damage. Then fall on them with your Bounty Hunters Mortek Guard. The worst case is you attacked them with Galetian Veteran’s into a unit with empowered weapons and soul-guide. That averages 23.5 hits at rend -1, 2 damage before saves.
While not extremely hard hitting elite armies will struggle to field enough units in later turns and Bonereapers can start to dictate. You have to close with them because you need to shut the catapults down but that opens you up to the spells. Looking at his path to 4/1 his one loss was to a Skaven list with decent shooting from Stormfiends and melee from Thanquol. While short range they are beyond the threat range of Guard (or just inside it) and Stormfield are pretty fighty as well. Otherwise a lot of bodies to kill that all move a bit faster so a good counter. Watching Morathi against this army would have been interesting, that was Jonathan’s highest scoring round.
Gods of War 2 was a five game event over two days that took place in Pescara, Italy on 12th and 13th Feb. It saw a 56 players duke it out to be claimed champion.
Most Selected Faction/Subfaction
Daughters of Khaine/Khailebron were the most selected Faction/Sub-Faction combo closely followed by the Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar.
Win Rate
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The Top Three Lists
These were the top three lists from the Gods of War 2 tournament.
Meme Venaruzzo – Legion of the First Prince
Lumineth at the top of the pile once more
Meme won all five games beating Legion of the First Prince in Round 1, Lumineth Realm-Lords/Helon in Round 2, Ironjaws/Ironsunz in Round 3, Maggotkin of Nurgle/Drowned Men in Round 4 and Sons of Behemat/Breaker Tribe in the last round.
Allegiance: Legion of the First Prince – Great Nation: None – Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Bel’Lakor the Dark Master (360)* – Spell: the Master’s Command Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280) – General – Command Trait: Ruinous Aura – Artefact: Armour of the Pact Kairos Fateweaver (435) – Spell: The Master’s Command Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne The Blue Scribes (135)* – Spell: The Master’s Command
Simone also won all five of his games. Beating Slaves to Darkness/Hosts of the Evershosen in Round 1, Cities of Sigmar/Living City in Round 2, Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar in Round 3, Disciples of Tzeentch/Hosts Arcanum in Round 4 and Soulblight Gravelords/Legion of Blood again in Round 5.
LEADERS Frostlord on Stonehorn (430)* – General – Command Trait: Lord of Beasts – Artefact: Brand of the Svard – Mount Trait: Metalcruncher Kragnos, The End of Empires (720)
Lorenzo won four games. Along the way he beat the Sons of Behema/Breaker Tribe in Round 1, Legion of the First Prince in Round 2. Lost against Maggotkin of Nurgle/Drowned Men in Round 3, then beat Daughters of Khaine/Khailebron in Round 4 and beat Sons of Behemat/Taker Tribe in Round 5.
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar – Grand Strategy: Beast Master – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Knight-Draconis (300)* – General – Command Trait: Battle-lust – Artefact: Drakescale Armour – Mount Trait: Celestial Instincts Lord Relictor (145)* – Prayer: Translocation
BATTLELINE 2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)* – Drakerider’s Lance 2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)* – Drakerider’s Lance 2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)* – Drakerider’s Lance
UNITS 6 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (480)* – Reinforced: Once
