This is the top three AoS lists for Grimnir’s Vengeance that took place in the USA on the 12th and 13th of August. It involved 13 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: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Crematorians – Grand Strategy: Control the Nexus
LEADERS Nagash (900) Arkhan the Black (380)* Mortisan Soulreaper (110)* – General – Command Traits: Diversionary Tactics – Artefacts of Power: Luminscythe – Spells: Merciless Blizzard
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Nightmare Predator (40) 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
CORE BATTALIONS *Ossiarch Cohort
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
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Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Taker Tribe – Grand Strategy: Make the Land Tremble! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Gatebreaker (500)* – Artefacts: Arcane Tome 1 x Warstomper (450)** 1 x Kraken-Eater (480)** – General – Command Traits: Very Acquisitive – Artefacts: Amulet of Destiny, Glowy Shield of Protectiness 1 x Beast-skewer Killbow (Big Grikk’s Kruleshots) (290)***
BATTLELINE 1 x Mancrusher Gargant (140)* 1 x Mancrusher Gargant (140)*
OTHER 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz 1 (Big Grikk’s Kruleshots) (290)*** 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz 2 (Big Grikk’s Kruleshots) (290)***
CORE BATTALIONS: *Footsloggas **Bosses of the Stomp ***Regiment of Renown
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
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Allegiance: Skaven – Grand Strategy: None Chosen – Triumphs:
Battleline 20 x Clanrats (100)* – Rusty Blade – 2x Standard Bearers – 2x Standard Bell Ringers 20 x Clanrats (100) – Rusty Blade – 2x Standard Bearers – 2x Standard Bell Ringers 20 x Clanrats (100) – Rusty Blade – 2x Standard Bearers – 2x Standard Bell Ringers 10 x Plague Censer Bearers (180)*** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Plague Censer Bearers (180)*** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Plague Monks (180)*** – Foetid Blades – Reinforced x 1
Leaders Gordrakk the Fist of Gork (460) Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (450)* – General – Boss Gore-hacka and Choppa – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Battleline 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)* – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)* – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Jagged Gore-hackas
This is the top three AoS lists for the FLG Outlaw GT that took place in the USA on the 22nd and 23rd of July. It involved 46 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: Soulblight Gravelords – Army Type: Vyrkos – Grand Strategy: Empire of Corpses – Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Torgillius the Chamberlain (150)* – Spells: Fading Vigour 1 x Belladamma Volga (200)** – Spells: Spirit Gale 1 x Vampire Lord (140)** – Spells: blizzard 1 x Gorslav the Gravekeeper (120)** – General – Command Traits: Spoor Trackers – Artefacts: Ulfenkarni Phylactery
BATTLELINE 40 x Deadwalker Zombies (240)* 40 x Deadwalker Zombies (240)* 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)* 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)* 10 x Dire Wolves (140)** – Doom Wolf 40 x Deadwalker Zombies (240)** 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)**
OTHER 1 x Corpse Cart (80)* – Corpse Goad – Unholy Lodestone 1 x Corpse Cart (80)** – Corpse Goad – Unholy Lodestone
Soulblight continue their inevitable shamble towards victory with a Vyrkos list that proves why it’s the sub-faction of choice since the (entirely justified) LoB tweaks in the last battlescroll. Not that Vyrkos came off unscathed either, but it was probably a light touch – chances are, given the win-rates, lists like this get touched a little more in the near future…
But until then – zombies! A key sub-faction ability here is the ability to add d3 models back to a unit in the hero phase on top of the existing recursion, plus a once per game summon of 10 dogs – which combos savagely with the 5+++ bubble projected by Torgillius, and the slightly smaller 5+++ bubble of the Ulfenkarni Phylactery (try saying that 10 times fast) on Gorslav. This, obviously, makes the task of killing *quick maths* a FUCK TONNE of zombies, and 40 (factoring in the summon) wounds of DIre Wolf fairly arduous. The corpse cart – excuse me – carts equip the zombies with a nasty MW on 6s to wound in addition to their MW rolls on dying, equating to a hyper-nasty attrition game with insane board control – helped by the command trait on Gorslav, allowing deadwalkers to make a small hero phase move.
I don’t envy the man for having to push all those models around but with that weight of bodies, you can probably afford to be less than forensic with your positioning. Taking down a range of opponents who mostly have very respectable output and tricks of their own, Guan here proves that simply roleplaying a George Romero movie will get the job done.
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Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Breaker Tribe – Grand Strategy: Make the Land Tremble! – Triumphs: Inspired – Fierce Loathings: Idiots with Flags
LEADER 1 x Gatebreaker (500)* – General – Command Traits: Monstrously Tough – Artefacts: Amulet of Destiny 1 x Gatebreaker (500)* – Artefacts: Glowy Shield of Protectiness 1 x Warstomper (450)* 1 x Rabble-Rowza (Braggit’s Bottle-snatchaz) (500)**
OTHER 5 x Gobbapalooza (Braggit’s Bottle-snatchaz) (500)** 12 x Squig Herd (Braggit’s Bottle-snatchaz) (500)** 10 x Squig Hoppers (Braggit’s Bottle-snatchaz) (500)**
CORE BATTALIONS: *Bosses of the Stomp **Regiment of Renown
TOTAL POINTS: (1950/2000)
We’ve managed to nab him again! This list was so good I knew Pete would be interested in taking it on. Thanks again to Pete from PlasticCraic for helping us out!
It’s something that made SOB aficionados the world over issue a collective “Hmmm….”. What if we took the new Squigs Regiment of Renown, and added our three favourite Mega Gargants? A lot of people mentally went straight to the adrenaline-rush option of Trip Gatebreakers plus the Regiment for 2k on the nose and stopped there, filing the whole thing away as a thought experiment. But not Christopher Schelling – he backed himself in and put it on the table with glorious results. Chris earned this 4-1 the hard way, heading onto top tables in the final round with a 4-0 behind him, with wins against SBGL and Seraphon, meaning this was no bunny run.
Why does the regiment work well in Sons?
Screens! By default, your big boys will usually hold any objectives they’re near, and if you can hold them for 3 turns, you usually win the game. So, being able to protect the Megas from combat output for a turn gives you a 1-0 headstart in a race to 3. In that context, it doesn’t really matter that the screens themselves are not super-efficient. Because the Regiment starts off the board, it’s easy to position the Rabble Rowsa where you can run towards him; and since your whole army is Monsters, they can all do the run and charge thing.
It gives you a few scrappy units to work towards Battle Tactics (such as Surround and Destroy) and your Grand Strat (run or charge with a unit every turn). That latter can be tricky when your Megas get bogged down or you get swamped and tabled – just scattering a bunch of different bits and pieces to the 4 winds makes it much more likely to be achieved.
Couple of Unbinds from the Gobbapalooza? Don’t mind if I do. Their Warscroll spells are dope too, and because they’re both debuff spells, they benefit Sons despite having no direct keyword synergy – they don’t need it. Plus, ya know, Mystic Shield.
So this is a group that synergises extremely well with the Megas – it really is their natural home, and it works in so well with your gameplan that it overcomes any natural inefficiencies from not being reinforced. Big fan.
Chris’s chosen direction was two Breakers and a Stomper, which leaves room for a strong Triumph bid in a 2-drop package. The Gatebreakers are still great fun, with their 4D6 smash bypassing a lot of anti-combat bullshit since it’s not an attack, just an ability. Sons players will be all too familiar with those combat phases where your 500-point combat unit does zero damage, even if you don’t choose the smash – and I wish I was exaggerating here – so the Wartsomper’s greater volume of dice should give you some kind of semi-reliable output when you aren’t desperate to spike, but just really to do something.
Because you’ve got the upside and inherent brutality of the twin Gate Breakers, Chris has consolidated with his Enhancements, taking a full package of defensive tech. 40 wounds CT on his General plus a 6++ ward puts him on 46.7 effective wounds and the Glowy Shield ignores rend -1 specifically (as opposed to reducing rend by 1). As a Sons player myself, that’s something I’d love to see addressed in a future Battlescroll, because it feels slightly outdated in a world of rampant rend creep – there is still a fair amount of rend -1 in the game though, so it’s still a decent enough pick, especially with the dopamine hit when you spike the bounceback mortals that it also brings.
The list can win games passively or proactively, and while it may still struggle on Battle Tactics, the list choices here take a positive step to address that. All in all this army has a really refined feel, and it’s something I’d be happy to take to an event myself.
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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Null Myriad – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Katakros (460) Arkhan the Black (380)* Mortisan Boneshaper (140)* – General – Command Traits: Aura of Sterility – Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key – Spells: Hoarfrost
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Malevolent Maelstrom (30)
TERRAIN 1 x Bone-tithe Nexus (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Walter Brock: Going down the list we start with the sub faction choice of Null myriad. Allowing 2+ spell ignores for units wholly within 9” of Arkhan or the Boneshaper. Important to note that Katakros cannot benefit from this because he is still having the keyword for his own legion.
Overshadow is a different choice from the classic Savant grand strategy we usually see used. Overshadow means you would need to destroy all enemy battleline units while keeping one of your own alive. It’s a strong choice and unlike Spellcasting savant. You don’t have to focus on keeping one model alive and can spread out a bit more if the moment arises.
Starting off with the heroes. Katakros and Arkhan are a Dream team together. Katakros buffs the army to kingdom come with his command ability while also crippling the enemy with a few of his abilities. He may be slow but if he gets into combat with a hero nearby, he can hit incredibly hard. Arkhan on the other hand is the opposite of Katakros. Arkhan is fast, very fast, He doesn’t hit as hard as Katakros. Having three casts and denies at +2 lets him help stop important spells and cast important spells. They compliment each other very well and the synergies are endless.
The bone shaper rounds out the heroes. Taking Aura of sterility to cripple enemy shooting with -1 to hit and -1 to wound for friendly unit wholly within 12”. With Null Myriad and Aura of sterility this list is very resilient to heavy magic and shooting. Artisan’s keys let the Boneshaper potentially double down on is healing by letting it heal a second time on a 3+. This player opted to go with Hoarfrost since Arkhan already knows all the Ossiarch spells.
The Deathriders can do a couple of things. They can screen. They come with a relatively easy to use battle tactic. Because of their decent bulk they could also be used to block an opponent’s movement and stay in the way. These guys have a lot of uses.
This player has opted to go for a Unit of three Immortis guard and a unit six Stalkers. Stalkers being very fast with their hunt and kill command. Which plays well into the grand strat of trying to kill enemy batteline and supports an aggressive gameplan. The three Immortis guards are around for a few reasons. They can hit decently hard, bodyguard characters, and Unlock a Battle tactic in the form of Sculptures Entourage with the Boneshaper.
Lastly this player has made an interesting choice of using a unit of 10 Mortek Guard. We don’t see these little guys too often since the Harvester change. They have a few jobs that not a lot of other OBR units can do. They are the best points for the number of attacks in the book. At a nice 21 attacks for 150 where the Deathriders are 180 for the same number, and half of theirs don’t even have rend. They have a Unique command ability that basically gives them Ethereal at their 4+ save, letting them stand up to a few things that other units might not be able to. They are also the most Model counts for their points. So, 10 Mortek guards can run onto a point and have better chances of taking a point away from an opponent. A very cool choice with a lot of potential.
Finishing it out is the Maelstrom Endless spell. For 30 points this thing is a steal. The crazy thing about it is its damage is always going to happen. When it goes away it blows up so its guaranteed damage, and with Arkhan’s spell range increase it will reach a lot of places. All of this except for Katakros sitting inside of a Battle Regiment. Often this list will decide who goes first. With their score this player has done a good job at showing how they can make their choice effective. Well done to this player.
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Army Faction: Fyreslayers – Army Subfaction: Greyfyrd – Grand Strategy: Masters of the Forge
LEADER 1 x Auric Flamekeeper (90)* 1 x Auric Flamekeeper (90)* 1 x Grimhold Exile (140)* – Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust 1 x Auric Runemaster (130)** – General – Command Traits: Avatar of Vulcatrix – Prayers: Curse 1 x Battlesmith (160)** – Artefacts: Nulsidian Icon 1 x Auric Runefather (120)** – Artefacts: Axe of Grimnir
BATTLELINE 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)* – Karl – 2 x Hornblower of Grimnir 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (150)* – Karl – 2 x Hornblower of Grimnir – Fyresteel War-pick and Bladed Slingshield 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (150)* – Karl – 2 x Hornblower of Grimnir – Fyresteel War-pick and Bladed Slingshield 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)** – Karl – 2 x Hornblower of Grimnir
INVOCATION 1 x Runic Fyrewall (60)
TERRAIN 1 x Magmic Battleforge (0)
OTHER 10 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (320)* – Karl – Flamestrike Poleaxe 5 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (160)** – Karl – Berzerker Broadaxe 1 x Grimwrath Berzerker (110)** – Artefacts: Draught of Magmalt Ale
Kevin Lathers: Bringing out the new hero from the Regiments of Renown, the Grimhold Exile, Noe has put him in a list that is all about board control.
With only a single priest with Wrath of Vulcatrix (to secure the Grand Strat), this list foregoes the usual inclusion of a Runesmiter as well as any Magmadroths. Instead it relies on the Runemaster’s Ember Storm prayer and the new hero’s once per game 6″ bubble of Run + Charge to add any speed it needs. Further, the Grimwrath Berserker can be given Run + Charge as an oath or stick near the Grimhold to soak up the buff and take a different Oath. This makes the list surprisingly quick, albeit only one time.
With all these vulkites and Hearthguard Berserkers, the list can certainly sit on objectives and hold them, relying on the Flamekeeper buffs, Counterstrike, and Fight on Death to hold any charging waves of opponents to very poor trades.
And then, if opponents do trade into the Fyreslayers, the flamekeepers will often maintain their buffs for a counter charge on the next turn with devastating 3 damage attacks.
With wins against Slaanesh Blissbarbs, Ogors, SCE, and IDK, the list would certainly prove its tanky enough to take a punch and throw it right back. The 4++ ward saves on the HGB can prove a potent vanguard and objective holder. This is backed up by a Runefather that can swing with -2 rend 4 damage attacks on a 3″ reach which is nothing to sneeze at.
Overall this list is going to be a tough nut for many armies to crack. Opponents will need to choose their battles carefully, especially if the flamekeepers are ready to pop their buff.
This is the top three AoS lists for the Book Of Grudges that took place in England on the 29th and 30th of July. It involved 18 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: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Grand Strategy: Corrupt arcane nexus – Triumph bloodthirsty – Subfaction: Befouling Host
LEADERS Morbidex Twiceborn (300) The Glottkin (600) – Spells: Plague Squall Bloab Rotspawned (330) – Spells: Gift of Disease Orghotts Daemonspew (320)* Lord of Blights (140)* – General – Command Traits: Grandfather’s Blessing – Artefacts of Power: Rustfang
BATTLELINE Beasts of Nurgle (100)* Beasts of Nurgle (100)* Beasts of Nurgle (100)*
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
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Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Breaker Tribe – Grand Strategy: Make the Land Tremble! – Triumph: Inspired – Fierce Loathings: Idiots with Flags
LEADERS Gatebreaker (500)* – General – Command Traits: Extremely Bitter (Bossy Pants and Clever Clogs) Gatebreaker (500)* – Nullstone Adornments: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon Gatebreaker (500)** – Artefacts of Power: Amberbone Totem Gatebreaker (500)** – Artefacts of Power: Vial of Manticore Venom
CORE BATTALIONS *Bosses of the Stomp **Bosses of the Stomp
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
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Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Army Subfaction: Heartwood – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty – Seasons of War: The Dwindling
LEADER 1 x Arch-Revenant (120)* 1 x Warsong Revenant (300)* – General – Command Traits: Spellsinger – Artefacts: The Vesperal Gem – Spells: Verdurous Harmony, Hoarfrost, Verdant Blessing 1 x Celestant-Prime (330)*
BATTLELINE 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230) – Huntmaster 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230) – Huntmaster 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230) – Huntmaster 6 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatswords (440)* – Huntmaster
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Spiteswarm Hive (40)
TERRAIN 1 x Awakened Wyldwood (0)
OTHER 5 x Spite-Revenants (80)* – Shadestalker
CORE BATTALIONS: *Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
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Army Faction: Hedonites of Slaanesh – Army Type: Godseekers – Grand Strategy: Selfish Desire – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Lord of Pain (140)* Sigvald (200)* Contorted Epitome (210)* – Spells: Hoarfrost Keeper of Secrets (400)** – General – Command Traits: Speed-chaser – Shining Aegis – Artefacts of Power: Girdle of the Realm-racer – Spells: Paths of the Dark Prince
This is the top three AoS lists for Summer Slaughter that took place in the United States on the 22nd and 23rd of July. It involved 113 players vying to be champion in a 5 round 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: Disciples of Tzeentch – Army Subfaction: Guild of Summoners – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (160)* – Spells: Glimpse the Future, Hoarfrost – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur 1 x Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)** – Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Arcane Suggestion 1 x Lord of Change (380)** – General – Command Traits: Daemonspark – Staff of Tzeentch and Rod of Sorcery – Artefacts: Nine-Eyed Tome – Spells: Ghost-mist, Flaming Weapon 1 x Magister (140)** – Spells: Rupture, Merciless Blizzard
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 Tzaangors (180)* – Twistbray – Icon Bearer – Brayhorn Blower – 2 x Tzaangor Mutant – Pair of Savage Blades 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield
BEHEMOTH 1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Purple Sun of Shyish (80) 1 x Burning Sigil Of Tzeentch (70)
Kieron Bailey: Kaleb Walters, the Lord of Lords of Change is at it again with yet another 5-0 and event victory in the bag. There are some Kaleb staples in this list: Guild of Summoners, a Krondspine, Kairics as screens that are just annoying enough to be a pain and a Lord of Change in place of Kairos.
Added to this are some tweaks added by the new GHB in the shape of all three new spells being represented. Hoarfrost in addition to Tzaangor could result in 30 rend -3 attacks from a unit that can run and charge; Merciless Blizzard for a close-range magical shotgun and, much to the relief of the Magister the Krondspine is bonded to, the spell Rupture can make the Krondspine go wild without having to kill the Magister using Destiny Dice. Just in case you haven’t come across this trick before, not only do you get the +1 to hit and run and charge but you can feed it the Umbral Spellportal each turn to keep it at top level for the whole game.
The Lord of Change load out also is a tip of the hat to the nerf to Chronomantic Cogs, with the Nine-eyed Tome being used to give the Big Bird full re-rolls to cast along with Daemonspark to give Kaleb a real headstart to getting the 9 Fate Points needed for a Lord of Change T1.
The other real strength of this list is its ability to pump up the rend in a variety of ways. We’ve already covered Hoarfrost, but the Ogroid also has Arcane Suggestion, with one of the options being to reduce the armour save by one of an enemy and then there’s the Purple Sun to subtract one from save rolls.
To summarise, you have a list that can really throttle the damage it can do, with a range of battle tactics at its disposal (all book tactics are achievable with this build) and driven by a general at the height of his powers. The end result – another well-deserved trophy for Kaleb!
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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Null Myriad – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
LEADERS Katakros (460)* Mortisan Boneshaper (140)* – Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key – Spells: Empower Nadirite Weapons Mortisan Soulmason (160)* – General – Command Traits: Dark Acolyte – Spells: Hoarfrost
Walter Brock: Today, we are looking at a Null Myriad list. Null Myriad has been popping up for a while this season, and we can expect them to be a staple for Bonereaper lists. An important thing to note is that Katakros is Mortis Preatorians so he will not be able to benefit from the 2+ spell ignore while wholly within 9” of a Mortisan hero, but proper positioning can easily mitigate that.
The Grand strategy of choice is spell casting savant. Combining this with the Immortis Guard. Means that pretty much almost half the list must die before the General can even die.
Katakros is a powerhouse. Giving a massive 24” bubble on +1 to hit and +1 to save makes everything in the list better and perform above their weight. Katakros himself is no slaker either in melee. He starts slow, but when he takes damage, he gets better and better. When he sees an enemy hero, he gets to work and acts at the most “fighty profile” being able to take down even the toughest of targets.
The Boneshaper bringing the artisans key allows it to potentially use its healing ability twice. Combining this with Katakros’s healing ability could allow this list to revive four Immortis guard a turn. Boneshaper uses its ability twice and Katakros can pick both Immortis units. Its war scroll spell is also very powerful for clearing large units. Rolling a dice for every model in a unit and doing a mortal for every 5+ can lead to very large amounts of damage.
The Soulmason helps cranks the army up and over the hill for list support. Masons know every spell in the Bonereapers lore so they can take Hoarfrost without giving anything up in return. They have two casts and could potentially get more casts of their war scroll spell “Soul- guide” at the end of the hero phase. Giving a Deathrider or Mortek unit +1 to wound. Dark acolyte causes their first spell from the Ossiarch Lore not stoppable. Imagine a unit of death riders hitting on twos, wounding on threes, at a potential Rend three because of hoarfrost and exploding 5s to hit for the riders because of Empower nadorite. Ouch.
The Deathriders can do many things. From acting as screen to taking very far objective. With the above-mentioned combo they can hit incredibly hard. With the ability to do mortal wounds on the charge, being able to charge over models with three or less wounds for a command ability and having a 6” inch pile in on the charge they can get into vary hard to reach places and snipe out important models or get into places that are very inconvenient for an opponent.
Lastly, we arrive on the Immortis Guard. Two whole units of these beasts of bone. These take the hurt and can dish them out in Return. Being able to bodyguard for heros is very powerful and means that the important support models usually won’t die until the models they are supporting are already gone. Just be careful, the Immortis’s bodyguard ability is not optional. Meaning a player might be able to get around the Immortis and hit the Boneshaper or Mason in the back and find it easier to do damage to Immortis that way.
All of this fits nicely inside a battle Regiment. Giving the Bonereapers player most of the time the option of deciding who will go first. A very cool list and very hard to take down. Well done to this player!
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Army Faction: Nighthaunt – Army Subfaction: The Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Guardian of Souls (150)* – Artefacts: Midnight Tome – Spells: Seal of Shyish 1 x Reikenor the Grimhailer (170)* – Spells: Shademist 1 x Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (130)* – General – Command Traits: Spiteful Spirit – Artefacts: Arcane Tome
BATTLELINE 10 x Hexwraiths (360) – Hellwraith 5 x Hexwraiths (180) – Hellwraith 5 x Hexwraiths (180) – Hellwraith 5 x Hexwraiths (180) – Hellwraith
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Lauchon the Soulseeker (50) 1 x Mortalis Terminexus (80)
OTHER 10 x Craventhrone Guard (160) – Craven Huntmaster – 2 x Spectral Standard Bearer 5 x Craventhrone Guard (80) – Craven Huntmaster – 2 x Spectral Standard Bearer 5 x Craventhrone Guard (80) 4 x Myrmourn Banshees (90)* 4 x Myrmourn Banshees (90)*
CORE BATTALIONS: *Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)
We’ve little in the way of Nighthaunt specialists at the Woe Towers, so I asked for Nighthaunt volunteers from our friendly discord, and Craig was up for the challenge! We’ll no doubt be hearing more from Craig in the future!
Craig Ellis: at this, a 5-0 Nighthaunt list! I’ll preface the breakdown by pointing out this was piloted by Nate Trentanelli who, as the #1 Nighthaunt player in the world, should probably start with a 500pt handicap or something. Anyway, on to the list, and this list is absolutely bonkers.
Running the subfaction Emerald host means he’ll pick D3+1 units at the start of the battle and at the end of each battle round can do D3 Mortal Wounds (on a 2+) to each of them. This is going to be great to put on those pesky Andtorian Loci to chip away and start finishing them off by Round 3 or 4. Fright or Flight as the Grand Strategy is pretty standard at this point and easily achieved due to the mobility of this list.
He’s gone magic heavy with the heroes in this list, clearly trying to make use of the Primal mechanic and the excellent utility in the NH spell lore. The Guardian of Souls is an AL and carries the Midnight Tome artefact, which autocasts an endless spell once per battle that cannot be unbound. Seal of Shyish will provide a 5+ ward to a nearby unit for added tankiness for holding objectives and his built in warscroll spell can heal (or resurrect) up to d6.
Reikenor the Grimhailer is an underrated caster who can get +3 to cast in exchange for taking a MW. This means he’s going to be getting Shademist off pretty reliably for that sweet -1 to Wound on a unit, making that objective holding bubble that much tougher to shift. He’ll also be great for hunting down wizards with his 14″ movement and bonus to attacks with Fellreaper for fighting priests and wizards. Then there’s the Knight of Shrouds on Steed, which is a bit of an off meta pick (which this list specialises in!). He has the Arcane Tome to make him a wizard (as well as an AL), which means he can jump for a ride with Lauchon the Bringy Dinghy (which you’re autocasting with the GoS). The 12″ movement of the KoSoES means you’re pretty much getting into combat with whatever you want in turn 1. He has a decent combat profile, meaning he’s going to be making short work of any annoying screens or enemy ALs. The command trait Spiteful Spirit means he’s going to be rolling a d6 for each wound on his wounds characteristic and for each 4+ will be a MW for every unit within 6″. Adding wounds to his characteristic throughout the battle with the Sword of Stolen Hours ability means this can get real nasty, real fast. The trigger for this is that he has to take damage and not die, but as long as you pick targets wisely, this can be wicked.
As for the Units. Hexwraiths (25 of them!) and 20 Crossboos. I mean, why wouldn’t you!? The Hexwraiths are going to be scattering, capping objectives, scoring tactics, doing impact hits on the charge, and just generally giving the opponent a lot to think about. The ability to move up to 30″ in a turn means they’re going to be wherever they want to be, and having 4 separate units of them is just going to give the opponent nightmares. Whilst they’re figuring out how to deal with that, he has 3 units of Craventhrone Guard blobbing up, getting made more tanky by spells and just generally being a bit of a pain to shift and doing chip damage with shooting attacks. The ability to put up to 3 units in the grave at the start of the battle also means these can pop up anywhere on the field outside of 9″ for some extra chip damage. Two blocks of Myrmourn Banshees provide spell eating capability to shore up one of the main weaknesses here (taking MWs) and being a decent melee hammer in their own right. The Mortalis Terminexus provides an additional Mortal Wound threat to round off the high MW damage theme this army has going on. It can also reverse time, meaning it can provide healing for his heroes as required. The aim here is to remove the opponents’ support & tech pieces early on to reduce threats. It just so happens that wins versus Khorne, Kruleboyz, OBR & SBGL (x2) all armies that are prone to being reliant on auras and buffs from small foot heroes, wizards & priests. With the added impetus on ALs in this GHB means this list has been tailor-made to carefully dismantle an armies’ tricks & capabilities rather than fight a pitched battle in the middle. To win with this clearly takes skill & intrinsic knowledge of the movement abilities and just the sheer ability to force your opponent into mistakes by giving them too many decisions to make. Nate is clearly a master of the army, and to go 5-0 with this is absolute genius. Well done!
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Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Breaker Tribe – Grand Strategy: Make the Land Tremble! – Triumphs: Inspired – Fierce Loathings: Bossy Pants and Clever Clogs
LEADER 1 x Gatebreaker (500)* – General – Command Traits: Monstrously Tough – Artefacts: Glowy Shield of Protectiness 1 x Gatebreaker (500)* – Nullstone Adornments: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon 1 x Kraken-Eater (480)* – Artefacts: Extra-calloused Feet
BATTLELINE 1 x Mancrusher Gargant (140)** 1 x Mancrusher Gargant (140)** 1 x Mancrusher Gargant (140)**
CORE BATTALIONS: *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent **Footsloggas – Swift
TOTAL POINTS: (1900/2000)
Our next commentator needs no introduction! You’re probably on his discord and have watched all of his videos on the YouTubes. Coach is, as you’re all aware, a big Gargants fan, so I asked him if he’d be interested in commenting on this list and telling us a bit about Gargants in the new GHB.
G’day Stompers, let’s break down the deep options available to us Sons of Behemat players and how this list works.
Sons are in an interesting spot in the meta with the Generals Handbook ‘23. The latest Woehammer meta stats have shown that Sons of Behemat have a strong win rate but low representation at tournaments. We can’t play with Andtorian Locus (GW can we PLEASE ally some 70pt wizard) which not only stops me from Hoarfrosting my Gate-Breaker’s flail down to a 2+ to Hit but also restricts how many GHB battle tactics we can score. If you want to do well, you’ll need to build a list that makes the most of your Battletome BT’s.
The list starts with 2x Gate Breaker Mega Gargants who deals the most damage compared to the counterparts. Gate Breakers have recently enjoyed a points discount which has helped this list all but secure the +1 to wound Triumph at 1,900 points as it’s critical to getting the most out of their flail attack.
Sons power comes from staying alive as most armies struggle to claim an objective off a Mega Gargant. Monstrously Tough command trait adds +5 wounds to the General and the Glowy Shield of Protection will ignore rend -1 attacks and bounce some mortal wounds back on a save roll of a 6.
While we don’t get access to Hoarfrost or Merciless Blizzards we do get access to Primal Magic Dice and the Hand-carved Nullstone Icon is a great selection as it allows one of the Megas to attempt to unbind 1 spell or dispel 1 endless spell each round. Put some primal magic dice behind that unbind without fear of a primal miscast, and each time you unbind/dispel with this unit you’ll get 1 additional unbind.
Why not take a 4th Mega Gargant you might ask? The 3 independent Mancrushers bring a lot to a Sons army.
They can be left on an objective and will counting as 10 which makes it hard to steal from deep strikes and requires commitment to claim it off us.
In Breaker Tribe you can issue Ramming Speed to a Mancrusher for a 3D6” charge which brings greater consistency to your charge phase, be used to score Bait and Trap or Led into the Maelstrom battle tactic, as well as a few cheeky mortal wounds to your opponent when completing that charge.
Make the Land Tremble! grand strategy requires a unit to run or charge each turn and in a 4 Mega Gargant list you can find this hard to achieve if you’re grinding it out in combat.
Gargant players hate units that ignore rend and with ethereal vampire lords on zombie dragons or in the case of David’s first 2 matches, a really unfortunate double Nighthaunt match up, the Gate-Breakers come into their own with the ultimate gamble in Pulverising Strike where you trade your attacks for 1 single dice roll. If you can roll a 4+, 1 unit within 3” will suffer 4D6 mortal wounds. With the inconsistent attack profiles in Sons, this attack is worth the gamble because you’ll likely do more damage than trying to grind it out without rend.
I’d be curious to hear from David on the value that the Kraken Eater brought and if the army would have performed better with a Warstomper to clear the hordes or King Brodd with his 40 wounds and incredibly valuable set of prayers. Well done on stomping a mudhole mate!
This is the top three AoS lists for Bash by the Billabong 3 that took place in Australia on the 8th and 9th of July. It involved 24 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Subfaction: Legion of Night – Grand Strategy: Lust for Domination – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (440)* – General – Deathlance – Command Trait: Unbending Will – Lore of the Vampires: Spirit Gale Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (390)** – Lore of the Deathmages: Waste Away Vampire Lord (130)* – Artefact: Morbheg’s Claw – Lore of the Vampires: Vile Transference – Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox Wight King on Skeletal Steed (160)**
Battleline 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)* 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)** 3 x Fell Bats (85)**
Units 16 x Askurgan Trueblades (360)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Black Knights (220)** – Reinforced x 1
OTHER Garrek’s Reavers (70) Skullreapers (380) – Skullseeker – 2 x Icon Bearer
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50)
TERRAIN 1 x Skull Altar (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Galletian Veterans **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
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Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords – Army Type: Kastelai – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Prince Vhordrai (470)* – Spells: Vile Transference Vengorian Lord (280)** – General – Command Traits: Undead Bladelord – Artefacts of Power: Fragment of the Keep – Spells: Flaming Weapon Necromancer (90)** – Spells: Waste Away – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE Blood Knights (460)* – Kastellan – Templar Lance – 2 x Standard Bearer Deathrattle Skeletons (85)* – Standard Bearer – Skeleton Champion Deathrattle Skeletons (170)** – Skeleton Champion – 2 x Standard Bearer Dire Wolves (130)** – Doom Wolf Dire Wolves (130)** – Doom Wolf
OTHER Askurgan Trueblades (180)* – Curseblood – Askurgan Exemplar – Elongated Claws and Slavering Maw – Paired Askurgan Blades
Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Breaker Tribe – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumph: Inspired – Fierce Loathings: Idiots with Flags
LEADERS Kraken-Eater (490) Gatebreaker (520)* – General – Command Traits: Monstrously Tough – Artefacts of Power: Glowy Shield of Protectiness Gatebreaker (520)* – Artefacts of Power: The Great Wrecka
BATTLELINE Mancrusher Mob (450)
CORE BATTALIONS *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent
This is the top three AoS lists for Clash of Swords 2023 that took place in Wales on the 10th and 11th of June. It involved 34 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: Disciples of Tzeentch – Subfaction: Guild of Summoners – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Kairos Fateweaver (440) Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (230) – General – Command Traits: Daemonspark – Artefacts of Power: Nine-Eyed Tome – Spells: Levitate Curseling (200) – Spells: Infusion Arcanum Fatemaster (160)
BATTLELINE Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (500) – Iridescent Horror – Split and Split Again – 2 x Pink Horror Icon Bearer – 2 x Pink Horror Hornblower Kairic Acolytes (120) – Pair of Cursed Blades Kairic Acolytes (120) – Pair of Cursed Blades
OTHER Screamers of Tzeentch (110)
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Tome of Eyes (40)
LEADERS Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis (440) Mortisan Boneshaper (120) – General – Command Trait: Dark Acolyte – Artefact: Artisan’s Key – Spells – Reinforce Constructs – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Mortisan Boneshaper (120) – Spells: Drain Vitality
BATTLELINE 6 x Immortis Guard (400) – Reinforced x 1 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (220) 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (220) 5 x Kavalos Deathriders (170) – Nadirite Blade and Shield
Alex Tubb: Due to the small roster size and a couple of poor units. Most OBR lists are using variations on the same style of list. I opted for opening up access to as many battle tactics as possible with my list and having no ‘bad’ match ups. Null myriad helps a lot with this. Having close to auto wins VS tzeentch, lumineth, and Seraphon rather than close to auto loses is a big swing. It also really helps VS Soulblight, whose debuffs are crippling for obr.
In terms of enabling battle tactics, I went for 2 GCs, 1 unit of immortis, 2 stalkers and a unit of deathriders. This gives me access to a potential of 5 extra battle tactics.
For me, morghasts are the sleeper unit in the book. Switching off commands within 3″ is unbelievable on a fast-moving hammer. Great for charging without having to worry about unleash hell…
Finally I decided to go for the carrion. I believe OBR’s biggest weakness is scoring objectives. And there are armies who can hold us off objectives for a good few turns before we grind through. Carrion allows us to keep the scoreboard ticking over from the very first turn.
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Allegiance: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Legion: Null Myriad – Mortal Realm: Shyish – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis (440)* Mortisan Boneshaper (120)* – General – Command Trait: Aura of Sterility – Artefact: Artisan’s Key – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE 6 x Immortis Guard (400)* – Reinforced x 1 6 x Immortis Guard (400)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Kavalos Deathriders (170)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield 5 x Kavalos Deathriders (170)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield
UNITS 2 x Morghast Archai (240)* – halbards
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL: 1940 / 2000
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Allegiance: Sons of Behemat – Tribe: Breaker Tribe (Fierce Loathing: Bossy Pants and Clever Clog) – Grand Strategy: Show ‘Em Who’s Boss! – Triumphs: Inspired
Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant (520)* – General – Command Trait: Monstrously Tough – Artefact: Glowy Shield of Protectiness King Brodd (550)* Warstomper Mega-Gargant (450)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) 3 x Mancrusher Mob (450) *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent
This is the top three AoS lists for CTC Age Of Sigmar Championship Open that took place in Ottawa, Canada on the 13th and 14th of May. It involved 22 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament. The tournament was broken into 2 rounds, one of 3 games and one of 2 games (2nd day). The results are for the combined placings, overall winners are slightly different reflecting standings after day 1 (first 3 rounds).
As this event had less than 25 players attending there won’t be any list comments here as the guys will be concentrating on the larger events of the week.
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?
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Fyreslayers – Subfaction: Vostarg – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Auric Runefather on Magmadroth (360)** – General – Command Traits: Blood of the Berzerker – Artefacts of Power: Master Rune of Unbreakable Resolve – Mount Traits: Coal-heart Ancient Auric Flamekeeper (90)** Auric Flamekeeper (90)** Battlesmith (150)*** – Artefacts of Power: Nulsidian Icon – Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Auric Runeson (80)*** – Ancestral War-axe – Artefacts of Power: Axe of Grimnir Auric Runemaster (130)*** – Prayers: Curse
BATTLELINE Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)* – Karl Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)* – Karl Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)* – Karl Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)* – Karl Hearthguard Berzerkers (450)** – Karl – Berzerker Broadaxe
Allegiance: Flesh-eater Courts – Mortal Realm: Chamon – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Abhorrant Archregent (240)* – Artefact: The Dermal Robe – Lore of Madness: Deranged Transformation Abhorrant Ghoul King (170)* – Lore of Madness: Deranged Transformation Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (450)** – Artefact: Corpsefane Gauntlet – Mount Trait: Gruesome Bite – Lore of Madness: Spectral Host Crypt Haunter Courtier (110)* Crypt Haunter Courtier (110)** Varghulf Courtier (160)** – General – Command Trait: Grave Robber – Artefact: The Bilious Decanter – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
BATTLELINE 10 x Crypt Ghouls (80)** -1 x Crypt Ghast 9 x Crypt Horrors (330)*** – Reinforced x 2 – 1 x Crypt Haunter 9 x Crypt Horrors (330)*** – Reinforced x 2 – 1 x Crypt Haunter
Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Breaker Tribe – Grand Strategy: Make the Land Tremble! – Triumph: Inspired – Fierce Loathings: Idiots with Flags
LEADERS Gatebreaker (520)* – General – Command Traits: Rabble Rouser – Artefacts of Power: Extra-calloused Feet – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Gatebreaker (520)* – Artefacts of Power: Amberbone Totem
CORE BATTALIONS *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent **Footsloggas – Unified
TOTAL POINTS: 1970/2000
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Army Subfaction: Da Choppas – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480)* – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts: Armour of Gork – Mount Traits: Smelly ’Un 1 x Orruk Megaboss (140)* – Artefacts: Destroyer – Aspects of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox 1 x Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)** – General – Command Traits: Touched by the Waaagh! – Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork 1 x Orruk Warchanter (120)** – Warbeats: Killa Beat 1 x Orruk Warchanter (120)** – Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat
BATTLELINE 10 x Orruk Brutes (300)* – Brute Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka – Boss Klaw & Brute Smasha – 2 x Gore-choppa 10 x Orruk Ardboys (160)* – Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer – Waaagh! Drummer – Ardboy Boss – 4 x Orruk-forged Shield 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)* – Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer – Waaagh! Drummer – 2 x Orruk-forged Shield 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)* – Ardboy Boss – Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer – Waaagh! Drummer – 2 x Orruk-forged Shield
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)
OTHER 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka
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.
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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.
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.
