This is the top three AoS lists for the Boise Cup O AOS GT 2023 that took place in the USA on the 29th and 30th of July. It involved 46 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
We’re a little behind on commentary at the moment, so rather than hold things up further, we’ve published this one without comments.
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 – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Vampire Lord (140)* – Spells: Hoarfrost 1 x Necromancer (100)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard 1 x Belladamma Volga (200)** – Spells: Spirit Gale 1 x Gorslav the Gravekeeper (120)*** – General – Command Traits: Spoor Trackers – Artefacts: Ulfenkarni Phylactery 1 x Torgillius the Chamberlain (150)*** – Spells: Fading Vigour
BATTLELINE 10 x Dire Wolves (140)** – Doom Wolf 40 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)** 40 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)** 40 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)** 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)** 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)***
OTHER 1 x Corpse Cart (80)*** – Corpse Goad – Unholy Lodestone 1 x Corpse Cart (80)*** – Corpse Goad – Unholy Lodestone
Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords – Army Subfaction: Zaitrec – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Scinari Cathallar (120)* – Spells: Total Eclipse, Hoarfrost – Aspects of the Champion (Archived): Tunnel Master (Archived) 1 x Scinari Enlightener (170)* – General – Command Traits: Loremaster – Artefacts: Rune of Senthoi – Spells: Protection of Hysh, Speed of Hysh, Hoarfrost, Merciless Blizzard 1 x The Light of Eltharion (230)** 1 x Ellania and Ellathor (190)** – Spells: Etheral Blessings, Overwhelming Heat 1 x Sevireth (270)**
BATTLELINE 10 x Vanari Bladelords (240) – Bladelord Seneschal 10 x Vanari Bladelords (240) – Bladelord Seneschal 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)** – High Warden – Spells: Total Eclipse, Solar Flare
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70) 1 x Hyshian Twinstones (30) 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
TERRAIN 1 x Shrine Luminor (0)
OTHER 5 x Vanari Dawnriders (120) – Steedmaster – Standard Bearer – Spells: Overwhelming Heat, Speed of Hysh 5 x Vanari Dawnriders (120) – Steedmaster – Standard Bearer – Spells: Overwhelming Heat, Speed of Hysh
CORE BATTALIONS: *Andtorian Acolytes **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)
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Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Stormkeep – Subfaction: Astral Templars – Grand Strategy: Sacred Charge – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Knight-Incantor (120)* – Spells: Lightning Blast, Merciless Blizzard Battlemage (100)* – Spells: Levitate, Rupture – Magic of the Realms: Wildform (Ghur) Knight-Incantor (120)* – Spells: Hoarfrost, Starfall Assassin (80)** Lord-Relictor (150)** – General – Command Traits: High Priest – Prayers: Translocation Knight-Heraldor (100)** – Artefacts of Power: Luckstone
This is the top three AoS lists for the Leeds AoS GT that took place in the UK on the 5th and 6th of August. It involved 34 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
We’ve taken the decision not to comment on the lists below as these or slight variations of these lists have already been commented upon in previous top 3’s.
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: Seraphon – Army Type: Starborne – Army Subfaction: Fangs of Sotek – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Slann Starmaster (275)* – General – Command Traits: Lord of Celestial Resonance – Spells: Rupture, Comet’s Call – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur 1 x Lord Kroak (410)** 1 x Skink Starseer (150)** – Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Hoarfrost 1 x Skink Starseer (150)** – Spells: Cosmic Crush, Merciless Blizzard 1 x Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)* – Artefacts: Arcane Tome
BATTLELINE 10 x Skinks (90) – Skink Alpha – Boltspitter – Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler 10 x Skinks (90) – Skink Alpha – Boltspitter – Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler 5 x Saurus Guard (140)** – Saurus Guard Alpha – Icon Bearer – War-drummer
BEHEMOTH 1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Malevolent Maelstrom (30) 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Andtorian Acolytes **Warlord – Extra Spell Enhancement
TOTAL POINTS: (1985/2000)
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Khorne, Drops:6|Wizards:0 and proud|Points 1970/2000 Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance (+1 to hit heroes and extra BTP on Hero Kill) Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery (No wizards at end) Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Skarbrand (380)* Bloodmaster (110)* Prayers: Curse (Target within 9″ takes MWs on 6s to hit), Bronzed Flesh (+1 save) Bloodmaster (110)* Prayers: Blood Sacrifice(D3 mortals and BTP), Killer Instinct (Hero Phase move) Nullstone Adornment: Pouch of Nulldust
<General>Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330) Command Traits: Firebrand (Becomes a priest) Artefacts of Power: Ar’gath, the King of Blades (3″ no wards) Prayers: Killer Instinct (Hero Phase Move), Unholy Flames(+1 rend)
Allegiance: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180)** – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (240)*** Orruk Warchanter (120)*** – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Warchanter (120)*** – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)* – General – Command Trait: Shaman of the Chilled Lands – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork – Lore of the Weird: Foot of Gork Wurrgog Prophet (170)* – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard
Battleline 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)** 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)** 15 x Orruk Ardboys (240)** – Reinforced x 2 10 x Orruk Brutes (280)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1
Units 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1
Big Waaagh is an army that relies on building stacks of Waaagh Points, which slowly applies stacking buffs until every unit in your army becomes Big Green Murder Machines. There are many ways to generate Waaagh Points, from landing charges to heroic actions, and especially by having units stuck in at the end of combat.
That last method is what has created the technique known as Waaagh Stacks.
A Waaagh Stack is when several units (typically a screen and several heroes) are tightly confined near each other so that when you engage with one, you engage with them all. In most situations, this would do more harm than good—a single unit tying up multiple units (restricting their movement)—so what’s the benefit in doing this?
Two characters, less than 3″ from an Arboyz screen
The answer lies in Waaagh points and how critical they are to your army! For each of those units stuck at the end of the combat, you get an additional WP. Even if they can’t do damage (shamans, wurrgogs, etc.), they’re still stacking buffs for the rest of your army. The difference of 2-3 WP early game is huge, often reaching your powerful buffs a whole turn earlier, allowing you to take control of the game much sooner than your opponent might have expected.
Even outside of the early game, an early WAAAGH can be detrimental to your opponent. This technique has allowed me to hit full stacks, twice, in multiple combat-heavy games. Getting +1 to charge, cast, and hit at the top of round 2 instead of round 3 has cascading results as your army chops your opponent down instead of dawdling and trying to accumulate resources.
Many of the risks from the Waaagh Stack technique are mitigated by natural functions of the army. For example, Orruk characters tend to be pretty tough and fighty, so a few stray hits reaching over your screen are very unlikely to actually kill your units.
Additionally, mechanics like the Wurrgog stare and teleports from the Big Green Hand of Mork can get you unstuck and ready to fight on your own terms. This prevents your opponent from gaining a strategic advantage off of their plays while you reap the rewards.
Every small edge matters in a game of Age of Sigmar, so remember, Stay Stacked or Get Clapped.
This is the top three AoS lists for the Southern Fried Sigmar GT that took place in the USA on the 29th and 30th of July. It involved 37 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: Idoneth Deepkin – Subfaction: Fuethán – Grand Strategy: The Creeping Gloomtide
LEADERS Ellania and Ellathor (190)* Isharann Tidecaster (140)** – General – Command Traits: Teachings of the Túrscoll – Artefacts of Power: Dritchleech – Spells: Steed of Tides
Brett Martin: Shout out to Jon for his ASCII shark at the top of his shark list. Very clever.
Joshua Bennett: So what happens when you just get finished watching the Sharknado series and decide to go to a GT. Well, ask no further because Jon Anderson answered it for us. What should have been a meme list actually turns out to be a new meta for deepkin. How you might ask, as well you should. Let’s take a dive (see what I did there dive, and a shark list) and break this list down.
First we have the twins. What is the twin’s purpose you might ask. And that would be an amazing question to ask as the purpose seems unclear. And i’ll be honest after playing the list round five in this tournament other than a level 2 caster i could not answer that question for you other than Jon had to somehow still play Lumeth models in his new list. But much like the bermuda triangle the world may never know the true answer.
The tidecaster gives off a nice ritual that they can choose from. Against my all shooting list, he chose the ritual that does not allow line of sight outside of 12 inches, which you know isn’t cool but works great with this list. The artefact allows him to throw a ship on the board to shut down charge lanes and have a garrison terrain wherever he wants it.
Jon in action at the Southern Fried Open
Now let’s talk about the sharks, deepkin has the advantage in shooting bc the allegiance ability only allows your opponent to shoot the closest unit. While he maintains a 24” range for his shots, that added with his 14 inch move means nowhere on the board is safe. He on the other hand just feeds you one or two sharks a turn. So they are great at shooting, I’ll just charge them. I see this being the thought of most people but what you have to understand is that they are also decent in combat and can lift your units as well.
There are not a lot of good answers to this list and behind the piloting skills of Mr. Anderson, this list is very deadly. If you happen to be paired into him, make sure you bring a bigger boat.
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Army Faction: Hedonites of Slaanesh – Army Type: Pretenders – Grand Strategy: over shadow – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Be’lakor (340)* 1 x Contorted Epitome (210)* – General – Command Traits: Strength of Godhood – Artefacts: The Crown of Dark Secrets – Spells: Flaming Weapon 1 x The Masque (140)*
BATTLELINE 22 x Blissbarb Archers (320)* 22 x Blissbarb Archers (320)* 11 x Blissbarb Archers (160)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Dreadful Visage (60)
OTHER 5 x Blissbarb Seekers (210)* 5 x Blissbarb Seekers (210)*
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1970/2000)
Jon Anderson: I’m a big fan of Josh’s listbuilding style, and it’s full send on efficiency.
Be’lakor was not a direct power player in our game, but he helps deal with the handful of bad matchups you had in the previous Generals Handbook so I think it’s perfectly valid to see it here.
In terms of raw efficiency, I don’t think much can outlast this list and I’d heavily advise anyone who is interested in a 40k-esque army to give this book and, more specifically, this list a look.
As much as it pains me to say, this was an uphill battle from the starting gun as forcing Josh to shoot the closest fish, as well as only being visible within 12″ due to the Isharann Ritual, meant that if Josh went first he would do nothing and then risk the double. Because this was the case, he had to give me top of 1, which allowed me to remove about 25% of his blissbarbs and subsequently present him with a single shark that he could shoot at when the turn went back to him. This was a case of Allegiance Ability supremacy and goes to show that if we do go into a shooting meta again, now that Deepkins points have dropped, it’s well within reason to believe that an MSU list of this sort could become a real power player in the meta.
Josh seized his moment at the bottom of turn one by getting his epitome into two sharks with a great charge however the curse of the single model unit came back to bite him and rolling 3 1’s to hit with the epitome left her exposed and vulnerable. After losing his epitome, 20 blissbarbs, and two seekers at the end of round 1, losing the priority roll was the last nail in the coffin. The mobility of sharks meant that I would be able to fly around the board and attack at every conceivable angle, and Josh didn’t have much recourse to play against it.
Don’t get it twisted. If you, as the reader, took Josh’s list to an event, you will do significantly better than if you took my shark list. Josh’s list is refined, honed, and deadly. My list was just the one thing he couldn’t deal with.
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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Null Myriad – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
Walter Brock: This player chose to use Null Myriad for the spell ignore. Adding a layer of protection from powerful spells from factions such as Tzeentch and Seraphon.
Spellcasting Savant works very well with the Boneshaper and Immortis Guard for getting a reliable battle tactic.
Starting off with the list itself, we have Katakros himself. The big boss himself has several abilities to support or disrupt the opponent. The main buff he provides is an absolutely massive 24” aura of +1 to hit and +1 to save rolls. It is important to note that He still has the Mortis Praetorians keyword. This means he cannot benefit from the Null Myriad sub faction.
The general of this list is a Boneshaper with a standard loadout with Artisans key and Aura of Sterility with Dark Acolyte. Aura of Sterility helps to protect your army from opposing shooting. Dark acolyte allowing for an easy battle tactic in magical dominance, and Artisans key potentially allowing a second use of it heal ability.
Next is an interesting choice in the form of a Soulreaper. These are not seen very often. The key difference from a reaper to an Ossifector or Boneshaper is first. It’s cheaper points wise, and it has a decent combat profile with potentially up to 5 attacks at rend 2. Meaning it can hit decently hard while spreading the Null Myriad aura and providing spell support. It’s a very cool thing to see on the table.
A unit of 3 Immortis Guard is a little bit of a difference from the Normal 6 Immortis we see in most lists. These are tanky, provide solid damage, and help protect the shaper for the grand stratagem.
Two units of 6 Stalkers. This player decided to step on the gas and keep going. Hunt and kill let them count as flying for moving over terrain, and they can run and charge. There are four different stances that allow them to adapt to different situations. Making for a tough to kill unit that can hit hard and move fast.
Lastly is a single unit of Deathriders. These can act as a nice screen. Provide an easy battle tactic and their speed to get into places to block enemy units off. Death riders have several uses, and the only limit is one’s imagination.
All of this fits nicely into a battle Regiment to be a single drop. Well done to this player.
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Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Greyfyrd (+1w heroes, +2 artefacts) – Grand Strategy: Master of the Forge (Keep Invo. at end of battle) – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Auric Runefather (120)*** (OPG +1 attack aura) – Artefact: Axe of Grimnir (+1 rend, +1 dmg) Auric Runemaster (130)*** (knows all prayers, +1 CP) – General – Command Trait: Avatar of Vulcatrix (dying spawns infernoth) – Artefact: Volatile Brazier (reroll, 2x range on invos) – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse (9″, mws on 6s to hit enemy) Battlesmith (160)* – Artefact: Nulsidian Icon (4+ spell ignore WW 12″) Grimhold Exile (140)*** (OPG MW nuke, OPG run+charge aura) – Nullstone Adornment: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon (unbind) Auric Flamekeeper (90)* (WW 12″ buff infantry) – Nullstone Adornment: Pouch of Nulldust (OPG 2s, 3s, miscast) Auric Flamekeeper (90)* Grimwrath Berzerker (110)** (fight on death, fight 2x) – Artefact: Draught of Magmalt Ale (double attacks char)
Battleline 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)** (on charge +1 attack) 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (150)* (on charge, impacts on 6s, dice = models in unit) 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)*** 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)
Units 10 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (320)** (4+ ward, bodyguard Runefather) – Poleaxes (6s to hit do 2mws in addition) – Reinforced x 1 3 x Skywardens (130) – 1x Grapnel Launchers (opg relate to terrain piece within 15″ outside 9″)
Kevin Lathers: This list was a fun one that was brought due to a poll posted in various discords with lists. The denizens of those discords could vote and I would take the winner.
There were six lists. In this case, “I Was A Fyreslayer in My Previous Life But Now I’ve Been Reincarnated as a Balloon But I Have to Still Help My Old Lodge??!?!?” won the vote. Only twenty people voted, but it won with a resounding 6 out of 20 votes! The people crave Isekai, I guess. Originally it was supposed to have Brokk as the titular hero, but I couldn’t find my Brokk (I guess he’s on his own adventure or was kidnapped by a cat) so it ended up getting Wardens instead.
The list itself is very good at accomplishing tactics, in part due to the added mobility of the Wardens combined with Vulkites and a Grimwrath to aid in accomplishing FS tactics. The Wardens also added a bit of speed to a list lacking runesmiters and throughout the tournament assassinated four wizards and a priest. They ended up being quite potent.
Further, the new hero was actually quite useful. By sticking it near the HGB, along with the Runefather, you have a block of units all with a 4+ that can run+charge once per game and all get +1 to charge. This allows for heavy split pushing, with that trio going one place and the rest going another, the Grimwrath is a free agent going where he chooses due to oaths and self-sufficiency.
Despite being a bit of a fun list, and not particularly competitive, it ended up playing surprisingly well. My only loss was to a very solid Khorne player taking advantage of my mistakes while playing an unconventional list that actually was somewhat of a counter to this one. ‘
For anyone looking to ally in some KO and maybe look for a simpler list to run, this may work well for you.
Awright me ol’ muckers, it’s yer ol’ pal ‘Eadnokka ere wiv an update on da goin’s on in da Mortal Realms. More spefica… spe… spes… mostly abowt our ongoin campaign in Cratonia between all da Grand Alliances.
For dose who need catchin’ up, av’ a gander ‘ere.
It’s been a week of in game campaignin’ in Cratonia an so far, dere’s been four big bust ups. Da spikey Chaos ladz seem to be havin’ a great laugh wiv every battle they’ve had so far goin’ dere way. Dat Raybear bloke ‘as had no less dan three bust ups all in da space of a week! In fact, der ‘avin so much fun, two of dese mad ladz ‘ave started sendin’ sticks between ’em. I don’t get it pershunnally, but each to der own.
Da Order wankers, ‘av suffered a few losses, but den what do you expect from a load of stoopid aelves and dino boyz who’ve got no meat on dere bones?!
Da Dead dudes seem to be wanderin’ all ovva da place lookin’ for fights and den losing da ones dey do pick. At da moment two deadie armies are fightin’ against a load of dose mad corn demon things. While another dead dude is running from some dino dude, and the last dead dude is trying to fight sum trees an those fishy elves….
My boyz in destruction, dey dun gud dis week. Dey stomped on sum of dem Order wankers gud and proper. But some of me ol’ Ironjawz mates got stuck in sum city wiv Order Wankers and Chaos spikey dudes outside. Da Ironjawz did fink dey were dead clever by buildin’ sum extra defences, trouble woz, when the turd ‘it the fan, da Chaos dudes started fightin’ da Order Wankers an’ me ol’ muckers in da city couldn’t get out cos dey only gone an’ accidentally built a wall across da door. Da Ironjawz fellaz were dere for hours tryin’ to knock da door down to get out. Dey were hammerin’ away at it wiv de grots dey were locked up wiv. I mean akshually usin’ da grots to hammer da door. Wen dat didn’t work dey tried frowin’ sum from da walls. Wen dey did get out all da fightin’ woz over and da Nurgle rotty boyz were ready for ’em.
So wotz next ‘Eadnokka I ere’ youse ask?
Well, dere’s still um fightin’ ta go between da Order wankers and da dead boyz, and sum between da dead boyz and the Chaos spikey ladz. Once dat’s over we’ll get to sum more campaignin’!
This is the top three AoS lists for the Fantasianorth Store Championship that took place in Sweden on the 29th and 30th of July. It involved 32 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
As this event had less than 20 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?
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: Vyrkos – Mortal Realm: Shyish – Grand Strategy: Empire of Corpses – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Belladamma Volga (200)** – Lore of the Vampires: Spirit Gale – Lore of the Vampires: Vile Transference Gorslav the Gravekeeper (120)** – General – Command trait: Spoor Trackers – Artefact: Ulfenkarni Phylactercy Necromancer (100)* – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard – Lore of the Deathmages: Waste Away Torgillius the Chamberlain (150)** – Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour – Lore of the Deathmages: Waste Away Vampire Lord (140)* – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost – Lore of the Vampires: Spirit Gale
Battleline 40 x Deadwalker Zombies (240) – Reinforced x 1 40 x Deadwalker Zombies (240) – Reinforced x 1 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120) 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120) 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120) 10 x Dire Wolves (140)
Units 1 x Corpse Cart (80)** 1 x Corpse Cart (80) 3 x Vyrkos Blood-born (90)
Endless Spells & Invocations Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (50)
Army Faction: Kharadron Overlords – Subfaction: Barak-Mhornar – Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies – Stick To The Code (Amendments): Trust To Your Guns – Stick To The Code (Artycles): Settle the Grudges – Stick To The Code (Footnotes): Without Our Ships, We Are Naught
Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Scions of the Storm – Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Lord-Arcanum (140)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Spells: Chain Lightning Knight-Incantor (120)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard Knight-Vexillor (120)** – Meteoric Standard – Artefacts of Power: Luckstone Knight-Vexillor (120)** – Meteoric Standard – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome Lord-Relictor (150)** – Prayers: Translocation
The internet is a wonderful thing ain’t it? But it has created a problem for modern wargames companies and their customers.
I got into this hobby back in 1993 with 2nd edition 40k (that probably gives you an idea of how ancient I am). Back then (like now) all the rules etc were included in the boxed set. Then periodically GW began to release Codices for the armies.
Once you had a codex, you had all the rules that you would need for the next few years (back then editions came every 6 years), and you wouldn’t need to refer to anything else. All you needed was in the rule book, your codex, and any campaign supplements you may have bought.
Fast forward 30 years (urgh!), and we still have the same system in place for most wargame systems. The need of a rulebook, an army book of some type, and perhaps some campaign supplements. Nearly all modern miniature and wargames companies follow this system. Warlord Games with Black Powder, Hail Caesar etc, GW with AoS and 40k and other lesser known companies like Saga by Firestorm Games.
Great!
Only the internet has now put a spanner in these works!
Let’s say I’m a new player, looking to get into competitive Age of Sigmar by Games Workshop. I trawl through different sites and reviews looking at which faction will suit me best and decide that Orruks are for me (I know, I know, but bear with me).
You go out and you buy the Battletome and enough minis that you have a 2,000 point army ready to go. You’ve joined a local club, you’ve found someone to play against and off you go, down the club to have your game.
You and your opponent talk through the armies you have and you go through all that jazz, only your opponent keeps saying that you’ve got certain faction rules wrong. You don’t understand, you’ve got the book, and it’s written down their in black and white in front of you.
Only your opponent says ‘Nah mate, there was an FAQ that changed the wording on that schizz!”.
You’ve just spent upwards of £30 on army book which can be described as little more than a paperweight. I’m being a little harsh here, but you get my point.
With the rise of the internet and our beloved wargames attempting to keep up, Games Workshop now track the progress of armies at competitive events and adjust the rules for each faction every three months (quite right too!). That beautiful book you bought, which, although it is the 3rd edition battletome, is now 2 years out of date. Along with the warscroll or data cards you purchased to go with them.
Ok, you have the special code thingy that allows you to get all the up to date rules on the app (if you pay for the subscription) but otherwise, your books a pretty piece of writing that tells you more about the lore of your faction than it does their rules.
But none of these wargame companies (that I know of at least) update the physical books you can buy off the shelves in your local store. So why bother? I understand that there’s an issue with being able to purchase PDF copies of the book and the ease of piracy that runs alongside that, but at least this way, it would be easier to update the books, right?
What’s the answer? I haven’t the foggiest. But I certainly don’t think it’s selling physical books to people who are unaware their army rules evolve as the months progress.Wh
This is the top three AoS lists for the Age of Ropecon that took place in Finland on the 29th and 30th of July. It involved 22 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: Blades of Khorne – Army Subfaction: Skullfiend Tribe Grand Strategy: Slaughter The Sorcery
LEADER 1 x Bloodsecrator (120)* 1 x Slaughterpriest (110)* – Prayers: Bronzed Flesh, Killer Instinct – Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust 1 x Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)* – General – Command Traits: Firebrand – Artefacts: Ar’gath, the King of Blades – Prayers: Killer Instinct, Bloodbind 1 x Skarbrand (380)** 1 x Bloodmaster (110)** – Prayers: Witchbane Curse, Blood Sacrifice
BATTLELINE 10 x Bloodreavers (80)* 10 x Blood Warriors (190)** 10 x Bloodreavers (80)** 10 x Skullreapers (190)** 8 x Claws of Karanak (100)**
INVOCATION 1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50) 1 x Wrath-Axe (70)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Warlord **Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Not that we really though it would, but it’s good to see that the slight nerfs – which were fair enough, especially to Murderlust – haven’t stopped Khorne from having a good time against some tough opponents. Anttu here has brought the ‘mortals with double thirster back-up’ archetype, and it’s one close to my heart. Usually, the main choice with this kind of list is whether you double down on a big blob of Blood Warriors or go more MSU – and Anttu has opted for the latter here, with 5 battleline units.
The Reavers and Blood Warriors are staples, and the Claws of Karanak are, for my money, still one of the best units in the army, especially in the new season where turn 1 tactics are difficult for Khorne – their pre-game move makes Surround and Destroy a lot more viable. With the points saved by having less Blood Warriors or Crushers, for example, the list packs in a 3rd hammer in the form of 10 Skullreapers, who haven’t seen much love overall but represent a good wound density and the potential for a really decent number of MWs – plus in Skullfiend tribe they gain extra value by being battleline (useful for battle tactics) and the possibility of gaining fight first with a good charge roll.
It’s a great, balanced list that shows off a good amount of warscrolls and took down some serious armies en route to 1st and looks super fun to play.
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Army Faction: Flesh-eater Courts – Subfaction: Morgaunt – Grand Strategy: Growing Kingdom – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Zombie Dragon (430)* – Mount Traits: Razor-clawed – Spells: Blood Feast, Flaming Weapon Crypt Ghast Courtier (70)* Crypt Ghast Courtier (70)* Abhorrant Archregent (240)** – General – Command Traits: Savage Chivalry – Artefacts of Power: Decrepit Coronet – Spells: Hoarfrost, Spectral Host Abhorrant Archregent (240)** – Spells: Deranged Transformation, Hoarfrost Abhorrant Ghoul King (170)** – Spells: Levitate, Merciless Blizzard
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Chalice of Ushoran (50)
TERRAIN 1 x Charnel Throne (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord **Andtorian Acolytes
TOTAL POINTS: 1970/2000
Hanna recently joined our Discord server to tell us about Finland’s Ropecon AoS GT, and we jumped at the chance to have her comment about her second placed list at the same time!
Hanna Leppänen: This list is based around lots of summoning and recursion with two Archreagents summoning 20 Beastflayers each and Ghoul King another 10 Beastflayers or 10 Crypt Ghouls. The Morgaunt subfaction lets you bring a Serf -keyworded unit (Beastflayers or Crypt Ghouls) back immediately when they die on a 4+, with the cost of a command point. Add in 2 Crypt Ghast Courtiers, a summoned Varghulf from the Zombie Dragon GK, and potential Heroic Action using muster (6 dice in your hero phase, for every 2+ you can return a Serf to a unit). With Varghulf and Heroic Action you can bring back a Crypt Horror model instead on a roll of 5+ if you wish).
The Recursion means that you have to kill a unit outright to prevent them from mustering back, and even then there is a chance the unit comes back full health wholly within 6″ of a table edge, 9″ away from opponent models. This means you can lose an objective if you’re not careful on your turn. There is the usual restriction of only one of each command per phase, so only one unit can be brought back each phase. The command itself can be used by any model capable of issuing a command. Old books have weird, janky rules and FEC is a prime example of this. Worth to note is that Muster rules allow models to be stringed out and you can muster one unit to get it within 10″ of another source of muster. Chalice of Ushoran is another thing that brings back models at the end of turn, so it can also lead to some weird interactions with objective control, especially on your turn.
Crypt Ghouls and Horrors (also Flayers which are not present in this list) have new warscrolls in Dawnbringers book 1, making Crypt Ghouls more streamlined to play with (re-roll 1’s change to -1 rend when near heroes and 5+/6+ auto-wound instead +1A). Unfortunately this breaks the Morgaunt Bloody Loyalty ability since the Boundless Ferocity ability is always in effect (used to be +1 attacks when over 20 models, Morgaunt Bloody Loyalty gave it on a unit of 10+ when near Courtiers). Crypt Horrors got +1 attacks and – 1 rend near Heroes. Crypt Horrors don’t benefit from Morgaunt CA, but they give you access to the “United Court” battle tactic and are a reasonably punchy unit, especially when buffed. Overall the changes didn’t change the damage numbers too much, but made both less tedious to play.
There is something to be said about FEC spellcasting. Andtorian Acolytes gives extra primal dice on a 3+ at the start of the hero phase, which helps with getting FEC spells off. Most FEC spells are buffs that can lead to a lot of damage with +1/+D3 Attacks and Zombie Dragon 16″ bubble of re-roll wound rolls. Hoarfrost is exceptionally good spell for FEC units, whose biggest downfall is – to hit debuffs with most things having 4+ to hit as baseline. 30 buffed up Crypt Ghouls do quite a lot of damage, especially if you use Feeding Frenzy on them. FEC warscroll spells are great, so for most spellcasters the spell choices were picked to be situational at best, Spectral Host giving the option for ZD to have run & charge, Deranged Transformation giving Horrors +4″ move and Merciless Blizzard for a Hail Mary BT if nothing else was available.
The MVP’s of this list were definitely the Serfs, with Beastflayers being excellent tarpits against damage 2 monsters and Ghouls who do tons of damage when buffed a bit. The list power projects really well and makes it hard to play against since there are multiple threats that don’t fold to an average backline objective holder.
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Allegiance: Interns to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne (run and charge for mounted units) – Mortal Realm: Aqshy – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount (160)* (strike first when he charges, grants it to knights) – General – Command Trait: Idolater Lord (Priest) – Artefact: The Conqueror’s Crown (Enemy models with < 3 wounds cannot contest objectives w/in 6″) – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle (-1 to wound in melee) – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse (6’s to hit are MW in addition) Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (340)* (Can shut down a unit for 1-2 turns) – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed (3D6 charge for mounted units) Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* (can give +1 to hit and wound to a unit) – Mark of Chaos: Undivided (reroll Eye of the Gods) – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost (D3 to replace melee profile Hit, wound, or rend to that value)
Battleline 10 x Chaos Knights (440)* (Tanky) – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle (-1 to wound in melee) – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon (reduce rend by 1 from melee attacks) – Reinforced x 1 18 x Spire Tyrants (140)* (immune to battleshock when within 3″ of enemy) – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle (-1 to wound in melee) – Reinforced x 1 3 x Varanguard (290)* (Killy, can fight twice once per game) – 3x Fellspear (+1 to wound and rend on the charge) – Mark of Chaos: Khorne (+1 Attack on the charge) 22 x Blissbarb Archers (320)* (Ranged death, 41 shots, 18″ 3+/3+/-1/1) – Reinforced x 1
Units 3 x Ogroid Theridons (160)* (Smashy glass cannons) – Mark of Chaos: Khorne (+1 Attack on the charge)
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Total: 1970 / 2000
Slaves to Darkness have settled quite comfortably into the ‘also rans’ groove in recent months, with a ‘woops all Varanguard’ or ‘Archaon + HOW MANY Splintered Fang!?’ skew lists occasionally nabbing a cheeky podium – and their recent shot in the arm from the battlescroll seems to have been more of a little jab to the foot.
But! Here we have Damien mixing things up in a way I’ve not seen before but makes a lot of sense. He’s brought Be’lakor, who’s become a relative staple of S2D lists to help them out with control, and the usual must-takes of a Sorceror and 10 Nurgle knights. What’s more surprising is a reinforced blob of Spire Tyrants – presumably because they’re just so cheap now and make for a good pile of bodies, also with -1 to wound from the Nurgle mark via Idolator Lord on the Mounted Lord – who also carries the Conquerors Crown for a cheeky objective stealing play and the abililty to bestow fight-first on the knights, allowing for a double activation with the cavalry units.
He’s also packed in a reinforced unit of Blissbards on loan from Slaanesh, who aren’t cheap but still offer a good volume of reliable shooting attacks that Slaves just otherwise have no access to – plus, I bet they look good in black. The final notable pick is the now bargain-basement Theridons, who are squishy and un-synergistic as always but for 160 pts can bring some absolute pain if they do make it into combat.
Beating out Seraphon twice and KO means the path to 3rd was fraught with real danger, but this list seems to have had the bodies, speed and staying power to handle some serious ranged threat. Big kudos to Damien for an imaginative and successful Slaves list!
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Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Scions of the Storm – Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumph: Inspired – Holy command: Call for aid
LEADERS Knight-Incantor (120)* – General – Command Traits: Eater of Magic – Spells: Merciless Blizzard Lord-Castellant (160)* – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome Battlemage (100)* – Magic of the Realms: Wildform (Ghur) Lord-Relictor (150)** – Prayers: Translocation
Brett: Stormcast (SCE) have been a rarity for us lately, overtaken by more recent books, but they are still a solid faction, just not the easiest to play. The new GHB may help them with primal dice to buff their otherwise lacklustre casting and the Knight Incantor’s guaranteed deny. No surprises with Liví’s list having one then as well as the Lords Relictor, Castellant and a Battlemage. Essentially, the standard leadership group for SCE. Livi likes living on the edge, taking a 5 wound hero to set up a chance (on a 5+) of removing a spell from their opponent with Eater of Magic. Then doubling down with Merciless Blizzard.
4 leaders means Andtorian Acolytes is easily filled and primal dice are available on 3+. That small change means at least one extra primal dice in the course of a game. With Blizzard needing a 12 to cast that’s a strong bonus. The rest of the list is fairly standard, 4x Tempestors as the hammer unit backed by Retributors and Stormdrake. The Stormdrake’s mobility is their key asset while the Retributors and the Tempestors can benefit (once down) from the combination of Translocation (Lord Relictor) and Wildform (Battlemage) to get anywhere on the board with +2 to charge. That’s better than the Lord Imperatant’s 7″ strat because you can drop just outside 9 (say 9.2″), preventing redeploy but still having an effective 7″ charge.
Price drops (from 140 to 120) on Sequitors have seen them return to lists. They can do a surprising amount of mortal damage and can be a threat. More unusually, Livi has chosen to take Vanquishers, probably to save 20 points for Endless Spells. This is why the Lord Castellant has Arcane Tome. He has a built-in Mystic Shield with his lantern, leaving him free to deploy an Endless Spell. And in a move for innovation, this list has 2 Endless Spells to make up for the lack of ranged. Firstly, the Pendulum for a chance to snipe small heroes and cause annoying wounds and also Gravetide for some more anti horde. As always, the weakness for SCE is scoring from turn 3 onwards when they finally wear down your units. Being able to return a Battleline unit (Call for Aid) helps of course, especially Sequitors, that means you can return a threatening unit.
Solid hammers and a lot of answers make this a tight list in the end and allowed a solid recovery from the first round loss. Great work taking SCE this close to the podium.
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.
With a number of top players now inside our Woehammer Discord, it was suggested to me by a discord member that we should ask them a weekly question in regards to playing their respective factions.
With that in mind, I jumped straight into it this week and asked:
Which battleplan do you think favours your faction and why?
Raymond Lane (Maggotkin of Nurgle): As someone who has played too much Nurgle we generally don’t care about the battle plan… like at all… build list and play into your opponents list.
Colin Klaeren (Maggotkin of Nurgle/Nighthaunt): Playing Nurgle (Glottkin, Be’Lakor, BoN spam) a lot of these times and like Raymond mentioned, most of the time I don’t care about the battleplan. Of course it’s good if the deployment zone is big for generating summoning points. For my list I love ‘No Reward Without Risk‘ because Glottkin can cover most of the objectives very easily. With this list I don’t like battleplans too much where the objectives are spread out too wide.
Raymond: I love me a good Glottkin. You had a plan? I have a Glottkin!
Joshua Bennett (Hedonites of Slaanesh): Sure as hell not ‘Icefields‘! With Pretenders all the missions are great for us except ‘Icefields’. Considering we run and shoot that sucks lol.
Colin: Nighthaunt in the old GHB was an army which didn’t care about battleplans. All were solid. Now it’s a big difference because battleplans like ‘Icefields‘ and ‘Every Step Forward‘ are just horrible for them.
Fabien Barbusse (Blades of Khorne): Playing with Skarbrand I love ‘Spring the Trap’.
Justin Clark (Blades of Khorne): Mine failed the 3D6 9″ rerolled charge this weekend on Spring….
Brett Martin (Ironjawz):For Ironjawz, it’s list dependent. With the Crusha/Goregrunta list it doesn’t really matter because you have so much mobility. For infantry lists, anything that takes objectives away is a blessing and a curse (concentrated enemy but too slow to get to the new objective). And ‘Icefields‘ should die in a fire!
Raymond: I thought ‘Icefields’ would be terrible but every game I’ve played on it simply didn’t care about the run thing.
Colin: I think the 1 on charges is the problematic thing for armies like Nighthaunt for example.
Raymond: Eh, I’ve got wards 🙂
Brett: Nurgle doesn’t run or charge. Orruks don’t walk and only know how to charge. I’ve tried teaching them other tricks, but they really don’t like them.
Colin: I really want to play on ‘Icefields‘ with Beasts of Nurgle spam too….
Raymond: I usually do Rotmire Plaguebearer spam.
Colin: With that it’s totally fine of course!
Raymond: With Nurgle its more about getting reps and knowing your opponents army as well as your own.
Colin: 100% agree.
Brett: Fyreslayers on ‘Icefields‘……
Colin: Fyreslayers on ‘Every Step is Forward‘ sounds really good.
Keegan Graves (Skaven): Skaven’s best battleplan is probably ‘Geomanctic Pulse’. We have good power projection, have a doable turn one tactic on that map and we have bodies to stand and score well.
Fabien: For Khorne it really depends on the list since there are so many archetypes, but the biggest weakness of the army being current battle tactics I’d say battleplans that allow easy surround / intimate are the best for the army.
Aaron Newbom (Idoneth/Orruk Warclans): I would say ‘Spring the Trap‘ is probably best for the Idoneth. Wide spaced out objectives leave people strung out and easy to pick apart. Outflanking Reavers is powerful, but outflanking vs Idoneth isn’t very powerful as you’ll likely just get isolated and ripped apart. It’s definitely one of the better ones for the fish.
As for Kruleboyz it’s gotta be ‘Icefields’. You’re rarely, if ever running, and armies that want to apply heavy pressure to you get punished pretty hard. The ranges on the objectives leaves you with powerful firing lanes, and the narrow board let’s you utilize your auras, screens, and castle very easily.
Peter Dixon (Ogor Mawtribes):Ogors love ‘Geomantic Pulse‘, being exceptionally mobile and counting as a million models on objectives, we can follow the bouncing ball. The same with ‘Nexus Collapse’, where the usual thinking is score less as to control which objectives are lifted. But in my experience, I can just move onto the remaining ones easily unless I get stuck by Murderlusting Khorne units. This is also true on ‘Limited Resources’ where the standard idea is not to over cap your home objectives so as to score them later, but in my games in this battleplan I’ve just rolled up the board ending in my opponents deployment, as that’s where I wanted to be at the end of the game for the Grand Strategy.
Ogors feel a bit over costed currently, but I’ve had reasonable success at the tourneys I’ve attended with the new GHB. That said, Ogors still live and die by the Battle Regiment. This is still the case in my opinion for this GHB, stealing the initiative and deciding who goes first or second is too important for the faction.
I do believe this is the best GHB so far. There’s no clangers of a battleplan, such as ‘Lurkers Below‘ (I had a 100% win rate on that battleplan last season) where it was far too easy to just Stonehorn Monsterous actions onto the 3rd objective and auto win.
