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Age of Sigmar | Meta Analysis | Goonhammer | Core Games
Competitive Innovations in the Mortal Realms: Bloodtithe? In this Economy?
It's another exciting week of AOS events with 3 major GTs from around the world from Birmingham to Texas. There are some real surprise upsets this week, from Skaven (again!) to Khorne there's a lot of unexpected surprises to see that manage to make it to the podiums. It's also the final week of events before the Daughters of Khaine and Nighthaunt lists hit shelves and so we see a few players bringing their lists out for one last spin before the new stuff drops. One thing seems certain - horde armies are on the rise.
Note that AoS Worlds as an event is not included in this week's CI - we will be doing coverage of the event in a separate article.
A two-day, five-round event which took place in Birmingham, UK. This was a 59 player event and you can find the lists for this event at BCP.
Seraphon - Alexander Theophanous - Standard Thunder Lizard good stuff.list with one table exception - a Skink on Troglodon!
Beasts of Chaos - Daniil Osudin - A Tzaangor battalion basically, 50 of the basic dudes and 12 Enlightened on Discs - and that's just what starts on the table!
[expand title=Daniil's List-Click to Expand]
Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos
- Greatfray: Gavespawn
- Mortal Realm: Aqshy
- Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
- Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders
Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)*
- General
- Command Trait: Unravelling Aura
- Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage
Great Bray-Shaman (100)*
- Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage
Beastlord (95)*
- Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade
Battleline
30 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (525)*
- 18x Pair of Savage Blade
- 12x Savage Greatblade
- Reinforced x 2
20 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (350)*
- 12x Pair of Savage Blade
- 8x Savage Greatblade
- Reinforced x 1
10 x Gors (75)*
- Gor-Blades & Beastshields
Units
3 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (180)*
6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)*
- Reinforced x 1
Behemoths
Ghorgon (155)*
Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
Total: 1975 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 176
Drops: 1[/expand]
This Seraphon list lacks some of the traditional punch that Thunder Lizards tend to have, largely because the flex points have been spent on bringing a Skink Oracle on Trogladon and Kroak for better magical supremacy. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as Kroak is capable of taking over games by himself if he can stay alive, but the Trogladon is quite frankly just a bad unit. That's not to say he won't have his uses, as the Arcane Vassal ability means that Kroak can cast his Celestial Deliverance spell and measure the range from the Oracle, meaning he can project power effectively without the need of moving forward himself. Beyond that, this is a fairly standard 'buff the skinks with mortal wound output, shoot with the bastiladon, grind out value with the EOTG' affair. Taking out the fragile support heroes of the BoC army will be key in both slowing down the Primordial Call point generation as well as shutting off some of the efficiency buffs the Tzaangor will benefit from.
The BoC list's main strength is raw efficiency, as the Tzaangor warscroll can pack a LOT of rend 2 damage 2 weaponry into it's battleline with a whole bunch of ablative wounds behind them that can rally back on a 4+ thanks to the Herdstone's Locus of Savagery. Against Seraphon however that extra pip of damage is worthless, so he will need to lean on grinding out value in prolonged engagements and using the Tzaangor Enlightened to raid objectives - a task they are more than capable of doing with their blistering 19" movement (if they start movement near the Great Bray Shaman).
On a battleplan with central objectives I think it favours the Thunder Lizard player, as they can use their AoE damage from Kroak more effectively and mitigate how much of the BoC army actually matters - on a battleplan with so many objectives though it may just favour the Beastmen, who have better movement tools and summoning mechanics such that they can screen easily and mitigate how much of the board the Seraphon player (whose power projection is mostly in the shooting and magic phases... not combat) can realistically access.
Daniil's List - See Above
Because it proves that there's effectively three different, equally viable efficiency gameplans that BoC players can now explore. We're seeing lists find success with Bulgor orientated lists, Dragon Ogor lists and now the horde version of it, with Tzaangors and their enlightened kin.
What's happening here is not all that complicated - the Beast Lord exists to be a cruise missile of murder, die quickly and create a Chaos Spawn (thanks to Gift of Mhorgar). This Spawn then turns on the Propagator of Devolution command ability which can grant a unit near to the spawn +1 attacks on all their melee weapons.
Who benefits from this? Well either the Tzaangor death stars, which are throwing around high rend high quality attacks on a horde unit, or the Enlightened, who are *just* tanky enough to absorb a bit of a beating and then crack back with full rerolls to hit and wounds thanks to the Guided by the Past special rule.
The list starts with a budget Ghorgon to generate extra summoning points with the relevant Monstrous Rampage, and overall the list just asks the simple question - can you get through the initial 170+ wounds quickly enough to catch up on board control... while dealing with all the extra units that will be summoned throughout the game, or rallied back.
Well for one, its Gits on the podium, but this is just some listbuilding smarts really. The Dankhold Troggboss gives reroll 1s to keyword Troggoth units that are near him - notably this effects the Breaka-boss and the Sloggoth, both allied in from Kruleboyz. The former provides a disgusting beat stick, the latter gives +1 to hit to all his Troggoths within 18" of him, making the very high quality attacks the Rockguts provide (3s/3s/-2/3) even better.
The Madcap Shaman makes a nearby unit's save worse thanks to the Moonface Mommet, meaning you're talking about effectively rend 3 on the unit that absolutely needs to die that turn. The fungoid is here to teleport stuff, the Spider Riders act as a very efficient forward screen on cav bases (as do the Snarlfangs on a budget)... what does that leave? Oh yes, Gary. Gary has the very important job of Roaring at stuff he wants to beat up, and scoring Monstrous takeover. We like Gary.
It's just a very well put together list that cobbles together what good stuff *exists* in the Gloomspite book, staples on some useful allied units and is piloted to an extremely respectable 4-1-0 finish - well done Dominic.
Three more players went 4-1 (there were a bunch of draws below that cutoff point):
A two-day, five-round event which took place at the Element Games North West Gaming Centre in the UK. It was a 77 player event and you can find the lists for this event at Tabletop.To. This event is notable in that there was some pretty extensive comp, the details of which you can find here. The short version is that Seraphon, Stormcast and Sons of Behemat saw some pretty significant adjustments to their strongest builds, whereas weaker factions like Khorne, FEC, Gits and so on received additional points to play with, and pretty significant soft scores were also in effect. I attended and will be putting a tournament report soon, but let's focus on what was happening at the top tables on Sunday.
Khorne - Calvin Smith - So what does a Khorne player do with 250 extra points to play with? Well Skarr Bloodwrath joins the party of course! This is fairly standard Bloodthirster list that invests the points in extra chaff and Skarr. It's worth noting that Calvin brought his own T-shirt with the Iconic Khorne Logo on the back and 'Times Skarr Bloodwrath has revived' written on the front, which had a checkmark tally that grew in number over the course of the weekend - I believe it finished at six but feel free to comment with corrections if I'm wrong. That is some cool shit Calvin.
Nurgle - Gabe Huddlestone - Gabe loves him some hero hammer, with two Maggoth lords and a tricked out Lord of Affliction forming the combat backbone. 20 Plaguebearers and a Sloppity present a board control element that will be difficult to shift if Rotigus gets Fleshy Abundance off each turn.
This is as cool as it gets - two iconic Chaos factions vying for the tournament win on a battleplan that emphasises the importance of leaders, as they're the only ones capable of holding the 3 diagonal objectives.
Calvin's list has some extremely punchy combat heroes in Skarbrand and a Boomthirster, both of which able to benefit from potential 6" activate and pile ins thanks to the friendly neighbourhood support Bloodthirster. Reaper's of Vengeance means the big guys are capable of fighting twice, so they have the output to blow through whatever they're able to get in combat with... the problem will be surviving on the point in a mission that demands the heroes play somewhat defensively.
Things are a lot more straight forward for Gabe as he is 8 drops to Calvin's 9 - take first turn, get his fatty heroes on the point immediately and screen Calvin out so he has to chew through chaff before he gets to the good stuff. Sloppity can be a right asshole here and shut off pileins full stop, meaning some of the coolest tricks Calvin has will be severely diminished. Hold on, summon more stuff and wait for disease to chew through the Khorne units' meager defensive statlines.
Nurgle Victory - Major Win
Gabe's List - See Above
Like most Nurgle lists, it has tools to deal with any situation - I should know, I've played against Gabe several times using this list and it's always a close affair. The Lord of Affliction stands out as being everyone's most hated unit to deal with, as it's a tanky flying hero that can deep strike in and shut off *ALL* command ability usage thanks to Overpowering Stench, and be an absolute nightmare to shift thanks to it's 3+ save and 4++ ward (Splithorn Helm). This is important not because the LoA is some cruise missile of murder, but more because it simply significantly disrupts any synergy CA based gameplan, and the annoying little fly will even ignore Unleash Hell and tie up your opponent's best ranged unit.
The big Maggoth lords act as a bruiser tag team that will quickly take over the game if not killed immediately, as Morbidex will heal back half his wounds every single turn - I've joked with Gabe frequently that you are forced to either ignore Morbidex completely or commit to killing him turn 1 - anything less than a devastating amount of firepower will leave him weakend but alive, and Morbidex will proceed to grind you into a diseased paste and end up completely healthy by the end of the game.
Rotigus/Sloppity and the Plaguebearers act as a central castle that will set up shop in the centre of the board and act as the anchor around which devastation rains, either due to spellcasting, board control shenanigans or summoning.
Well it's a Cities list that's *not* Living City for starters, and is leveraging Stormcast units... but not the ones you might first expect. Hammerhal was a mainstay for a time in 2nd Edition AoS, boasting powerful spellcasting abilities that could power through endless spells and utilise potent spell buffs like Ignite Weapons to enhance the power of a given hammer unit - typically Irondrakes.
Freddie's opted for a different approach, by bringing 6 Demigryph Knights to act as the central hammer, providing a cheap but potent 3+ save hybrid hammer/anvil that can punch decently hard on the charge and control space while taking buffs excellently onto the Lances. Mainstays like the Luminark and Ghur Battlemage are here (for hit and charge buffs respectively) to buff them up... but also some Stormcast coalition units.
Protectors are quite simply one of the most brutally efficient hammer/anvil units in the game, with a unit of 10 putting out *50* rend 2 attacks that can be hitting and wounding on 2s with the right buffs. But they're slow and plodding, so how do we get them to where we need to go? Soulscream Bridge em. Rounding out the list is a Fleetmaster + Chariots package for cheap but mobile battleline that can contribute ranged mortals, and a unit of Palladors that can teleport all over the board to achieve battle tactics with some chip ranged damage thrown in for good measure.
As mentioned before, extensive soft scores means the top 8 isn't entirely based off of traditional tie breakers:
A two-day, five-round event which took place in Live Oak, Texas. This was a 91 player event and you can find the lists for this event at BCP.
Skaventide - Anthony Trentanelli - For an extremely underwhelming battletome, this list brings some of the greatest hits that the book does have to bear. Thanquol is probably the best caster in the book, and has two Arch-Warlocks to support with More-more-more Warp Power to support the hulking 9 rat Stormfiend Unit. With only 2 units of minimum sized Skyre Acolytes to fill the mandatory battleline, the entire list relies on those Stormfiends.
With Skitterleap and Soulscream Bridge, the entire army can keep on the move to keep outmaneuvering the opposition, but will it be enough?
Daughter's of Khaine - Gavin Griger - A last hurrah for the barely out of the crib 2nd edition Daughters of Khaine book, Gavin has a fairly standard list for Daughters up to this point. Morathi/Shadow Queen, 15 Blood Stalkers, Witch Aelves for Battleline and Khinerai Lifetakers for deep strike. Dual priests support the troops with Catechism of Murder and Blessing of Khaine. One surprise choice here includes the (pre-buff) Avatar of Khaine as an additional melee threat on the field.
Well I'm sure this didn't go as expected. Gavin and Anthony are most very high ranked Age of Sigmar players, so it was certainly a show to see but with a list like Gavin has it seems primed to succeed against a low ranked book like Skaven.
Skaven isn't to be underestimated, even if its current state. The high risk, high reward playstyle, mixed with proper tactical play is bound to inevitably succeed if the dice roll your way. Stormfiends are an extremely good unit, just overall, not even for the book. They're fairly tanky for skaven and with More-more-more Warpower! granting rerolls on everything the amount of rounds being fired will absolutely shred through just about anything they want.
While the 15 Blood Stalkers are a real threat, they're the only thing that needs to really be removed early on. The Shadow Queen might be terrifying in melee, but she has to catch you and the Skaven have a superior ability to keep on the move, making them impossible to lock down for long.
Result
Skaven (Anthony) Major Win 36-17
Why It's Interesting
Well it's a Skaventide list that won an event, ahead of the upcoming update! While not the worst book in the game at this time it's pretty damn down there. The book is littered with random mechanics that, even when the dice goes well, don't always shine. There are some real diamonds in the rough however. Stormfiends can be counted amongst those, with a simply irresponsible number of attacks. More-more-more Warpower! from the Warlock will make the vast majority of these hit when he gets to reroll both hits and wounds for all shots. It's risky, because it does D3 mortals to the unit after each cast, but as long as you remove the major threats from the board early, it'll do the job. Between Warp Lightning Vortex, Skitterswarm, Gnawholes and Soulscream Bridge the enemy is both impeded in movement and the army can quickly jump around the board to snag objectives or just generally get out of the way of anything dangerous.
Why It's Interesting
That is a lot of Vulkites. In an army that tends to maximize how many Hearthguard they can bring, as the Hearthguard bring both offensive bite and a durable 4+ Ward, Vulkites have often been overshined. In the new book however, the cost disparity has become very wide. You can get twice as many Vulkites for the same cost as Hearthguard Berzerkers. This has caused many Fyreslayers players to re-evaluate the balance of units they bring with them
With 30 Vulkites with Shields that's 60 wounds with a respectable 4+ save before buffs to cut through. A Battlesmith can bring back half of those lost with Rally, making them even more difficult to dislodge. You still got 10 Vulkites with Handaxes, 15 Hearthguard Berzerkers, a Magmadroth with a Runefathe and the Runic Fyrewall to be the actual damaging force. A potent grinder army that requires serious force to make any headway into cutting down.
The 3rd and 4th place lists went 4-0-1, both tied with each other in Round 3. The rest went 4-1
It was a very eclectic week for Sigmar events. Further proof you should never take for granted what armies can or can't win at events, clever players can and have turned over the entire field about what constitutes the "winning meta". On the horizon the Daughters of Khaine and (especially) the Nighthaunt battletome appear to be ready to turn everything on its head yet again as things move further towards a horde meta, what with both armies seriously incentivising bringing some basic dudes in large numbers. It's going to be exciting to see the sparks fly and interesting to see how traditional lists adapt.
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