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Bit of a slow week to recover from the busy last weekend. We have one event in Scotland with Farmhammer and then jump over to the United States for the Battle in the Misty Mountains in Kentucky and the big show of the Bay Area Open in San Francisco.
Notable this weekend is that there is Stormcast. A lot of Stormcast. Lots of different types of Stormcast, even. So come join me as we ride the lightning.
A two-day, five-round event which took place at the Common Ground Games in Stirling, Scotland. This was a 45 player event and you can find the lists for this event at Tabletop TO.
Stormcast Eternals - Nathan Watson - An interesting take on Stormdrake spam. Astral Templar Knight-Draconis leads 6 Stormdrake Guard alongside a Lord-Relictor. In addition, a very different kind of beast, the Krondspine!
Dan Ryan - Idoneth Deepkin - An Akhelian King and Eidolon take top billing with 20 thralls and 20 reavers, supported by an Akhelian Leviadon
This is a tough match up for both sides. Idoneth can tear the dragons apart if given the chance to charge on turn 3, but with Scions of the Storm the Stormdrake are going to get the initiative to pick and choose when and where to fight. Dan wisely split up his battleline units into multiple small units and allied in Aetherwings to grant a lot of flexibility in both movement and screening options, as Idoneth generally cannot take a hit too well if engaged on the turn they don't want it.
The fight ultimately looks like it remained close, as the final score was very tight. With an army almost entirely in deep strike against an army with unparalleled mobility and screening options, it was going to be a tight battle.
Result
Stormcast Eternals (Nathan Watson) 20-16
Why It's Interesting
This is an interesting twist on Stormdrake Spam, which seemed to drop off early after their initial appearance. While absolutely intimidating, Stormdrake damage can be awfully swingy, and the meta adapted to their appearance. It's generally more common to see one or two units of 2-4 rather than just a whole list of them, especially when you can supplement them with other things to make that one unit that much better.
This is a very different approach. Astral Templars don't see much use, even though their trait is very good, basically granting you Hunters of the Heartland across your entire army. It's just fighting with a 6+ ward (or 5+ with Hallowed Knights) is hard to match up with. Making the Knight-Draconis General so you get thundershock with re-rollable casting means Nathan really wanted it to get off, and why not? -1 to Wound is absolutely brutal when it hits.
The last thing of note here is the Incarnate. Still a bit in its infancy, we're seeing it more and more. I personally have felt kinda iffy on it but seeing so many podium lists using it makes me feel more jazzed about it. It seems to be doing the trick, the fact it can't be shot off the board turn 1 is a huge perk for it, in addition to its All Out Attack aura on nearby friendly units. Definitely synergizes well with packs of Dragons.
Why It's Interesting
You might not like it, but this is what peak efficiency looks like. This list doesn't fuss with any spells, complicated abilities or Monsters. It just picks one of the best units in the book and spams the whole damn list with them. Perfectly streamlined, as the gods intended.
You know how this works. 6 Pusgoyles go into reserves (the group of 4 and one group of 2), the General can deny command abilities within 7" while the artefact makes it nigh impossible to kill with a 4+ ward. Between the fairly decent speed (for Nurgle) and 2 reserve units David can stagger his drops to get the jump as needed. And it worked! This was the other list to go 5-0 this weekend.
The rest of these lists went 4-1, except 8th place which went 3-1-1
Two-day, five-round event which took place in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. This was a 29 player event and you can find the lists for this event at BCP. All missions were rolled randomly on-site, so unfortunately we don't know what missions were played.
Stormcast Eternals - Matthew Swinney - Bastian Carthalos, a Lord-Arcanum and Lord-Castellant lead 3x 5 Liberators Fulminators and the Longstrike standby.
Stormcast Eternals - Mike Morefield - It's prime time, with the Celestant Prime, Lord Imperitant and Knight Judicator with lots of Annihilators and the basically auto-take Longstrikes.
[Expand title="Mike's List - Click to Expand"]
- Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals
- Army Type: Scions of the Storm
- Subfaction: Knights Excelsior
- Grand Strategy: Dominating Presence
- Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS
Celestant-Prime (325)*
Lord-Imperatant (175)*
- Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
- Spells: Celestial Blades
Knight-Judicator with Gryph-hounds (205)*
- General
- Command Traits: Shock and Awe
BATTLELINE
Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (240)*
Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (240)*
Annihilators (200)*
Vindictors (130)*
OTHER
Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (480)*
CORE BATTALIONS
- *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1995/2000
Created with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The App[/expand]
Mirror match baby! Unfortunately the missions were chosen randomly during the event so it's difficult to tell who might have an edge based on mission, but this is definitely a unique matchup, with each list breaking the mold of what a usual stormcast list brings.
Matthew has some real strong damage output, between Fulminators and Bastian, but he needs to walk there. Mike has a ton of Deep Strike Mortal Wounds between the Celestant Prime and Annihilators in Scions of the storm. Going from my gut, I'd say Mike has a a bit of an advantage from all the Mortal Wound deep strike, granting a lot more versatility in movement but shockingly it ends in a strong victory for Matthew. Must have been a hell of a fight!
Result
Stormcast Eternals (Matthew Swinney) 36-4
Why It's Interesting
A touch lighter on the usual "good stuff", the practically mandatory Vanguard-Raptors make an appearance but no Lord-Relictor to teleport them, although Bastian Carthalos is here to move them into the right place for round 1 (which is often all you need). There's also one reinforced squad of Fulminators, which are reliable as always.
After that it gets a little interesting, a Lord-Arcanum on Gryph-Charger general with Master of Magic and Lord-Castellant (carrying the Arcane Tome) for a much more magic focused list than you usually see in Stormcast. Their lore isn't bad, there's a lot of good spells to pull from it, but they lack a really strong caster to bring it together so its common to skip it entirely or at best treat it as nice when it happens. Matthew meanwhile says fuck it and goes in on it, and to great effect!
[expand list="Bradley Adcock - Click to Expand"]
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
- Stormhost: Hallowed Knights (Stormkeep)
- Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
- Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders
Gardus Steel Soul (150)**
Knight-Incantor (125)**
- Spell: Celestial Blades
Lord-Relictor (145)**
- General
- Command Trait: High Priest
- Artefact: Mirrorshield
- Prayer: Translocation
Battleline
5 x Liberators (115)*
- Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield
- 1x Grandweapons
5 x Liberators (115)**
- Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield
- 1x Grandweapons
5 x Liberators (115)**
- Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield
- 1x Grandweapons
Units
3 x Aetherwings (65)
4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)*
- Reinforced x 1
5 x Protectors (225)*
6 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (480)
- Reinforced x 1
Core Battalions
*Hunters of the Heartlands
**Warlord
Additional Enhancements
Holy Command: Thunderbolt Volley
Holy Command: Unleash Thy Hatred
Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 104
Drops: 10[/expand]
Why it's Interesting
Yep, more Stormcast! This list also packs Fulminators and Vanguard, but makes an interesting choice with Protectors. Their brothers, Retributors see decent play but the more defensive Protectors are less of a common occurrence. At max strength they have a 2+ save with a 5+ ward when protected by Gardus, so it's understandable. The tankiness of Annihilators with a lot more attack dice to throw.
You know the rest, Vanguard raptors, Thunderbolt Volley and a Lord Relictor. Don't knock the classics.
The remaining top 5 all went 4-1
A two day five-round event which took place in San Francisco, California, USA. This was a 47 player event and you can find the lists for this event at BCP.
Stormcast Eternals - Benjamin Schimmoller- Vandus Hammerhand, Lord-Relictor and a Coalitioned Rune Priest with 6 Stormdrake and 4 5-man Vindictors.
Sons of Behemat - Robbie "Bear" Steinbring - 2 Gatebreakers and...Kragnos?! Plus a Mancrusher which honestly feels like it could be set aside and you wouldn't even notice.
Honestly this is a tough match up for both. Feral Foray favors armies with Deep Strike and armies that can spare chaff to hang back and protect an enemy from jumping down and setting fire to your point. Since Ben went with Stormkeep, he's not going to be dropping dragons down to steal the points or anything, but Robbie will need to hoof it and leave them unprotected from the more agile dragons. If he can get to the point, it's going to basically be an auto capture and burn, so it requires the points being protected at all cost.
The fight is an absolute blood bath for both sides, with very high scores for both and ends in a very narrow victory for Benjamin.
Result
Stormcast Eternals (Benjamin Schimmoller) 36-34
Why It's Interesting
The 6 Stormdrake are the obvious power push here and probably don't need to be covered too intensely. What is interesting is how much of this list seems dedicated more on the Vindictors than it is on the Stormdrake. First the leaders, Vandus Hammerhand is someone you don't see around too much but he offers a 24" Battleshock immune Aura, and +1 attack for a Redeemer unit within 12" which isn't too shabby. Call for Aid brings back a dead Redeemer unit, meaning you can effectively have an extra Vindictor unit should one die. Finally the Runepriest is a cheap allied priest for casting Heal and an easy Unbind should you need it.
What does this all mean when put together? Well, it's well known stormdrake don't need a ton of support, they're solid independent operators who can deal punishing damage on their own, but much of the battleline of Stormcast is filler once the heavy hitters are covered. People tend to sleep on Vindictors, that 6s do mortals is no joke once you get enough enough dice going and with 20 Vindictors, one buffed by Vandus, you're looking at 49 attacks, an average of 7-8 mortal wounds per combat phase. Not bad at all.
Why It's Interesting
I admire this list, I really do. 4 model Sons of Behemat units lists are the standard, this is basically 3. Sure there's a Mancrusher there but he's there pretty much to fill battleline requirements and you could forget he's there and be fine.
The strategy isn't too complicated. Two gatebreakers, both with 6+ Ward artefacts and Kragnos's built in 6+ ward makes this list even tankier than you'd expect. The Gatebreaker is the heaviest hitting of the trio, and Kragnos hits even harder. This is just pure beatstick and clearly it worked. Even losing in the finals kept Ben damn close and won second place.
The rest of the top 9 all went 4-1 and Josh Lawry got a 3-1-1
Fortune really favored Sigmar's chosen this week. All 3 events had a Stormcast winner, and even a mirror match with them. The Krondspine Incarnate is steadily climbing to seeing its place in more and more lists and we see a slight dip in Thunder Lizards as more variety seems to be climbing up.
It's not enough to say their reign of terror is over, but it definitely is an interesting week to cover. Coming up I'm sure we'll see more out of the Nighthaunt and Daughters books as players feel out the new points and mechanics changes in both books.
If you have any questions or comments, post them below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.
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