What will you find in this weeks Innovations? Lots of infantry. What won’t you find? Bounty Hunters. Rest in peace to real one, but what it’s departure has done to list construction is exciting so let’s not waste any more time and get right to it.

Gods of War 3

83-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Italy on February 11 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. A note that this event was scored on a scaling 20-0 system, where the stronger your win, the closer to 20 you got. This has had the side effect of making the winner of this tournament a bit of an odd one, you’ll soon see.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission –

Luca Quinale – Idoneth Deepkin: Namarti swarm
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vs.

Meme Venaruzzo – Slaves to Darkness: Run & Charge Cavalry
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Thoughts

Knights of the Empty Throne has been a popular topic of discussion within the S2D community and one that is seeing a fair amount of play at tournaments. The basic idea is to apply vigorous amounts of angry Cavalry into your opponent’s face turn one, and smash them off the board. Critics of the plan point out things like “What happens if you don’t smash through their anvils turn one?”, “What about armies with screens?” and “Ow my face” but it’s a fairly potent strategy when you consider that each unit of Varanguard have the ability to activate for a second time in the combat phase once per game. This means they can crush the first line of defence and then (if their opponent has deployed sloppily) pile into the second line. You’ll note also that this KOTET lists skips having any Varanguard as a leader altogether and thus the enhanced rally – this is likely because giving up a command trait isn’t worth the trade off here: Master of Magic to help ensure Daemonic Speed (3d6 charge for a cavalry unit) goes off more consistently.

Anyway, one of the problems this style of army will face is when it goes up against a tough enough tarpit that can absorb the first wave of assault, and Namarti are keen to state their case as one of the more premiere efficient infantry units in the game now that Bounty Hunters are gone. On the first turn, when supported by a Leviadon, these guys count as in cover and get an additional +1 armour save, meaning an effective 4+ save ignoring rend 1 before they’ve even factored in the possibility of mystic shield or All Out Defence. They still expect to take heavy casualties, but that’s where the subfaction comes in: Mor’Phann means that Soulrender replenishes D3+3 models back to the unit at the end of each battleshock phase. That’s a pretty sturdy tarpit, and if near a Shipwreck for a 5++ ward I can see how they were able to weather the initial storm of angry cavalry, but note the close score here: 13-7.

Result

Mor’phann Victory – 13 – 7

Meme Venaruzzo – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

HEAVY PLATE, HORSES AND A LOTTA ATTITUDE

Thoughts

So Meme lost round 5 but kept it close enough that he won the event due to overall score anyway, so let’s talk about the list a little bit more. The Varanguard are setup to act as the hammers, given the Mark of Khorne so they’re benefiting from an extra attack each on the charge with their Fellspears (or in one unit’s case, Ensorcelled weapons). They are the linebreakers, expected to blow through whatever they charge.

The other component of this is the mobile anvils in the Chaos Knights. You might be confused as to why I’m suggesting a unit equipped with Lances are in fact anvils, but this is where the Eroding Icon comes in. That brick of 10 equipped with the Mark of Nurgle and the Icon is both -1 to wound in melee and reduces the rend of attacks targetting it in melee by 1 as well. This means that a unit of 10 cavalry bases can tie up QUITE A LOT of your opponent’s army and be very difficult to actually kill off. Their base save is 3+ and they have a 5++ ward against mortal wounds, so it’s going to be tricky to work your way through all 30 wounds of the bigger unit, and he’s got another unit of 5 on top of that!

Francesco Xella – Nighthaunt: The Scarlet Doom – 6th Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Bladegheist spam

Thoughts

It might be odd to feature the 6th place list but there’s a reason – it’s the other 5-0 list from the event (the first being the Idoneth one discussed in the showdown). This list has adapted to the new season simply by grabbing Galletian Veterans for their 32mm Bladegheists and largely carrying on as usual – this permutation foregoes any Unique Characters in order to bring a Lord Executioner with Slitter and Hatred of the Living. Slitter is an interesting inclusion as it can be used to break coherency of low wound units, whereas Hatred of the Living is the increasingly rare source of rerolls, this one granting full rerolls to hit and wounds as long as he’s targeting something without the Death keyword.

Two Spirit Torments help give the Bladegheists some staying power, and Scarlet Doom keeps on rolling into the new season with an impressive 5-0 finish.

The Best of the Rest

It’s probably a bit odd at this point so let’s just present the missing top 8. They were:

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 2nd – Vincenzo Nacca – Ogor Mawtribes (20,0,20,20,20): Boulderhead Stonehorns
• 3rd – Luca Quinale – Idoneth Deepkin (18,13,20,14,13): See showdown
• 4th – Pietro Paolo Cardinale – Nighthaunt (20,19,19,7,12): Bladegheist spam with a Black Coach and double Lord Executioner
• 5th – Jordy Naponiello – Ironjawz (16,20,0,20,19): Double Mawcrusha in Bloodtoofs with 6 total heroes and only 6 Pigs
• 6th – Francesco Xella – Nighthaunt (15,12,20,14,13): See above
• 7th – Roberto Callegari – Daughters of Khaine (5,17,20,16,14): Morathi and the Bow Snakes
• 8th – Tommaso Mariani – Slaves to Darkness (13,18,19,14,8): Another KOTET list, this one with a whopping 12!

Great South Waagh 2023

38-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England GB on February 11 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission –

Andrew Burgess – Gloomspite Gitz: IT’S GITZ! GITZ IN THE SHOWDOWN! DO YOU SEE THE GOBLIN!?
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vs.

Kris Robertson – Cities of Sigmar: Tempest Eye Irondrakes
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Thoughts

Gitz hit the scene with a crash as this mixed arms list brings a lot of things that are appealing about the new book. Skragrott represents one of the best value Unique characters since in quite some time, with powerful casting, reasonable defences and the ability to exert some degree of control over the Bad Moon – did I mention he hands out free commands too? The Troggboss takes Loonskin for a free endless spell (in this case the Scuttletide), then there’s a solid core of Troggs (new and improved with enhanced survivability) as well as somehow having enough points left over to cram in some Boingrot Bounderz, a Mangler Squig and 40 dorks to sit on a point.

This list is a bit unfocused but we tend to expect that from new books – it looks like the Rockguts are the hammer/anvil to hold center, whereas the Boingrotz will take the Snuffler buffs for extra rend and go smash face with reasonable rend.

Anyway, I *suppose* we should talk about his opponent *checks notes* Oh god it’s 30 Irondrakes with a Bridge. The last thing more traditionally fair armies want to see is just a bucketload of efficient shooting, especially when it’s not like Andrew has the tools to take out the Irondrakes from range. Those Fulminators probably had a field day too, as long as they steered clear of the Troggs.

Result

Tempest’s Eye Victory – 21 – 15

Kris Robertson – Tempest’s Eye – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Dwarves. Angry Dwarves.

Thoughts

It’s amusing how Bounty Hunters going away has really opened Pandora’s box in terms of what’s possible – in this case a lot of efficient bodies. Those dwarves kept creeping down in price over the course of last season and can now reap the rewards now the battalion that acted as their countermeasure has gone.

Tempest’s Eye is just a fantastic combo with Dwarves, granting them extra toughness and 3 extra movement in that first turn, helping them trundle up the board into center before the real action happens.

One other notable I thought was cute – the inclusion of a Lord-Castellant allows not only an extra +save on the Fulminators, but it’s also just a cheap and fairly tough Galletian Champion – lots of little tweaks for the new season I love to see.

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records or better. They were:

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 2nd – Michael Wilson – Daughters of Khaine (4-0-1): A Norathi list with no less than 70 Witch Aelves and 2 Cauldrons of Blood, supported by a Gladiatrix for each of the two bricks of 30 for maximum raw efficiency – perhaps another consequence of no Bounty Hunters
• 3rd – Mike Whitley – Stormcast Eternals: Lot’s of dragons – 4 Stormdrake, a Drakesworn Templar, some Dracoth and even 6 Longstrikes
• 4th – Ric Myhill – Ogor Mawtribes: The Kragnos Tyrant mortal wound on charge meme list makes an impressive showing here – it’s Battleline provided by some Ironguts and 2 units of Leadbelchers
• 5th – Andrew Burgess – Gloomspite Gitz: See showdown
• 6th – Matt Byrne – Stormcast Eternals: A mixed arms Hallowed Knights list with 10 Crossbow Judicators, some Dracoth and a reinforced unit of Stormdrake Guard

Midwest Bash 2 AOS GT

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in St. Louis, MO US on February 11 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission –

Mrigank Jha – Fyreslayers: Classic Fyreslayers shit here – 30 Hearthguard Berzerkers!
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vs

John Lindsey – Sylvaneth: A bit of everything in this Heartwood list really
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Thoughts

Hearthguard took a bit of a downturn with the new book, partly due to the tension of Reinforcements meaning you couldn’t have as big units as you used to, but also due to how appealing multiple Magmadroth builds were. Now that Bounty Hunters is gone (a repeat note I’m making today you’ll notice) it gives these big bricks more value as they’re not nearly as easily lifted. That spells bad news for the trees who have some reasonable-ish long range but no ability to really delete the key support heroes at range thanks to the new Battlepack and if they do manage to whittle a unit down in combat they’re either going to Strike-and-Fade away (and let them rally on a 4+…) or stay in combat and get their day ruined by some angry naked dwarves. A typical answer to these sort of problems (The Warsong Revenant blowing up trees with his warscroll spell) is answered by the Nulsidian Icon, giving the Fyreslayers a 4+ spell ignore.

Congratulations Fyreslayers players (Fyreplayers?), now is your time.

Result

Fyreslayers Victory – 12-6

1st Place – Mrigank Jha – Fyreslayers

The List

See showdown

Archetype

DWARVEN HEROHAMMER BABY YEAH

Thoughts

It’s a bit of a blend of everything here – good infantry, good spell defences, with the Battlepack now protecting their ranged characters from enemy shooting. What does the pack want? Foot heroes (ideally ones that can slap a bit), Fyreslayers has that in spades. The Draught Magmadroth combo is here for an utterly brutal combat Monster, and this army is setup well to take advantage of the new Galletian Command battalion. The Runeson (with 5 rend 2 damage 4 attacks thanks to Axe of Grimnir can fight in hero phase with the new Command Ability, and then let those 15 Hearthguard fight immediately after him… oof.

The Best of the Rest

There were 4 more players on 4-1 records or better. They were:

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 2nd – Joseph Gillespie – Lumineth Realm-lords: Zaitric Sentinels with Teclis and a bunch of wardens, a very classic feeling list
• 3rd – John Lindsey – Sylvaneth: See showdown
• 4th – Alex Cotter – Lumineth Realm-lords: Another Zaitrec Teclis list, this one with a little less Sentinels and a little more Wardens
• 5th – Jesse Carmack – Lumineth Realm-lords: Stop me if you heard this one before – a Zaitrec Teclist list with Sentinels and Wardens

Wrap Up

An exciting week full of some new and interesting lists that seem to have fully embraced the new season. There’s been a marked shift towards infantry and foot heroes and I expect we will see more aoe mortal wound spam style lists as an attempted answer to this style of play. See you next week!

Ellarr also has his own Youtube channel to cover other aspects of competitive Age of Sigmar which you can find here. If you have any questions or comments leave one down below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.