Welcome back readers. We have an eclectic lineup this week, with 3 events around the world in the US, Norway and Canada. All are of decent size, and have some pretty surprising showdowns that may not go how you expect.

Yes it seems people are starting to find holes in the Nighthaunt fence. It’s too early to celebrate as Nighthaunt are still ranking extremely high with many lists still racking up crazy high win rates, there are lists that are beating them to the trophies.

Michigan GT 2024 Age of Sigmar Championship

75-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Lansing, MI, US on September 21 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Chris Thiel – Lumineth Realm-Lords
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Devin Courtman – Soulblight Gravelords
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Thoughts

While the normal Hurakan Special would probably decimate a Soulblight player, this is a bit more of a fair fight. The Lumineth went for the tanky approach, focusing on Alarith Stoneguard supported by Avalenor. With some Vanari to taste. This means the list’s goal is to sit on circles and take the hits, rocking a 5+ ward and -1 to be rend on 2 units.

The advantage the Soulblight do have here is numbers. If they can get on the objective they can often block off any attempt to get onto it, and Mannfred can maneuver himself or other units into a strong position to attempt a charge or wander into combat if they need to. The Grave Guard deal a lot of mortal wounds, but still have to contend with that 5+ ward.

Ultimately it’s a very close fight in favor of Lumineth.

Result

Lumineth Realm-Lords Victory – 29 – 21

Chris Thiel – Lumineth Realm-Lords – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Alarith Stoneguard

Thoughts

This is a very refreshing Lumineth list, completely eschewing The Hurakan Special. Avalenor is the centerpiece here, granting +1 attack to the Stoneguard who make up the bulk of the forces. The Stonemage supports by keeping Avalenor from losing attacks when damage (not crucial but at 4 damage a pop, every hit counts) and granting a Stoneguard unit +1 to rend, which pairs well with those additional attacks. Since Stoneguard have a built in -1 to enemy Rend and a 5+ ward from the battle formation they are tough to remove and can stand there all day.

Ellania and Ellathor add some much needed utility with Total Eclipse, the Sentinels guard them and the Dawnriders give a bit more maneuverability to what is overall a very tanky list.

Jon Jon Harris – Nighthaunt – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Nighthaunt Good stuff

Thoughts

Not trying to be daft but no surprises here.

The Best of the Rest

There were 11 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd – Joshua Bradford – Nighthaunt: Went 4-0-1. Nighthaunt Good Stuff.
• 4th – Paul Hinderman – Nighthaunt: Nighthaunt Good stuff
• 5th – Christopher Gropp – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor and Daemon Prince with Varanguard.
• 6th – Luke Edinger – Nighthaunt: Nighthaunt Good Stuff.
• 7th – Andrew “Zee” Ziesig – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor and Varanguard.
• 8th – Jake L’Ecuyer – Daughters of Khaine: Morathi with Melusai and Khinerai.
• 9th – Kamran Swanson – Disciples of Tzeentch: Kairos and Lord of Change with a menagerie of daemons.
• 10th – Rob Elliott – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor and Daemon Prince with Varanguard and Chosen.
• 11th – Devin Courtman – Soulblight Gravelords: See Showdown.
• 12th – Jack Cawood – Daughters of Khaine: Melusai and Khinerai.
• 13th – Dan Sasala – Stormcast Eternals: Krondys with Vanguard-Raptors, Prosecutors and Evocators.

Invasion AOS 2024

54-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Agder, Norway on September 21 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Shifting Objectives

Thomas Berg – Daughters of Khaine
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vs.

Andres Rygnestad – Nighthaunt
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Thoughts

Y’know, on paper I’d have given this to the Nighthaunt. And I’ll cut to the chase, Daughters of Khaine thrashed it.

It’s pretty standard Nighthaunt good stuff, generally picks up most things and Daughters of Khaine aren’t doing so hot, and yet the Daughters of Khaine somehow gained an early lead and kept it. There are some advantages here, the Doomfire Warlocks are fast and can chuck Doomfire to do some ranged mortal wounds, Nighthaunts weakness and the Blood Sisters do have a 50-50 shot of inflicting strike last on the legions of Hexwraiths, and will likely do quite a bit of damage to them if they get it off.

So, good job to Thomas for beating the trend.

Result

Daughters of Khaine Victory – 46-22

Thomas Berg – Daughters of Khaine – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Melusai and Warlocks

Thoughts

This is an interesting Melusai focused list. Leading the charge is the Bloodwrack Medusa (Mindrazor duty for the +1 to damage and rend) and the Hag Queen (Sacrament of Blood for the +1 to Blood Rites). The backbone of the list is the Blood Sisters who can both try and fish for a Strike First if they roll an 8+ to charge from their formation or Strike Last if they roll above the enemy’s wound. With Mindrazor they’re doing three damage a model at rend 2, or 6 on crits. If that’s not enough, they can take advantage of All Out Slaughter, the strike last isnt so bad if the enemy is also doing so. This makes them very hard to take down if they’re not charged by a giant monster character.

The Blood Stalkers do solid covering fire to pick up chaff or heroes out in the open, and the Doomfire Warlocks are a very flexible unit. They are fast with 14″ move, and as Wizards they can chuck Doomfire for damage, Mindrazor or Steed of Shadows to support a more forward Melusai unit or cast Endless Spells in a far more advantageous location than the Bloodwrack could.

aleksander Dalane – Nighthaunt – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Nighthaunt Good Stuff

Thoughts

Sorry, nothing insightful here. This basically just follows the playbook of Nighthaunt and hey, it works.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd – Tom Kenneth Solli – Gloomspite Gitz: Skragrott and Troggs.
• 4th – Morten Balle Poulsen – Soulblight Gravelords: A surprising list with Nagash, Black Knights and a Mortis Engine.
• 5th – Johannes Vedeld – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor and a Sorcerer Lord with Varanguard.
• 6th – Danny Elvestad – Disciples of Tzeentch: Lord of Change with Tzaangor Skyfires.
• 7th – Øystein Berg – Gloomspite Gitz: Troggs
• 8th – Niels La Cour Vium – Lumineth Realm-lords: Teclis and the Hurakan Special.
• 9th – Eirik Nyhagen – Stormcast Eternals: Bastian Carthos leads a suite of different Stormcast units including Annihilators, Vanguard Raptors and  Prosecutors.

Montreal GT 2024

52-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Montréal, Québec, Canada on September 21 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Shifting Objectives

Justin Lapointe – Slaves to Darkness
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vs.

Benjamin Dupuy – Ossiarch Bonereapers
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Thoughts

This is the absolute perfect mission for both of these armies. Both armies are high defense and shifting objectives is the mission those kinds of armies are hoping to pull since it can be won by securing the middle and one flank and then keeping ahead on points.

Of the two, the Slaves to Darkness player has more aggression going on, between their Varanguard and Knights, they can dislodge many other armies and the OBR cav just does not compete on the same level. The reinforced Kavalos Deathriders can do work if they get a good charge in, along with another unit and the First Strike spell from the Soulmason that’s a lot of damage before the enemy can act but the big three threats here (Knights, Varanguard and Chosen) are tanky and will likely require 2-3 rounds to put down unless you roll really well.

Result

Slaves to Darkness Victory – 42 – 17

Justin Lapointe – Slaves to Darkness – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Aggro Slaves to Darkness

Thoughts

There’s 3 scary pillars here: The reinforced units of Varanguard and Chosen and the knights are all extremely powerful if they get their attack in, both Varanguard and Chosen can fight twice once per game and frequently put down most major threats if they get in first. The Knights are less intimidating, but still pretty scary if they get the charge off.

Be’lakor and the Sorcerer Lord both hang in the back and sling spells, while Be’lakor uses his once per game to disable the biggest threat. The furies offer an early game screen or objective grabbers.

Mathieu Lorain – Nighthaunt – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Nighthaunt good stuff.

Thoughts

Mostly the standard kit for Nighthaunt, nothing too crazy. There are a a few interesting oddities to point out is a unit of chainrasps for some disposable chaff to buffer incoming attacks, the Black Coach to bring back a hero if killed, and some extra Mymourn Banshees to punish wizards, one of the weaknesses to Nighthaunt with its ranged mortal damage.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd – Jordi Lerou – Lumineth Realm-lords: Vanari skewed Lumineth.
• 4th – Simon Glanowski – Slaves to Darkness: Actually just a copy of the champ’s list.
• 5th – Kevin Leclerc – Skaven: Mixed range with Thanquol, Warplord Deceiver, Stormfiends and lots of Plague Monks.
• 6th – Loic Gosselin Delort – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Nagash and Morghast
• 7th – Benjamin Dupuy – Ossiarch Bonereapers: See Showdown.
• 8th – Daniel Fortin – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Katakros with Crawlers and Deathriders.
• 9th – Alexis Boucher – Kharadron Overlords: Mid range KO, with a bit of just about everything in the book.

Wrap Up

We’re starting to see a paradigm shift in the meta. After two weeks, Nighthaunt have declined a bit in the showdowns at least. They’re still consistently putting up 4-1s and 5-0s but often aren’t taking the cup.

Also a pleasant surprise is that as of today the first Battlescroll of Fourth Edition is out, and while it will take a week or two to kick in, it likely means big things for the Nighthaunt hegemony as well. Tune in next week as we start to see the knock on effects of it.

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