Howdy citizens of the Mortal Realms, it’s a big-ass edition this week, so much so that I’ve called in RagnarokAngel to help me (she has kindly covered the first two events, myself the last three). There’s an absolute treasure trove of lists to dig through, especially so the Grand Clash that has an astonishing 146 players… meaning a lot of 5-0 finishes and a lot of impressive filth to gape at.

Grand Clash 2023: AoS GT

146-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Trois-Rivières, QC CA on April 22 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup – Hedonites of Slaanesh vs. Sylvaneth

Jordan Duncan – Pretenders Host:
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vs.

Alexis Boucher – Gnarlroot:
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Thoughts

Two of the most agile lists in Age of Sigmar, between Slaanesh’s high movement and Sylvaneth’s frequent teleports, both armies are going to be very difficult to lock down. Slaanesh does what it does best, hitting hard and fast. Be’lakor does some of the heavy lifting with his Dark Master ability and the Contorted Epitome as a requisite Galetian Champion. Between issuing All Out Attack to 3 units, +1 Attack to an enemy unit within 6″ with their artefact and +1 Damage and -1 Rend whenever issuing an order, that damage adds up. The army itself has a ton of ranged shots with the now almost standard 55 Blissbarbs, while the seekers zoom in for the kill.

The Sylvaneth meanwhile are much more…eclectic. The free mortal wound output from allied stormcast is one of the things slaanesh can’t really tackle as easily and in the finals Alexis gets a narrow win.

Result

Gnarlroot Victory – 24 – 23

Alexis Boucher – Gnarlroot – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Dryad Hordes with Stormcast allies

Thoughts

What a strange list, it’s always invigorating to see stuff like this that goes outside the box. Naturally the eye is immediately drawn to the three Knight-Vexilors with Meteoric Standards. If your opponent castles up that’s going to be 3D3 mortals to much of his army. On average that will kill many foot heroes without wards, and take a large chunk off multiple units. It’s a really strong opening volley.

Drycha and Spirit of Durthu are the hammer bros of the heroes, while the Spellsinger has a loadout that makes it an absolute casting god, able to unbind enemy spells with a 3D6, cast a spell without failure or unbinding and from an overgrown terrain piece. Dwellers below lets it hit just about anything with a bunch of mortal wounds, and Tree song to improve the rend, without needing to get too close itself.

The list itself is mostly hordes. Speed bumps to accompany Drycha and Durthu, but scary enough in their own right with support. Very clever list, congratulations to Alexis.

Levan Sichinava – Gloomspite Gitz – 2nd Place

The List

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Archetype

Troggs and their support retinue.

Thoughts

The Dankhold Troggboss and the Fellwater/Rockgut Troggs are the hammer of this list. The Dankhold Troggboss becomes extremely resiliant with its artefact granting a 4+ ward. The rest of the list seeks to support them as much as possible. Gobbapalooza and Sneaky Snufflers hand out an absolute slew of buffs, while Skragrott and the Fungoid Cave-Shaman debuff the enemy (the artefact being effectively another point of rend).

The Stabbas function as objective holders and screens, while the Fanatics prove a powerful equalizer for anyone who tries to get into combat with them.

Thomas Ling – Soulblight Gravelords – 3rd Place

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Archetype

The undead hordes rise from their graves.

Thoughts

This is a classic Soulblight list, very classic of the old book and a last hurrah for it. Belladamma, the Necromancer and twin Vampire lords offer magical support, while the Corpse Carts sabotage enemy units trying to stop them. Radukar meanwhile gets up front and scraps with the hordes

And oh man, that’s a lot of hordes. The zombies and Grave Guard’s mortal wound output should not be underestimated, while skeletons offer a buffer to keep the enemy away from what matters.

Olivier Gandouet – Disciples of Tzeentch – 4th Place

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Archetype

Tzeentch good stuff

Thoughts

It’s basically the best stuff out of Tzeentch. Between Kairos, the Magister and the Gaunt Summoner, many mortal wounds are dished out. The Gaunt summoner might even be able to stuff someone in a pokeball.

Meanwhile Pink Horrors gum up the board while Kairic Acolytes and Screamers dart around, holding the line and grabbing objectives. The bridge helps mobility for the foot units, cogs to guarantee casting and the obligatory Simulacrum to be a pain in the ass on turn 1 with yet more mortals.

The Best of the Rest

There were 20 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

The Best of the Rest

Smash & Bash 2023

62-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in San Antonio, TX US on April 22 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission – Ogor Mawtribes vs. Gloomspite Gitz

Randal Brasher – Boulderhead:
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vs.

Christopher Schelling – Gloomspite Gitz:
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Thoughts

Pretty typical Beastclaw list vs a pretty typical Trogg list. Both lists are bruisers that can take a punch just as well as they can dish it out, but it’s hard to deny that Gitz have a lot more tricks up their sleeve here. Between Itchy Nuisance and the Moonface Mommet artefact, Troggs can get a bit more punch while neutering the Beastlords. These tricks seem to be exactly what was needed to give Gitz the victory.

Result

Gloomspite Gitz Victory – 15 – 5

Christopher Schelling – Gloomspite Gitz – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Trogg list

Thoughts

We’re seeing a lot more of these Troggs list in the wake of the Battleshock exploit on Squigs being removed. Troggs do serious damage and are pretty resilient with their on-demand healing. The Command Trait is basically an auto take, as a free endless spell is just leaving money on the table not to take it. The Alpha also geta 4+ ward with the artefact, making it very hard to kill (unless it eats it early). The fungoid cave shaman functions as a requisite Galetian Champ while Skragrott does Skragrott Things, being sorcerer supreme and all.

Bryan Lofton – Blades of Khorne- 2nd Place

The List

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Archetype

Khorne grab bag

Thoughts

This is…an interesting one! The prime trick here is super reliable, Bloodlords gives 5+ mortals on the Bloodletters for the charge, so naturally the workhorse here is the Bloodlords blob in the middle. Supporting them is their big brothers, a Bloodthirster and Skarbrand. The Bloodthirster got the suite of enhancements, becoming a priest and equipping the King of Blades to cut through any Wards.

Flesh Hounds work as screens (and basically free blood tithe) and Bloodcrushers are solid cavalry that also benefit fron the 5+ mortals. Garrek’s Reavers help generate a few more helpful blood tithes, particularly against Chaff units.

The Best of the Rest

There were 9 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd – James West – Kharadron Overlords: Overlords good stuff.
• 4th – Marco Hernandez – Gloomspite Gitz: Squig and Grot synergy.
• 5th – Randal Brasher – Ogor Mawtribes: See Showdown.
• 6th – Gavin Griger – Daughters of Khaine: Morathi and Ironscale lead a rogue’s gallery of Melusai, Witch Aelves and Khinerai.
• 7th – Ryan Rutherford – Sons of Behemat: King Brodd, dual Warstomper and a gatebreaker.
• 8th – Joe Carnrite – Joe Carnrite: Karazai leads Stormdrake and Sequitors.
• 9th – Nathan Wood – Skaven: Thanquol and a Verminlord with lots and lots of clan rats, two warp lightning cannon and a Hell Pit abomination.
• 11th – DJ Jenkins – Lumineth Realm-lords: Teclis and Avalenor with lots and lots of Stoneguard

Charlotte Karnage AoS GT

45-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Concord, North Carolina US on April 22 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission –

Tobias Kempf – Disciples of Tzeentch:
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vs.

Christopher Johnson – Soulblight Gravelords:
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Thoughts

New Soulblight book spotted! The Tzeentch list is fairly standard fair, though Vortemis and Be’lakor add little wrinkles to the chicken factory, so let’s dig into the Soulblight.

Legion of Blood has come to the forefront in terms of player attention thanks to it’s combination of battle traits and the utility of Neferata. Adding +1 attacks/spellcasting based on whether or not the Vampire is hungry or not (stealing the Ogor vernacular and I’m not sorry) is very useful for the Vampire Lords, as is being able to shut down wards of enemy units using the LoB exclusive heroic action. Neferata on the other hand has had a bit of a glow up in this book, keeping her signature ‘Ethereal but better’ spell that only ignores NEGATIVE modifiers to saves if successfully cast on a unit, but gaining more besides. Her -1 to hit bubble became a passive ability rather than a command ability, and she gained a few wounds to make her a tougher cookie to deal with.

Outside of that, the list crams into a 1 drop rather easily thanks to the amount of points spent on her and the VLoZD – a rather lacklustre set of MSU battleline is supplemented by two supplemental hammers, a block of 20 Grave Guard and 10 Blood Knights, both still quite excellent in the new book.

Anywho, let’s bring it back to the showdown now we’ve had a crash course on this rather new style of Soulblight army – on paper it looks a little rough for the Soulblight army, as while they have got significant punch they also have to chew through quite a lot of chaff before they can get into the inner circle of heroes, and Tzeentch damage comes in the form of mortal wounds, so neatly sidesteps the two ethereal unit’s (Cloak of Mist and Shadows) defensive profile. The Tzeentch army will have struggled with objective control, but the long game favours Tobias due to the clusterfuck of Chaos Spawn and chickens that will appear as the game goes on.

Result

Disciples of Tzeentch Victory – 28 – 22

Tobias Kempf – Disciples of Tzeentch – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Chicken factory

Thoughts

Quick recap for those who don’t recall from the past few times this style of list has appeared in CI – this list wants to use Guild of Summoners’ discount on summoning Lord of Change to just put chicken after chicken down. It does this by including as many casts in the list as possible (it can cast up to 12 on turn one if my math is right), and throwing just enough bodies into the starting army to string out the opponent’s ability to compromise said spellcasting.

Be’lakor can serve as an additional delaying wrinkle, using Dark Master to shut down a unit for a turn – particularly potent against one drop armies that tend to have one key unit that makes such a small army function.

Fabien Barbusse – Sylvaneth – 2nd Place

The List

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Archetype

Strike and Fade castle

Thoughts

The little book that could keeps on trucking, though the book has mostly been reduced down to two key archetypes – either Treelord spam or this style of list. It runs one or two threats that it wants to teleport through the woods, slap a unit around before teleporting back with Strike and Fade. Some builds bring archers to add some extra ranged punch, but this list wants instead to hit hard with the Scythe Kurnoth and harder with the Spiterider Lancers.

The last piece of the puzzle is the Warsong Revenant, who uses Spellsinger to cast it’s spells through the Treelord Ancient’s summoned tree and do aoe mortal wounds to force the opponent to break the stalemate and come deeper into the woods.

The Best of the Rest

There were 6 more players on X-1 records. They were:

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 3rd – Christopher Johnson – Soublight Gravelords: See showdown
• 4th – Walter Brock – Ossiarch Bonereapers: A neat double Mortarch list that brings the zombie Regiment of Renown for some cheapish chaff
• 5th – Jeremy Hauck – Gloomspite Gitz: Squig herd hammers with double Squig Boss and the accompanying buff pieces
• 6th – Calvin Rarie – Blades of Khorne: New books showing up everywhere! MSU Blood Reavers for bloodtithe that feed Murderlust to the Skarbrand and Unfettered Fury Bloodthirster
• 7th – Josh Bennett – Hedonites of Slaanesh: A 77 Blissbarb archer shooting list with 10 Blissbarb Seekers. A rarity to see such a shooting build in the Chaos Grand Alliance
• 8th – Ryan Ledford – Skaventide: A surprisingly diverse Skaven list with Thanquol, a Warbringer, a bunch of Clanrats and Stormvermin and some Warp Lightning Cannons

Trouble At Mill

31-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Farsley, England GB on April 22 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission –

Peter Twigg – Blades of Khorne:
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vs.

Simon Burdett – Maggotkin of Nurgle:
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Thoughts

An (almost) all mortal Khorne list throws down with one of it’s rivals in Nurgle. The Khorne list wants to anvil up with it’s two blocks of Blood Warriors rallying on a 4+, whereas the Nurgle lists is all centered on it’s three Maggoth lords acting as the real heart of the army.

On paper it’s a pretty even matchup as I wouldn’t describe either army as having a significant edge – the Nurgle army doesn’t really have the punch to just straight up lift a Blood Warrior unit unless it’s using Favoured Poxes and multicharging with the Maggoth lords maybe, but on the other hand the Blades of Khorne don’t really have a significant punch either, at least not one that will be effective against a big brick of wounds on a 3+/5++ save. I think that’s rather well reflected in the final score.

Result

Blessed Sons Victory – 18 – 15

Simon Burdett – Blessed Sons – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Maggoth lords

Thoughts

It’s rather fun in that it just doesn’t bother with Pusgoyles full stop, taking the cheaper Blightkings and a Favoured Poxes Herald for one of the nastiest debuffs in the game (until the Herald moves the targeted unit is -1 to hit, wound and save). The Three Maggoth lords are doing the heavy lifting while the Rotmire and Blightkings worry about silly things like ‘objectives’ and ‘board control’.

The Best of the Rest

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

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 2nd – Daniel Bean – Blessed Sons: Similar list to above but it cuts one Maggoth lord for Be’lakor
• 3rd – Peter Dixon – Ogor Mawtribes: A 4 stonehorn, 1 Thundertusk list in Boulderhead tells you what the gameplan is here
• 4th – Peter Twigg – Khorne: See showdown
• 5th – Aiden Barlow – Stormcast Eternals: Gardus with 7 Stormdrakes and a Castellant plus token ranged

Age Of Sigmar 2023 Warpstone Wars GT

28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Coraopolis, PA US on April 22 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. Note that this was a UTC event, and we hope to cover more of them in the future.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission –

Jeremy Veysseire – Blades of Khorne:
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vs.

Rob Mulshine – Big WAAAGH!:
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Thoughts

Bit of an unusual showdown here – Jeremy is leaning heavily into the Daemons, with a complement of Mortal pieces mainly there for buffs and/or speed bumps. It’s setup well to play the long game, which is good as so is the Big Waaagh army!

Unlike other ‘long game’ armies however, Big Waaagh isn’t summoning extra units – it gets escalating buffs as the game goes on, basically meaning by the bottom of round two the army has +1 to hit, wound, run, charge, as well as casting. Whereas most BW armies go heavy into Ironjawz, this one takes the rather unusual path of leaning heavily into Kruleboyz.

Gutrippaz recently got a survivability buff in the latest battlescroll and have become somewhat efficient as a cheapish anvil/hammer combo that doesn’t really excel at either. The exception is when they’re near the Sludgeraker, as suddenly those 6s to hit become 2 mortal wounds. This list wants to protect the Sludgeraker and pepper you in mortal wounds and debuffs from Gobsprakk. Unfortunately however those Killbows are dead weight in this matchup, and this list doesn’t quite have the killing power outside of the Wurgogg to lift those 20 Bloodletters in a single turn which spells bad news for them!

Result

Reapers of Vengeance Victory – 28 – 14

Jeremy Veysseire – Reapers of Vengeance – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

MSU Bloodtithe

Thoughts

There are a lot of individual buffs that can be given out here (+1 attacks, another +1 attacks OPG, +1 save, -1 rend, move in hero phase) as well as debuffs so I won’t go into every little piece of this buff engine, but suffice to say it’s path to victory involves clogging up the board with lots of MSU bullshit pieces while the Bloodletters and Bloodcrushers focus on taking out the competition.

It’s going to be a difficult list to pilot (at least early on while learning how it works) because there’s so many moving parts, and a relatively new book also has the advantage of being somewhat unknown for many opponents which tends to balance things out. That said, it wants to lean into what Khorne does best – bullshit movement shenanigans and controlling the flow of the combat phase. Many players fall into the trap of playing the army like a destruction army, but Jeremy has fully embraced the movement madness and it’s no surprise to see him find success with it. That said, it’s worth noting that it didn’t face any ranged armies whatsoever so it’ll be interesting to see how this list fares against the KO and Lumineth armies of the world (though the 5+ ward does help a great deal there!).

The Best of the Rest

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

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 2nd – Rob Mulshine – Big WAAAGH!: See showdown
• 3rd – Ben Klos – Blades of Khorne: Double bloodthirster with Skarbrand supported by MSU chaff and some allied in Unmade/Corvus Cabal
• 4th – Jiwan Noah Singh – Gloomspite Gitz: The standard Boingrot Bounder spam list with the requisite buff pieces, running only one Squig Boss as a nod to the points changes requiring some sacrifices be made
• 5th – Seth Havey – Beasts of Chaos: A Bullgor heavy list that runs 20 Gor in Allherd for a cheeky Anvil
• 6th – Bill Souza – Beasts of Chaos: A similar list to Seth that goes Darkwalkers and cuts the Gor for more Bullgor and a Chaos Gargant

Wrap Up

Phew.. That’s it! What a week. There’s been so many books in recent months that I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the meta landscape has never felt so… unsettled. The format is far from solved and it doesn’t look like it’s going to settle any time soon, though Worlds is on the horizon and the game’s top players are likely working furiously in secret to find the answers to the game’s questions and said event could really set the scene for subsequent events to follow. AoS third edition has fully matured, with not many books needing to be updated to this edition before we start seeing other supplemental materials and hunker down to await fourth edition (though I expect that’s a ways down the line still).