The hangover from LVO is over and this weekend was a big one for Age of Sigmar events in the US and UK. Looking at results, there are a few things we expected – lots of top results from Seraphon lists – and a few fun surprises, like a Gloomspite Gitz list going 5-0 at the Lone Star GT (more on that below). And although the new Tome Celestial for Beasts of Chaos are set to make waves, we haven’t yet seen those impacts, as these events were all before the cutoff date for those rules becoming legal at events.

In terms of results it’s pretty clear that Seraphon are still the game’s dominant faction, despite the emergence of dragon-heavy Order armies. Seraphon armies finished 1st in two of the four events we looked at this past weekend, and placed second in another.

The Lone Star GT

A 100-person, five-round event in Arlington, Texas. You can find lists for this event in Best Coast Pairings. Texas has an incredibly large, engaged Age of Sigmar community so it’s never a surprise to see large events held there. Because there were only 5 rounds, there were three 5-0 finishers at the event.

Zachary Kennedy – Seraphon – First Place

Zachary's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• A unit of Terradon Riders & Terradon Chief give this list a speed element.
• A Skink Starpriest to give anything spot mortal wound potential.
• A Bastiladon rocking the snake rack to end all snake racks – the Ark of Sotek.

Why it’s Interesting

Seraphon have been quietly brilliant for a long time now, with the popular Thunder Lizard subfaction being a mainstay in competitive play. What’s interesting here is how off the beaten path Zachary has gone with it. Whereas most lists tend to favour a Celestant Prime, Salamanders or Stegadons for their heavy hitters, Zach saves some points by running the budget version of the Bastiladon and uses his flex points to bring some Terradon Riders and some additional support heroes.

So what are the Terradons bringing? Well as it turns out, quite a lot of punch. Deadly Cargo gives the unit a once per game mortal wound bomb worth up to 6d3 Mortal Wounds, and the Terradon Chief’s command ability (Co-ordinated Assault) means the dice roll for mortal wounds is on a 2+ per model, rather than a 4+. What does this mean in practice? Well it gives the army a ‘break glass in case of emergency’ haymaker to take care of meta melee threats such as Kragnos, Mawcrushas and Stormdrakes, while leaving behind a mobile objective grabber that is surprisingly annoying to kill when they’re taking -1 Damage due to them being Coalesced.

Finally, 6 heroes means access to a third artefact, so Zach can bring both Cloak of Feathers to make the Engine of the Gods a flying fortress of destruction, as well as Itzi Grubs to give the list some more magical oomph that Coalesced builds typically have to skimp on.

Gavin Grigar – Gloomspite Gitz – Second Place

Notable Features

• Kragnos, who’s doing a lot of the heavy lifting for this list
• A massive block of Squig Herd for controlling the board

Why it’s Interesting

It’s Gloomspite Gitz! We’re here for anything that brings squigs to the forefront, even if the chances this will change the meta are… let’s say “slim.” Gavin Grigar warned us he’d be doing this when we interviewed him after LVO a few weeks ago. We decided to track him back down and ask him about this list.

GH: Besides the obvious comedy appeal, was there any reason you went with Gloomspite Gitz in particular? It seems like anything else paired with Kragnos gives you a stronger list, so what are they bringing to the table and how are you taking advantage of that?

Gavin: Kragnos got a great rewrite in the winter FAQ that synergizes with all of the destruction books very well by solving a recurring weakness. How do I reliably engage before I get taken off the table? 3d6 charge of course! The Gitz toolkit(teleport, regeneration, moon effects, etc)was very appealing and also brought a level of wound density that I found was lacking in the other destruction factions.

GH: Besides Kragnos, who’s the list’s MVP?

Gavin: While every unit performs well in its role the glaring one is the 36-man squig herd. While the damage was a nice bonus, the footprint of the unit was great at controlling the board and allowing Kragnos to function in a counter attacking role. 

GH: What’s your game plan going up against the shooting heavy armies going around at the moment? On paper it looks like a meta fairly hostile to that sort of list.

Gavin: A lot of the really popular builds cant alpha any of the important elements off of the board in a turn if you deploy properly(before you scream about longstrikes please try killing Kragnos through finest hour and all out defense with thunderbolt volley), and the list can really close the no man’s land gap quickly with its teleport or movement(+3 move and run and charge). 

GH: What was your toughest matchup at the event and how did you overcome that?

Gavin: I had 5 fantastic opponents that all played extremely well, but Matt Robisch’s Soulblight Gravelords gave me everything I could handle. Matt is a Texas legend so I knew beforehand our game would be tough. His list design was very similar to mine in that it wanted to leverage its toughness in the center of the board and his execution was spot on in our game on Veins of Ghur. A few clutch rolls in the closing turns allowed me to claw my way to a 41-40 victory in game I probably shouldn’t have won. Fantastic game and congratulations to Matt on a 6th place finish and Best Death!

Thanks again, Gavin!

Jonathan Schlieszus – Ossiarch Bonereapers – 3rd Place

Notable Features

• The reports of OBR’s death are greatly exaggerated.
• In a post balance update world where Nagash sees far less play in OBR; Jonathan returns to the classics.
• Liege-Kavalos makes an appearance.

Why it’s Interesting

It’s been a bit of a rough time for OBR, who had an uncomfortable transition into third edition when many of their explosive combos were shut off after command ability stacking was removed. The raw power on the warscrolls was still there, but they lacked some of the dynamic power you would typically see in top tournament lists.

That said, Jonathan proves there’s still life in those old bones, bringing a rather classic feeling OBR list that serves as a reminder that tight tactical play and showing up with better warscrolls than your opponent can go far. The Gothizzar Harvester is here to make the Mortek Guard effectively immortal while it’s still around (as well as serve as a cheeky monster for scoring opportunities), and the Mortek Crawler brings a wealth of ranged support to the army in a world with many scary but fragile ranged threats, with Endless Duty from either Katakros or the Liege-Kavalos.

Speaking of the Liege, he helps provide board coverage for Endless Duty and allow Katakros to go where he pleases; while also providing a bit of a speed element and cheap and cheerful beatstick for taking on lighter units.

The Rest of the Best

Fourteen more players finished on 4-1, so we’re just going to look at the rest of the top 8 here:

• 4th – Justin Gremminger – Seraphon: Justin’s list trades out some characters for a second Solar Engine Bastiladon and adds a unit of Saurus Guard and the Soulsnare Shackles endless spell.
• 5th – Thomas Zhennan Guan – Maggotkin: Thomas brings Gutrot to hide key pieces against shooting lists, with the Glottkin provides enemy turn charges a plenty to make things a real nightmare for players.
• 6th – Matt Robisch – Soulblight Gravelords: Matt goes extremely rule of cool, bringing a total of 20 blood knights and a Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon in his Kastelai list. A devastating initial charge that could get even more devastating as the vampires start accumulating buffs.
• 7th – Jiwan Noah Singh – Ironjawz: The standard Bloodtoofz build rocking double Mawcrushas and all the Gore Gruntas you can ask for. The list is overflowing with rend 2 and damage potential, giving it an extremely good game against most lists.
• 8th – James West – Maggotkin: James makes it easy for us and takes only 3 warscrolls – Glottkin, Bloab Rotspawned and 20 Blightkings. Asking the simple question – can you deal with all these absolute units before your army is whittled away into nothing?

Also notable are Caleb Hastings, who started 4-0 with Seraphon, Joseph Carnrite, who started 4-0 with Stormcast Eternals running Fulminators and Liberators.

London Open – February 2022

A 34-player, five-round event in London, UK. You can find lists for this event in Best Coast Pairings. There was only one undefeated player at the event, who finished 4-0-1.

Russell Taylor – Seraphon – 1st Place

Russell's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• A unit of Stormdrake Guard!

Why it’s Interesting

What’s better than Seraphon or dragons? Seraphon and dragons. Honestly when you stop and think about it, that someone would try this is not that surprising. Seraphon have generally always had a fair amount of flex points that people could tailor to their preferences, so why limit themselves to just Seraphon units? The Stormdrake Guard has all its power concentrated inside the warscroll, and is quite happy to start the battle on the board.

Having two of them breathing down your neck turn one puts a lot of immediate in your face pressure that Seraphon is not typically known for, which will likely catch a lot of people off guard. This is Seraphon, but not as you typically know it – kudos to Russell for combining one of the best warscrolls in the game with one of the best overall armies in the game.

The Rest of the Best

One player at the event finished 4-1, while two more finished 3-1-1.

• 2nd – Alexander Teophanous – Seraphon: Thunder Lizards, though Alexander opts for a Lord Kroak, Astrolith Bearer and Umbral Spellportal package instead of the budget Slann option.
• 3rd – Anson Hoffman – Soulblight Gravelords: Mannfred leading a Legion of Night list that brings some serious punch with not just 20 grave guard, but a Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon. The usual support accoutrements, some zombies and 30 deathrattle skeletons round out the list.
• 4th – Nathan Brooks – Seraphon: Yet more Thunder Lizards – this flavour bringing Gotrek to serve as their heavy hitter. It occurs to me; dear reader, that people are pretty much freestyling Seraphon and having great success at this point.

 

Emerald City Open – February 2022

A 46-player, five-round event in Puyallup, WA. You can find lists for this event in Best Coast Pairings. There was only one undefeated player at the event.

Matt Beasley – Legion of the First Prince – 1st Place

Matt's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• A Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage to act as a massive melee threat on top of Be’lakor
• A Contorted Epitome with Fourfold Blade and Flaming Weapon makes for a surprisingly effective dualist.
• Two endless spells – the Emerald Lifeswarm and the Umbral Spellportal

Why it’s Interesting

Legion of the First Prince lists are some of the more interesting lists to examine, because of the listbuilder’s efforts to bring together disparate elements from various factions and try and form a cohesive whole. In this case, Matt has gone very light on bodies starting on the board, taking a frugal but efficient a set of battleline units as he can get, so he has more points for the all-important heroes. Two units of Flesh Hounds make sense if your intent is to block out board space as cheaply as possible, as they come in a set of five with the lucrative cavalry bases, meaning their foot print on the board is significant without falling victim to coherency limitations. The Bloodletters also make sense as ablative wounds for Be’lakor that are there at the start of the game – they’ll likely die near instantaneously, but he’ll likely have the hardier Plaguebearers summoned in by that point thanks to Unyielding Legions.

As is the case for most LOFP lists, it’s all about board control – the Daemon Prince uses Bloodslicked Ground to create serious issues for melee and mobile armies, while Kairos can shut down enemy support pieces and/or shooting units with Gift of Change, with Be’lakor shutting down their most key unit for a turn (or potentially two) in the early goings to help slow down the opponent’s offence long enough to get their value engine up and running.

When things get hairy and he needs to smash, the Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage is just the ticket, presenting an alarming amount of damage potential with Outrageous Carnage – especially important here as it’s one of the faction’s rare sources of mortal wound damage.

Benjamin Schimmoller – Stormcast Eternals – 4th Place

Benjamin's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Four units of Vindictors and Vandus Hammerhand act as a versatile and hardy core.
• No longstrikes is perhaps one of the most notable things here, opting instead for 10 shadow warriors and a Runepriest for a cheap healbot.
• Stormdrakes and Fulminators provide draconic might.

Why it’s Interesting

The competitive AoS scene was certainly shaken up when we started to see optimised lists from the Stormcast book, but Benjamin has gone for an altogether more conventional gameplan. He still has the raw power of Dragons in his list, but he pairs it with a perhaps overlooked gem in the battletome in the humble Vindictor. While the unit is fairly basic, it’s on a base 3+ save and offers chip mortal wound damage in a fairly cost effective package, and by bringing 20 of them Ben ensures that he has flexible units that can trade blows with many units and be expected to either kill what they need to, or stay alive long enough for help to arrive. Vandus Hammerhand makes a surprising appearance here, acting as a very punchy lone wolf Fulminator who can also buff up a unit of Vindictors with extra attacks to push up their damage potential.

And if more is needed – help comes in the form of the Celestant Prime, who can hang out in the skies until he’s charged up a little bit and can deliver a haymaker where needed. Speaking of where, the standard Lord Relictor teleport package makes an appearance, with the generic Command Trait High Priest ensuring that he’ll get his Translocation off 35/36 times, meaning he can count on putting Vindictors exactly where he needs them, when he needs them.

Although Benjamin finished fourth, he was the other 4-0 player on the final table – good job Benjamin!

The Rest of the Best

One player at the event finished 4-1, while two more finished 3-1-1.

• 2nd – Mason Knox – Seraphon: The typical Thunder Lizard package, bringing two Stegadons and 20 chameleon skinks for Mason’s own spin on it.
• 3rd – Alexander Gonzalez – Soulblight Gravelords: This Vyrkos build goes the unusual route of bringing 40 Grave Guard but not leaning into any dedicated support pieces for them – they’re just hard hitting hammers that can pick up incidental buffs from *checks notes* Mannfred Von Carstein and Radukar the Beast. Oh and there’s a Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon too. Spicy.
• 4th – Benjamin Schimmoller – Stormcast Eternals: See above.

 

Bloodshed in the Shires 2022

A 78-player, five-round event in Buckinhamshire, UK. You can find lists for this event in Tabletop TO. There were two undefeated players at the event.

Mike Stewart – Seraphon – 1st Place

Mike's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Two reinforced Salamander Hunting Packs present power, efficiency and redundancy.
• Two Solar Engine Bastiladons for long range punch.

Why it’s Interesting

Ben hasn’t gone wild with this list – put simply it’s just a clearly well optimised and thought out list that can dictate the pace of play pretty often considering it’s 2 drops so likely decides initial turn order.

The Skinks remain one of the premiere chaff units in the game, being able to take buffs well and come in at cheap enough that there’s plenty of room for toys. In Thunder Lizards they can be particularly irritating, as they’re a lot hardier than you might expect when they benefit from the -1 Damage trait from Coalesced.

The Engine of the Gods and Slann act as the crucial core at the centre of the castle, providing long range firepower and support where needed. Bastiladons give Monster scoring opportunities while being an absolute nightmare for any list that doesn’t have mortal wounds to deal with – in fact, because Ben runs three Monsters he can easily get the bonus point for the Ferocious Advance battle tactic to get a minor edge. Finally a disgusting amount of raw power is provided by everyone’s favourite Finecast wonder, the Salamander Hunting Pack.

Max Barton – Stormcast Eternals – 2nd Place

Max's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Lots and lots of Stormdrake Gua- WAIT STOP COME BACK
• He also brought 6 Longstrikes!

Why it’s Interesting

Just to prove they aren’t a fluke, the “oops, all dragons” list makes an impressive 5-0 showing this week at a GT. Max clearly decided he wasn’t going to fall into the obvious trap laid by would be Stormcast-haters claiming he’s simply leaning on the power of one warscroll, as he’s decided to take the nuclear approach and also bring 6 Longstrikes too. Yes that’s legal, he can do that.

Seriously though, the combination of devastating shooting and extremely quick melee pressure that this list sports is something I’m surprised we haven’t seen sooner, as they each help mitigate the weakness of the other. Longstrikes can get at the bits deep in the castle that the Stormdrakes can’t reach, and the Stormdrakes help take heat off the Longstrikes by living in their opponent’s deployment zone.

This was an extremely competitive field, and it’s not surprising to see two absolutely mercilessly efficient lists float to the top.

The Rest of the Best

Seven more players finished 4-1.

• 3rd – Dan Bradshaw – Cities of Sigmar: This Living City lists leverages the power of 4 Fulminators, 4 Stormdrake Guard *AND* a frostheart phoenix to help make everything else way tougher to remove. What’s scarier than Fulminators? Fulminators that show up in your deployment zone, and can fire and fade *forward* into your lines to get at the juicy centre.
• 4th – Matthew Gouldesbrough – Seraphon: Another Thunder Lizards list, this one notable for allying in a Celestant Prime and rocking the Stegadon Skink Chief.
• 5th – Simon Weakley – Slaves to Darkness: A quite frankly madly brilliant Despoilers list that brings 4 Daemon Princes to roam the board bullying people with always strikes first, while shutting off countercharges with Bloodslicked Ground. Oh and he brought Be’lakor. Oh and a Mega Gargant.
• 6th – Phil Marshall – Slaves to Darkness: On the other end of the spectrum, Phil brings an Everchosen list with 6 Varanguard, Archaon and some cultists to hold the fort.
• 7th – Jack Armstrong – Cities of Sigmar: Similar to Dan Bradshaw’s list, though this brings 8 Fulminators instead of a mix, and uses the points saved to invest in more Freeguild Crossbowmen.
• 8th – Ritchie Mcalley – Legion of the First Prince: Ritchie takes the standard core of Kairos, Be’lakor, Khorne DP and Bloodthirster, but invests in a more substantial set of battleline with 10 Pink Horrors and 20 Plaguebearers.
• 9th – Ihw – Lumineth Realmlords: Teclis lives! What’s most surprising is what *isn’t* in this list, as it uses neither Sentinels nor Foxes. Instead, he brings *60* Wardens, as well as 5 Dawnriders for some mobile punch.

 

Battle of Copenhagen 2022

Rounding out the week’s events is this 29-player, five-round event in Copenhagen, Denmark. You can find lists for this event in Tabletop TO. There was only one undefeated player at the event.

Jon Haugaard Meineche – Daughters of Khaine – 1st Place

Benjamin's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Blood Stalkers take centre stage, with 30 of them.
• Khainite Shadowstalkers provide some reasonably cost effective objective play.
• Neatly fits into a 1 drop list to provide an edge in shooting mirrors.

Why it’s Interesting

‘Morathi and the Bow Snakes’ is a term now widely thrown around in the competitive scene, and it’s usage is immediately understood – It’s Morathi, it’s a Melusai, it’s an indeterminate number of Snakes in melee or ranged flavours. What Benjamin has done here is strip back all pretences of being anything but Morathi and the Bow Snakes, as he’s gone for the bare minimum of support required to simply lean on the core strength of these lists – powerful firepower and a threat that literally cannot be killed in the first few turns of the game.

This list can combine Blood Stalkers with Morathi’s Command Ability Worship Through Bloodshed to put out up to 90 high quality shots a turn that will do Mortal Wounds 1/6 of the time – that is a lot for mainly lists to deal with, and unoptimized lists simply won’t be able to keep up. Ben also gives himself the edge with his choice of Subfaction and list construction, 1 drop means he’s likely going to be able to go first in shooting mirrors, and the temple Khailebron means everything in his army is -1 to be hit by the enemies ranged attacks. Oh and he can teleport Snakes with Masters of the Shadowpath too.

The Rest of the Best

Four players at the event finished 4-1, with two Maggotkin players making great showings.

• 2nd – Kasper Agdal – Maggotkin: A Drowned Men list that leverages the power of the Glottkin’s counter charge ability with units of Pusgoyle Blightlords and a Lord of Afflictions. Plaguebearers and Nurglings form the meaty backbone to hold down central and backfield objectives.
• 3rd – MaltheMR – Maggotkin: This Befouling Host list leans into summoning potential, with a Great Unclean One (with Bell) and the second tree helping to get the summoning engine going early, while Plaguebearers and Bloab Rotspawned help anchor the list.
• 4th – Gustav Bay – Kharadron Overlords: A rare appearance from Kharadron Overlords is a welcome surprise. This Barak-Mhornar list shuts down key enemy charges with the Galeforce Stave in an Ironclad, while 50 Arkanauts hunker down on objectives. Help in firepower comes in the form of a Celestant Prime, who helps mitigate some of KO’s melee weaknesses.
• 4th – Kristian Møller – Stormcast Eternals: Bastian Carthalos. Lord-Relictor teleport package. 4 Stormdrake Guard. 6 Longstrikes. Add Liberators to season. Stir vigorously.

 

Wrap Up

That wraps up our look at the competitive meta before Beasts of Chaos charge in and (hopefully) shake things up. We’ll be keeping an eye on events over the next few weeks, and we’ll be back in March with another update, potentially looking at multiple weeks of events. In the meantime, you can send comments, questions and suggestions to contact@goonhammer.com, or post in the comments below.