Welcome back to a huge, packed week of AOS with 5 events all over the US, UK and Canada. I’ll avoid burying the lede on this one and give a heads up ahead of time that none of the events below use the new battlescroll, and in most GTs lists are submitted the weekend before, so do keep in mind we are operating off of that.

That said this isn’t like a new edition of the game, a lot of strategies are still going to hold and we are already seeing a decline in Nighthaunt in favor of the Hurakan menace. Will this trend persist?

The LGT AoS Singles

77-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in London, United Kingdom on September 28 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Simen Lillehagen – Ossiarch Bonereapers
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Jack Armstrong – Lumineth Realm-Lords
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

The Lumineth list here is really strong in most matchups but has really strong purchase against OBR. While the OBR player mercifully chose Aura of Sterility to alleviate some of the damage, those Ward-less shots from the Windchargers are still going to sting, and even Deathriders and Harbingers will struggle to keep up with double move foxes (unless the Harbingers roll real well on a charge).

Teclis helps maintain strong board control with the excellent Lumineth lore and can even sling out all 4 spells of the morbid conjuration on his own in a single round if he wanted to. It puts too many obstacles in the way of the more slow paced OBR to keep up, but they do put up a decent fight.

Result

Lumineth Realm-Lords Victory – 44 – 30

Jack Armstrong – Lumineth Realm-Lords – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Hurakan with Teclis

Thoughts

While Teclis requires reducing the number of windchargers and wind spirits you see, this list certainly makes due. 2 generic foxes and a reinforced unit of windchargers certainly pulls its weight well enough and in exchange you get Teclis. Teclis hasn’t seen as much love lately but he does bring a lot of utility to the table.

He’s a 4 cast wizard with auto 10s, which is incredibly hard to unbind now that unbind bonuses are so rare. While Lumineth casting isn’t quite as oppressive as it once was, it still is home to a very nice suite of buffs and a debuff, and Teclis’s own mortal wound spell covers a solid chunk of the board.

Benjamin Savva – Soulblight Gravelords – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Nefereta and the horde

Thoughts

This is an interesting list. Nefereta doesn’t get nearly the screen time Mannfred does, she’s more of an alpha strike piece than Mannfred’s more control heavy strategy. She can have 3 Deathrattle or Deadwalker unit make a free opening move to start capturing objectives in the center early (or create a forward wall for enemies to run into). Her warscroll spell grants ethereal, which can be brutal on Grave Guard which become very dangerous and hard to remove. The Mortis engine keeps units healed up which makes them more difficult to put down, while also popping off some major mortal damage as it gains caster charges.

The Zombies and Fell Bats mostly exist to soak up wounds, and the Black Knights can do respectable damage in their own right. A solid list that tries to push up early and take out everything it can.

The Best of the Rest

There were 10 more players on at least 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd – Romain Outters – Lumineth Realm-lords: Vanari skewed Lumineth.
• 4th – Laurie Huggett-Wilde – Slaves to Darkness: A really interesting list with two units of Slaanesh Chaos Warriors, A warshrine, Khorne Knights and some Khorne Varanguard.
• 5th – Phil Marshall – Nighthaunt: Nighthaunt good stuff.
• 6th – Philip Springall – Kharadron Overlords: Mid range KO focusing a lot on thunderers.
• 7th – Hazel Moon – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor with Varanguard and Knights.
• 8th – Tom Mawdsley – Lumineth Realm-lords: Teclis, 3 foxes and some Riverblades and Dawnriders.
• 9th – Obaid Bin-Nasir – Lumineth Realm-lords(3-0-2): Teclis with Hurakan good stuff.
• 10th – Simen Lillehagen – Ossiarch Bonereapers: See Showdown.
• 11th – Stephen Follows – Disciples of Tzeentch: Kairos with a menagerie of daemons.
• 12th – Stian Engebretsen – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor with Varanguard and Knights.

Hammerfest GT 2024

71-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in TX, United States on September 28 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

DJ Jenkins – Lumineth Realm-Lords
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Zach Kennedy – Slaves to Darkness
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Mercifully this is not a Hurakan list Lumineth but the particular quirks of this Slaves to Darkness list make a Vanari list almost as good. Wardens have Anti-charge and can inflict strike last, with greater chance against Cavalry. As this slaves to Darkness list is more than half of Cavalry by points that’s a tough act to follow, it means the Chosen are going to need to do a lot of work to deal with the Wall blocking the Sentinels shooting at them.

It’s a pretty low scoring match overall, with Lumineth pulling a solid victory despite it.

Result

Lumineth Realm-Lords Victory – 26 – 14

DJ Jenkins – Lumineth Realm-Lords – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Vanari Lumineth

Thoughts

Vanari are the “well rounded” group of Lumineth. Not as defensive as Alarith and definitely not as agile as Hurakan but they can hold ground extremely well. Their melee units get crit mortals (While the Sentinels still get the respectable auto wound) and with their battle ability they can make that pop off on a 5+. They also have a chance of inflicting strike last if charged, making trying to take objectives from them very risky. So the goal is to hold their ground and pelt their enemies with arrows.

If they do need to strike, the Dawnriders do the job, their charge is incredible painful especially if they get their 5+ Crit Mortals.

Ashlee Hayden – Lumineth Realm-Lords – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Hurakan with Teclis and Callis and Toll

Thoughts

The name of this list says it all, Teclis contributes a lot of versatility to the list. It retains the Windchargers and Severith, but downplays it quite a bit by only putting in one reinforced unit. Impressive use of restraint.

Teclis in his current form is still very powerful. He can cast 4 spells at an automatic 10, which in this edition is very hard to overcome since unbind bonuses are very hard to come by. His warscroll spell, with the auto 10 in casting he can cast all the Morbid Conjurations in one turn and gunk up the board pretty consistently. This in addition to the Lumineth lore which is overall a very solid one. Sentinels hold the line against the enemy since Bladelords cannot protect him, while Riverblades make great teleporters for objectives or snagging characters.

Callis and Toll are becoming popular allies for many Order armies. They make good deep strike, can fight well and if they can get their hands on enemy Wizards they will take them down quite easily. Which allows Teclis to remove any possible threats to his power.

The Best of the Rest

There were 10 more players on at least 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd (4-0-1) – Kenneth King – Gloomspite Gitz: Squigs and Troggs.
• 4th (4-0-1) – Johnathon Schlieszus – Gloomspite Gitz: Skragrott and Troggs.
• 5th – Zach Kennedy – Slaves to Darkness: See Showdown.
• 6th – Matt Taylor – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Nagash with Deathriders and Harbingers.
• 7th – Ryan Rutherford – Blades of Khorne: Bloodthirster and Herald with tons of Bloodletters.
• 8th – Chris Creech – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor with Varanguard, Chosen and Knights.
• 9th – Matthew Rinegar – Idoneth Deepkin: Mid-range Idoneth with both Eidolons.
• 10th – Maury Paz – Nighthaunt: Nighthaunt good stuff.
• 11th – Randal Brasher – Cities of Sigmar: Callis and Toll with Duardin Hammerers and a menagerie of aelves.
• 12th – Kyle Walker – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor with Varanguard, Chosen and Knights.

Flying Monkey Con AOS Champs 2024

50-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Wichita, KS, United States on September 28 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Garrett Kennedy – Ossiarch Bonereapers
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Matt Shantz – Ossiarch Bonereapers
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Well this is an interesting showdown. Ossiarch vs Ossiarch and neither list would really fit under the usual scheme of a GT level Ossiarch list.

The Mortek Crawlers are a pretty underwhelming shooting unit, but against another OBR list they aren’t the worst option.  They have anti-Infantry and that makes them excellent at targetting the Morghast, where they’ll likely drop one or two from a unit per Crawler pretty consistently, which certainly makes a huge difference when the units make up over half the points of the opposition.

The Morghast player however is rocking some of the heaviest hitters in the army. They move fast and hit hard so if they connect they pretty much can pick up whatever they want. They would need to respond fast with an alpha strike, get in early and take down the Crawlers before they do too much damage, but that’s easier said than done given their 24″ shooting range. Surprisingly it is the Ballistari player who pulls a strong lead despite the seemingly poor list.

Result

Ossiarch Bonereapers (Mortek Ballistari) Victory – 44 – 11

Garrett Kennedy – Ossiarch Bonereapers – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Crawlers

Thoughts

This list is…bizzare. Kudos for thinking it up, and moreso for piloting it well. As stated above, Crawlers aren’t…great. Not without merit, but a bit overcosted and hard to slot into an army with some really high point costs on practically everything in the army. The Battle Formation aimed at them also feels a bit lackluster, granting +1 to hit for up to 3 crawlers that haven’t moved. This is basically a free all out attack to 2 units in the list and then they can either focus fire on the same unit or split up attacks to cause Strike Last. Combined with the Soulmason handing out Strike First this lets the army really control the tempo of combat. The Deathriders and Harbingers can hold back until the time to strike is right, and even the Teratic Cohort and Arkhan can fight pretty well if pressed.

The Mortek Guard round out the list and create a very strong shield wall for the Wizards and the Catapults.

Philip Stair – Gloomspite Gitz – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Troggs and Squiggs

Thoughts

As time has gone on the dominant Trogg lists have transistioned to dabbling in some squigs to make up for the shortcomings of Troggs. Troggs are tough but incredibly slow. They’re also very elite and while they do heal up quite well, at 5 wounds a piece it’s really hard to rally them back until the unit is wiped out so they are quite precious. So Squiggs give a disposable screen and a more flexible option for completing battle tactics and grabbing objectives. Boingrot Bounders are also really solid damage in their own right if they get their charge off.

Skragrott and the Cave shaman hang back to cast buffs, and Skragrott can help control the moon to keep it in an optimum location for longer

The Best of the Rest

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

• 3rd – Garrett Keck – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor with Varanguard, Chosen and Knights.
• 4th – Jason M Burau – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor and Varanguard.
• 5th – Thomas Burgett – Seraphon: Slann and Starseer with Raptadons and Kroxigors.
• 6th – Carson Serzyski – Seraphon: A midrange Seraphon list with a little bit of everything.
• 7th – James Fryer – Gloomspite Gitz: Troggs and Skragrott.
• 8th – Gene Murphy – Lumineth Realm-lords: Hurakan Lumineth
• 9th – Brett Metzler – Stormcast Eternals: An interesting unusual list of Karazai, Yndrasta, Prosecutors and Fulminators.

Sparkle Party Death Match XI

50-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Seattle, WA, United States on September 28 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Jaws of Gallet

Chris LaMoy – Soulblight Gravelords
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Matthew Kangiser – Nighthaunt
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

This Soulblight list puts up an interesting front against the Nighthaunt. Namely, Mannfred is a powerful boon by capitalizing on Nighthaunt units that try and move too close for a charge. Mannfred allows units to Redeploy directly into enemy’s in combat, so standing 3″ away is not an option, especially for the Hexwraiths. Belladomma and the Wolves also give them a lot to chew through, so the Nighthaunt player is going to need to be careful to pick their battles.

The Nighthaunt list is still going to put up a fight though, this is the Nighthaunt meta after all. It ends in a tight match with the Nighthaunt taking a perfect score but the Soulblight getting a not too shabby 46 points.

Result

Nighthaunt Victory – 50 – 46

Matthew Kangiser – Nighthaunt – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Nighthaunt Good Stuff

Thoughts

Mostly standard Nighthaunt here. Dreadscythe Harridans, Bladegheist Revenants and Hexwraths are the primary damage dealers, cheap units that throw out a ton of dice and are numerous enough that they can be used fairly recklessly. Reiknor is the primary caster and Awlrach helps units relocate to a better position.

The Cruciator is a less common pick, since it no longer causes -1 to wound but ignore the first point of damage is still an OK defensive buff. The Crossbows are also less common but they do give some shooting to what is otherwise an all melee army.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Chris LaMoy – Soulblight Gravelords: See Showdown.
• 3rd – James Terwilliger – Soulblight Gravelords: Nagash with skeletons, Blood and Black Knights.
• 4th – Matthias Krushel – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor and Sorcerer with Knights, Varanguard and Chosen with some Furies to pad out the line.
• 5th – Alex Butler – Idoneth Deepkin: Mount focused list led by Volturnos and Aspect of the Storm Eidolon.
• 6th – Joseph Tsai – Stormdrake Guard: Krondys and Karazai with Vanguard Raptors and Stormdrakes.
• 7th – Alexander Frias – Blades of Khorne: Skarbrand and Bloodthirster with a collection of Bloodletters, Flesh Hounds, Warriors and reavers.
• 8th – Matt Beasley – Lumineth Realm-lords: Hurakan Temple with allied Callis and Toll.
• 9th – Ricky Fischer – Gloomspite Gitz: Squiggs and Troggs.
• 10th – Mason Knox – Disciples of Tzeentch: Lord of Change and Kairos with Skyfires and horrors.

5 Alarm GT

38-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Sparwood, BC, Canada on September 28 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Adam Wills – Nighthaunt
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Jarod Brown – Lumineth Realm-Lords
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

We’ve seen this before. A battle of the ages repeated time and time again, or at since 4th edition started.

Nighthaunt list is pretty standard as one of the top lists going right now, while the Lumineth list is equally as prevalent. The Hurakan Lumineth have the edge because the Windchargers are uniquely designed to punch through wards, the Nighthaunts main mode of defense. They’re also mobile enough to keep their distance from the rampaging charges of the Nighthaunt and not give them a chance to gain ground. So as a result it’s an absolute slaughter with Lumineth walking away with a near perfect score.

Result

Lumineth Realm-Lords Victory – 48 – 22

Jarod Brown – Lumineth Realm-Lords – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Hurakan Temple

Thoughts

Nothing really new or interesting in this list, because it just works. One reinforced unit of Windchargers rather than 2 smaller units does put more eggs in one basket but does allow a stronger stacking of buffs, which is going to be where much of the damage comes from. Lack of Severith is surprising, but it’s still 2 wind spirits so they hold much the same function. Basic strategy remains the same. Windchargers and Spirits of the Wind jump forward, fire their volleys and fall back, while the Riverblades pop up and try and go for some character assassinations. The Wizards all hang back and play control.

The Best of the Rest

There were 6 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd – Nic Fortin – Disciples of Tzeentch: Tzaangors of all shapes and sizes.
• 3rd – Josh Trenholm – Gloomspite Gitz: Troggs and Squigs.
• 4th – Carl Ong – Maggotkin of Nurgle: GUO and Bloab with a lot of Blightkings.
• 5th – Graham Cox – Nighthaunt: Nagash with Dreadscythe Harrows, Hexwraiths and Dreadblade Harrows.
• 6th – Calvin Osterdal – Lumineth Realm-lords: Hurakan Wind Temple
• 7th – Adam Wills – Nighthaunt: See Showdown.

Wrap Up

That certainly was a lot to cover! We’ll be back next week with the new and improved battlescroll edition of Age of Sigmar.

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.