If you thought last weekend was a big weekend for Age of Sigmar events well, you ain’t seen nothing. Things week we’re looking back on five different GT-sized events that ran around the world. We’re still about one more week from seeing Beasts of Chaos make a full splash at events but some of our events this week did allow the new rules, giving us our first taste of how they might shake out.

The Cherokee Open

A two-day, five-round event held in Cherokee, North Carolina. You can find lists for this event in Best Coast Pairings. As with the other US event this past weekend, the Cherokee Open was allowing the new Beasts of Chaos Tome Celestial rules. The event ended with two undefeated 5-0 players.

David Fields – Stormcast Eternals – First Place

Player's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Astral Templars & Stormkeep mean that this dragon list can play the objective game well and help ensure his combats go favourably by ignoring monstrous rampages.
• Karazai makes an appearance on the competitive scene!
• Liberators that act as a screen for mirror matches, or backline objective holders for games where everything else needs to be more aggressive.

Why it’s Interesting

As players have gotten more playtime with Stormdrake Guard, we’ve started to seen a noticeable shift in the way that they are getting utilised. Some players have opted for longstrikes to give themselves some ranged oomph in the mirror match, whereas others (as you’ll see further down) have gone for adding a light touch of support pieces to expand their tactical options.

David has decided that what his list was missing was bigger dragons, as he’s brought Karazai to play. Looking at his warscroll it’s not hard to see why a competitive player would be tempted – he’s a powerhouse that can wipe out elite and horde units alike with ease, and reducing the attacks characteristic of would be combatants by one means he could be a tough nut to crack, and what should the opponent prioritise first? The Dragon that gets progressively more powerful as the game goes on mulching your forces, or the Stormdrakes who can set up devastating charges with lances at will if left to their own devices.

Rounding out the list is a Lord-Relictor (no translocate!) and some Liberators, which count as 3 models each on home objectives to start the game, then can make a push to secure the centre once the dragons have done their terrible business. Giving up Scions of the Storm isn’t too much of a loss considering the mobility of the bulk of David’s forces, so it’s a nice tweak to the formula that makes sense.

Mrigank Jha – Stormcast Eternals – Second Place

Notable Features

• Lots of Annihilators to deal pinpoint beatdowns from reserves.
• Longstrikes receive some support from a Knight Judicator.
• A rare Prosecutor unit sighting.

Why it’s Interesting

If you were to pretend for a moment that Stormdrake Guard and Dracoth units didn’t exist, a list like this would start to make a lot of sense. What goes overlooked when discussing Stormcast is that while the top units are ever present in the metagame right now, there’s a lot of rock solid units in the book that simply aren’t seeing play because some easier to use, more consistent performers are right there.

Annihilators can put out a disgusting amount of damage on the charge, especially when in Knights Excelsior so that the shield bois can be hitting and wounding on 2s against most units in the game. They’re tough to kill, they can’t be shot off the board before they get their opportunity to come in from reserves and deliver a hammerblow, and with the help of a Lord-Imperatant they can more consistently get into combat due to a more comfortable 7″ charge requirement.

Rounding out the list is some chaff, as well as a nice little combo of Longstrikes and Knight-Judicator. The Knight brings with him two gryph-hounds, meaning that the Longstrikes can fire first in the event of any would-be deep strikers coming in to try and harass them – a brutal barrage considering the Aetherwings also mean they’ll be hitting on 2s without the need for All Out Attack.

The Rest of the Best

Six more players finished on 4-1, rounding out the top 8:

• 3rd – Jon Anderson – Idoneth Deepkin: Shooty Idoneth list using the new Reaver warscroll to put out 100 shots a turn that hit and wound on 2s if near the Eidolon and Turtle, rerolling hit rolls of 1 in round two as well.
• 4th – Tobias Kempf – Maggotkin: Summoning Maggotkin list that brings a brick of 30 Plaguebearers, 5 Beasts of Nurgle and Be’lakor to help slow down the opponent’s early offensive.
• 5th – Michael Schlegelmilch – Disciples of Tzeentch: Standard summoning style Tzeentch list that brings in Be’lakor for extra control elements, and goes light on horrors (only 10) but brings in some Kairic Acolytes and Tzaangors for a change of pace.
• 6th – Calvin Rarle – Bonesplitterz: Kragnos gives Bonesplittaz a bit of a lift up here, while the combination of Icebone subfaction and Bonesplittaz boar units throwing an absurd number of dice mean a lot of mortal wound output at a fairly efficient price tag.
• 7th – Adolfo Castellanos – Ogor Mawtribes: Kragnos, 3 Stonehorns and some Mournfang. Roll big charges and cross your fingers!
• 8th – Eugene Kahle – Kruleboyz: Once again Kragnos leads the charge, but this time he’s a one man show, as the rest of the list is dedicated to a lot of ranged punch – 18 boltboyz, 3 shamans to buff them and a Vulcha boss to keep them in line.

 

February Old Town Throwdown

A two-day, five-round event held in Pasadena, California. You can find lists for this event in Best Coast Pairings. One notable thing about this event is that it was the only GT allowing the new Beasts of Chaos Rules from the Tome Celestial in White Dwarf 473.

Alexander Gonzalez – Soulblight Gravelords – First Place

Player's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• A more aggressive SBGL list boasting an array of hammer units.
• Mannfred once again lends his services to the Vyrkos Dynasty, the cheeky sod.
• Alexander foregoes Zombies for a cheaper package of 20 skeletons and 20 Dire Wolves (factoring in the 10 Radukar will summon on turn one).

Why it’s Interesting

Alexander is leaning into pure output for his gameplan here, going for zero support pieces that aren’t themselves hammers. Radukar and Mannfred together can (if they both make it into combat and swing) each give the Graveguard +1 attacks each, meaning a humble unit of 20 would be putting out 80 attacks, not to mention thanks to Mannfred’s hero phase CA they can be doing it at +1 to hit and wound as well.

A Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon is also here, bringing Pack Alpha as his command trait to help make up for the fact that Radukar and Mannfred will be greedily stealing almost every command point that Alexander can get his hands on.

Christopher Hernandez – Seraphon – Second Place

Notable Features

• A blend of pieces here, going for Salamanders, a Bastiladon *AND* some Chameleon Skinks to diversify tactical options.
• Soulsnare Shackles makes an appearance to make cracking the castle a headache.

Why it’s Interesting

Thunder Lizards players are probably pretty happy with the state of the metagame right now, as they halve the damage output (Scaly Skin) of Stormdrake Guard lists, meaning they weather the storm of one of the game’s most ubiquitous and powerful units a lot better than most armies.

So what can you do to help against other popular armies right now? Well if they’re melee, Soulsnare Shackles makes a lot of sense here as they can help establish a ‘no fun’ zone, behind which the Seraphon castle can happily shoot those dastardly melee units from a comfortable distance.

The rest of the list is typical for Thunder Lizards, and you can check my coverage from last week if you fancy a quick refresher.

The Rest of the Best

Six more players finished on 4-1:

• 3rd – Aaron Newborm– Big WAAAGH!: Aaron pairs the brutal efficiency of Ironjawz melee units with some ranged support by two Killbows and a Wurgogg Prophet.
• 4th – Anthony Croupe – Lumineth Realm-Lords: An unusual LRL list here – only 20 Sentinels, but the twins make an appearance as well as everyone’s favorite Kangaroo archers.
• 5th – Mathew Jones – Seraphon: Fangs of Sotek. Kroak & Astrolith Bearer. 2 Starpriests. 2 Priests. 60 Skinks. 3 Salamander hunting packs. A rare summoning list with a lot of ranged punch.
• 6th – Gregory Brewer – Kruleboyz: Kragnos leads the charge of a 15 Boltboy list, with some hobgrots to screen and a cheeky Gobsprakk thrown in for good measure.
• 7th – Matt Nguyen – Beasts of Chaos: 21 Bulgors using the new Beasts of Chaos rules = maximum pain. A Khorne DP makes an appearance to help control board space, and 2 Mindstealer Sphynxes from STD to help set up favorable combats.
• 8th – Gareth Thomas – Blades of Khorne: Skarbrand and 3 Bloodthirsters in Reapers of Vengeance for an all or nothing assault.

 

Sheffield Slaughter

A two-day, five-round event held in Sheffield, UK. Lists for this event weren’t posted online, but our own Ellarr was on-location and playing in the event, and procured the relevant data for us.

Matthew Davies – Stormcast Eternals – First Place

Matthew's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Lord-Relictor tags in for a single Stormdrake to give teleport shenanigans.
• Thundershock spell gives a bubble of -1 to wound if successfully cast.
• The list had an important narrative – all the dragon riders are drunk welshmen.

Why it’s Interesting

Matt Davies brings down his second tournament within the span of a month, coming hot off the heels of his victory with Lumineth at Da Great South Waaagh to bring home another trophy, this time with Stormcast Eternals.

There’s not too much to say about this list – it’s Stormdrake spam, however I did play against Matt round 3 in a fun clash and I got to see him pilot it myself. The Lord-Relictor gives him the ability to teleport a Stormdrake unit and then use their hero phase movement, which can help setup some unexpected and brutal charges. Likewise, he can teleport the Knight-Draconis to set up the double tap breath weapons using Wrath of the Draconith, meaning no unit is safe.

Matt was a hell of a player and a true gent throughout, and I hope to play him again soon.

Matt Gouldesbrough – Seraphon – Second Place

Matt's list - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Starborne Podium!
• Celesta-CelesTOAD Prime brings the hammer down on unbelievers.
• Salamanders provide some initial punch until the summoning gets online.

Why it’s Interesting

Matt has zigged when other Seraphon players zagged, opting for the teleport shenanigans and summoning of Starborne when everyone else embraced Scaly Skin. Really it’s not too surprising that a list would do this well when piloted by an excellent player – the toolkit that Starborne provides is one of the best in the game, and gives you a good shot in any matchup provided the pilot is up to the task.

A Starseer is an interesting inclusion here, but makes sense – a Priest or Starpriest is obviously good in lists that pack large units that take advantage of it but Matt doesn’t exactly need it, and by bringing a Starseer he can give his Salamanders a little extra reach which can be helpful when paired with the teleport (provided the Starseer can get into range). His Control Fate spell also goes a long way here, effectively acting as a global extra pip of rend on a high priority target for the turn.

 

The Rest of the Best

16 more players finished on 4-1, so we’re just going to look at the rest of the top 5 here:

• 3rd – Joe Purcell – Daughters of Khaine: Morathi and the bow snakes list that goes a little barebones on the Snake package (just 15 stalkers) in order to bring along 40 witch aelves and a Bloodwrack Shrine.
• 4th – Joe Grzywinski– Soulblight Gravelords: Hunter’s Snare Sangsyron VLOZD headlines a Vyrkos list with Manny, Beladamma, some Zombies and Graveguard.
• 5th – Owen Jackson – Soulblight Gravelords: Owen proves that Nagash can still do the business in SBGL, bringing him along with *checks notes* 100 zombies and some light support pieces.

 

GT Pomeranian

A two-day, five round event held in Rumia, Poland. You can find lists for this event in Tabletop TO. The top table saw Piotr Kurkowski’s Daughters of Khaine beat Przemek Dziemidowicz’s Slaves to Darkness to claim first overall.

Piotr Kurkowski – Daughters of Khaine – First Place

Player's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Morathi and the Shadow Queen still a Lynchpin with Blood Stalkers shoving mortals out there
• Khinerai Lifetakers for deep strike objective grabbin’
• Khainite Shadowstalkers for jumping on undefended units and objectives.

Why it’s Interesting

Daughters of Khaine prove they’re not down and out completely. While hardly a complete fall from grace, they’re an army ill equipped to deal with a dragon intensive meta that dominates the field right now. For an army that was consistently in the top 8 at many events they only got as high as #12 at LVO and the Cherokee Open and 28th at the Lone Star GT.

While much of this list is standard, your Morathi/Shadow Queen with Blood Stalkers for long range mortals and Bloodwrack Shrine for dealing mortals and -1 to wound and what not. There are a few interesting choices here, extra witch aelves for bogging down the enemy or holding points, and Khinerai Lifetalkers and Shadowstalkers are far from unused but you don’t see them as much anymore. Both are excellent for snagging objectives left undefended.

Overall props for showing our girl Morathi still has life in her ahead of the new book.

Przemek “Bliz” Dziemidowicz – Slaves to Darkness – Third Place

Notable Features

• Marks of Slaanesh instead of Tzeentch, the usual pick at the moment
• Untamed Beast still putting in some work
• Call to Glory on a Chaos Lord instead of Archaon to create a real battle lord

Why it’s Interesting

Slaves to Darkness have dipped a bit into the mid-tier. Not bad, but not great either. For a third place showing this is impressive and a rather irregular list. Currently marks of Chaos tend to favor Tzeentch, gaining reroll 1s to saves. While he granted this on most of his Heroes, to keep them protected all his boys heading to the front lines got Slaanesh to get those exploding 6s with Archaon’s huge aura. Extra helpful with the Sixth circle granting an extra attack. He brought a real battle lord to the fray with Call to Glory to help out as a nominated General. Finally, nice to see Untamed Beasts still doing some work, with 2 squads of 9.

The Rest of the Best

One other player finished 4-1 – Karol “Malin” Malinowski, though the top 4 had two players finish 3-1-1. We’ve included those two players here as well.

• 2nd – Ziemek – Seraphon: Thunder Lizards, which forgoes the dreaded skink blob and dual Bastiladons to fit in more characters including 2 priests, a Starseer, A Starmaster, Engine of the Gods and Skink Chief.
• 4th – Piotr Roszkowski – Cities of Sigmar: Combines two kinds of drakes, Stormdrake and Iron Drake! Unrelated, I assure you. Tempest eye is an unusual choice for this but offers unparalleled ranged power with Rapid Redeploy and Outriders of the Realm, plus a nice little 3″ to get those dragon riders in quicker. Some Phoenix Guard round it off nicely, to keep your stuff protected.
• 16th – Karol “Malin” Malinowski – Maggotkin: More flies than you can shake a stick at. Drowned Men giving 6 total Pusgoyle Blightlords and 6 Plague Drones supported by two Lord of Afflictions to deep strike in. Bloab Rotspawn with Rancid Visitations rounds out the list with magic support.

Brewdog AOS GT

A two-day, five-round event held in Scotland. You can find lists for this event in Tabletop TO. In addition to the winning 5-0 list, five players finished 4-1. The final round saw John B’s Cities of Sigmar beat Andy Currie’s Maggotkin to claim first place.

John B – Cities of Sigmar – First Place

Player's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Deep Strike Dracothians and and Stormdrake are potent
• Supported Crossbowmen do solid chip damage from range
• Lifesurge and Ironoak keep the dragons alive and happy

Why it’s Interesting

A very similar to what Gavin Grigar won with at LVO, this forgoes footslogging spearmen and 10 crossbowmen to put the General on a Griffon, giving him a bit more survivability and maneuverability. With the General receiving the Arcane Tome on this list he can take both Ironoak Skin and Lifesurge to properly support the dragons with -1 to wound and D3 healing each turn.

And of course the star of the show is the Coalition Fulminators and Stormdrake Guard, a nasty hit and when allied in Living City you can fill your list with more cheap bodies than a Stormcast list could.

Phil McGuinness – Ironjawz – Second Place

Notable Features

• Two megabosses still hit like a truck
• A slightly more brute heavy list is a great counter to horde spam

Why it’s Interesting

This list is pretty standard for Ironjawz but one cannot deny its effectiveness. Two warbosses on Mawcrushas are still going to mess up your day no matter what, and the Warchanters give much needed support.

The notable slight difference here is the slight heavier reliance on brutes rather than Gore-Gruntas, with the Gore-Gruntas compressed into one unit with 2 brutes to bully any horde spam that comes their way. Simple but effective, just like Orruks like it.

The Rest of the Best

Four more players finished on 4-1:

• 3rd – Mike Callaghan – Ironjawz: An Ironjawz list with a lot of the same stuff you’re used to seeing except it’s…ironsunz?! Lots of Brutes, ‘Ardboyz and only 3 Gore-Gruntas. Plus Rippa’s Snarlfangs, in a twist.
• 4th – Nathan Watson – Cities of Sigmar: Living City with Stormdrake and Fulminators again, but instead of Crossbowmen it has 3x Scourgerunner Chariot units and 1 unit of Shadow Warriors to grab objectives while the big boys keep things busy.
• 5th – Liam Watt– Stormcast Eternals: 4 Stormdrake Guard in a unit along with Longstrikes and some Vindictors to hold the line. A knight-incantor to cast Celestial Blades and a Lord-Relictor to Translocate round things out in this solid list.
• 6th – Andy Currie – Maggotkin: The Glotkin leads this list with a lovely grab bag of the Grandfather’s chosen: Blightlords, Blightkings, Plaguebearers and Nurglings all supported by Festus and a Lord of Afflictions to get the Blightlords in to Deep Strike.

Wrapping Things Up

That concludes this week’s look at the top lists from events around the world but stay tuned next week as we do this whole thing over again, but with a larger number of Beasts of Chaos lists joining the fray. It’ll be interesting to see how these lists stack up when they’re active for everyone, and we’re looking forward to some shake-ups.

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.