After a pretty hectic launch we’re gonna slow down a bit with only two events this week. However one is the rather famous Throne of Skulls tournament at Warhammer World, and then come back state side for a smaller tournament in Idaho.

Again, we remind you that as fourth edition settles in there’s a lot of new rules and strategies to learn, so some details might be off or missing. I appreciate your patience as you wait for us to catch up!

Age of Sigmar: Throne of Skulls

68-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, GB on July 27 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Throne of Skulls is a bit more of a hobby-based tournament, with winnners being determined more by “soft scores” like painting and sportsmanship. That said, we in this column tend to stick to objective win rates. So while the people present may not be the “winners”, and may not have the most competitive lists there is still some info to be gleaned here.

The Showdown

Michael Brown – Sons of Behemat:
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Philip Spence – Nighthaunt:
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Thoughts

While Nighthaunt are top of the charts right now, due to their flexibility as waves of cheap flying units that can charge and fall back with ease, both these lists are a bit more casual than we usually see. The Nighthaunt list is a bit of a mixed bag, seemingly a mix of whatever they had on hand. Which is fine, at the end of the day most Nighthaunt units charge real good. There are still some of the deadly cav and bladegheist revenants people fear right now but maybe not as many as you’d usually see.

The Sons of Behemat list meanwhile is a bit more competitive. 3 Megas and some mancrushers running around gives some versatility and an unoptimized Nighthaunt list probably will struggle putting out the damage to take them down fast enough to score points. It ends up being a slaughter and a victory for the Sons of Behemat.

Result

Sons of Behemat Victory – 37 – 15

Michael Brown – Sons of Behemat – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Brodd and Two Megas

Thoughts

Sons of Behemat haven’t changed a ton since 3rd. The same general strategies are going to work, perhaps aided by the smaller objectives that they almost eclipse on their own. King Brodd is the only access to a priest in the army so he makes an excellent head even if there isn’t a proper lore. Kraken eater is pretty good at dealing with Hordes while the Gate Breaker is much more well rounded, potentially doing a devastating 4d6 mortals in combat (Though it’s a 50-50 shot if it just does nothing).

The Glowy Lantern to access the krondspine is a good pick. It allowed for a disposable 4th giant body that can tie up units and counter the high number of endless spells currently running around.

Peter Long – Disciples of Tzeentch – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Double Birbs

Thoughts

So this is a bit of a grab bag of daemons lead by both Kairos Fateweaver and a generic Lord of Change. Kairos is more of a support caster, changing his lowest die to a higher one and adding +1 to casting rolls for everyone around him. The Lord of Change gets to play more aggressive, dropping the deadly Tzeentch’s firestorm and summoning more dead daemons back from the grave.

The flamers can enact long range burn damage, causing the Burning condition on enemy units while theyre tarpitted by Horrors. The screamers are cheap screens able to seek out enemy units to drop some mortals on them.

The changeling is interesting, he can deploy anywhere on the field outside of 3″ of the enemy, allowing him to pick up mid board objectives early and his warscroll spell can make him difficult to take down, forcing the enemy to spend a lot of resources on him.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 3rd – Philip Spence – Nighthaunt: See showdown.
• 4th – Grant Padley – Gloomspite Gitz: Troggs.
• 5th – Jack Morton – Gloomspite Gitz: Kragnos with Troggs.
• 6th – Phil Mortz – Kruleboyz: A grab bag of just about every unit.
• 7th – Dean Lymath – Hedonites of Slaanesh: Glutos and a Keeper of secrets with a little bit of everything.
• 8th – Rob Wales – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor and Abraxia with Varanguard.
• 9th – Mark Paddon – Kruleboyz: Another kruleboyz variety list.
• 10th – Martin Orlando – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor with Varanguard and Knights.
• 11th – Dave Ellis – Lumineth Realm-lords: Vanari focus
• 12th – Ed Johnson – Sylvaneth: Belthanos and Lady of Vines with Kurnoth and Riders.
• 13th – Tom Bunnell – Ironjawz: Brutez, Ragers and Gougers.

Boise Cup 2024! (AOS 4th Edition)

34-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Boise, ID, US on July 27 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Jaws of Gallet

Dustin Chesmer – Daughters of Khaine:
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vs.

Jarod Brown – Lumineth Realm-Lords:
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Thoughts

I’m going to be honest, this looks brutal for the Daughters. With Move like the Wind the foxes and the Windchargers can rocket up the field, fire their weapons then leave the enemy in the dust. Without much in the ways of ranged attacks the Daughters are going to have a hard time keeping up – likely only protected by the number of bodies they have on the field and their ability to move almost as quickly.

Jaws of Gallet is a great mission for this kind of Lumineth list, as they combine the ability to be both highly mobile to grab objectives early then hunker down later and hold their ground. It ends in a strong victory for Lumineth.

Result

Lumineth Realm-Lords Victory – 46 – 30

Jarod Brown – Lumineth Realm-Lords – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Hurakan temple with Vinari support

Thoughts

The Hurakan are the centerpiece of this army. As stated above the Hurakan Temple ability Ride the Wind allows the Foxes and Windchargers to move, fire, then move back all in one swift motion. Or double move without shooting if you absolutely need that. It’s a huge threat range with some pretty nasty attacks, and the foxes aren’t a slouch in combat either.

The Vanari provide a defensive line, with the Dawnriders able to smash into the enemy and do a ton of damage before getting out with Power Through, and wardens hold backline objectives and guard the Ballista pelting the enemy.

Thomas Guan – Soulblight Gravelords – 2nd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Doggies

Thoughts

Thomas was tied on record with the winner, also scoring 4-0-1 and only came a few points shy so we’ll give him recognition here.

He ran this list last week at Tacoma, but the Summerking’s entourage is an interesting change. He cut Mannfred and the Black Knights to include some things with a bit more punch. Everything in this entourage wants you dead and it augments the rest of the list which is much more of a tarpit.

Otherwise the strategy is very similar, Belladomma and the Necromancer make the wolves frustrating to deal with and very difficult to cut through that many wounds regardless of the saves.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 3rd – Russ Tanner – Gloomspite Gitz: Troggs
• 4th – Dustin Chesmer – Daughters of Khaine: See Showdown.
• 5th – Nate Josie – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor leading S2D good stuff.
• 6th – Drake Mulinix – Nighthaunt: Very herohammer heavy.
• 7th – Cole Parker – Fyreslayers: A grab bag of just about every Fyreslayers infantry.
• 8th – Michael Genoni – Sons of Behemat: Kragnos, Double megas and some mancrushers.

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