I’d like to take the opportunity to start off this weeks CI by thanking RagnarokAngel for filling in for me for a few weeks while I dealt with some personal life stuff – she did admirably. It looks like we’re staring down the end of our time with this part of Ghur as a new GHB is just around the corner that promises a significant shake up to the metagame. Let’s see how the landscape can surprise us in these last few weeks.
US Open San Diego Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament
74-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Games Workshop, San Diego, CA, United States on June 11 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
The Showdown
Bonesplittaz vs Seraphon – Battleplan Unknown
Bonesplittaz – Thomas Guan – One Ork dared to dream of a world where there was enough giant spears to kill every monster in Ghur.
Thomas' List - Click to Expand
Seraphon – Gavin Grigar – Thunder Lizard good stuff with a dash of Terradons for a speedy little mortal wound bomb and some Snek Bastiladons.
Thoughts
This Bonesplittaz list is very effective at doing two things: putting efficient wound counts on the board, and high quality attacks that trade particularly well with monsters. Thomas has added an extra wrinkle with not one but two Wurgogg Prophets. For those not in the know, these bad boys are both adept spellcasters and also an extremely dangerous mortal wound threat if they’re within 12″ of an enemy unit at the beginning of the hero phase thanks to Wurgogg Mask. This is a toolset that is great into many popular armies at the moment, but may struggle somewhat against Thunder Lizards for one simple reason – all the Big Stabbas are damage two, and thus his armies damage output is halved from the outset. That’s not to say it’s all grim tidings, as he has *so many* individual units here that it’s going to be hard for Gavin to get efficient shooting phases without splitting fire (and the risks that come along with that), which can give Thomas an opportunity to grind it out if he can get enough Big Stabbas into combat and hold on to objectives. From the Seraphon side of things, the Terradons won’t really be doing much here as there isn’t really a prime target, and the Thunder Lizard list can play effectively at range which means that he can stay out of the 12″ kill zones that the Wurgoggs present. He has to be pro-active here in order to gain control of forward objectives and win the game, but this list is already playing from a strong position thanks to Scaly Skin (as well as being lower drops so he can give first turn away without losing anything turn one) so provided he can wrest board control before mid game comes and goes he should be in the drivers seat.
Gavin Grigar – Seraphon – First Place
Gavin’s List – See Above
Why it’s Interesting
I’m not going to linger on the list too long as it’s mostly what we’ve come to expect from Thunder Lizards lists – Skinks, an EOTG and Bastiladon, buff pieces. The Terradons give it an interesting mortal wound bomb element that let’s it reach out and blow shit up if it needs to, and the Bastiladons with Snek Launchers provide a very cost effective tanky monster that can clog up space while the stuff behind does it’s dirty work.
Rayman Silva – Cities of Sigmar – Second Place
Rayman's List - Click to Expand
Why it’s Interesting
The other undefeated list leans on the strength of Draconic Stormcast units stapled to the powerful allegiance abilities that Living City offer. Fulminators AND Stormdrakes in your face turn one is a devastating play – the Stormdrakes can simply double move turn one and the Fulminators can come in from Living City deep strike, shoot with their breath weapons and then Strike and Fade Away to *checks notes* get closer to their opponent and set up a 3″ charge. Those two death star units give ample breathing room for the 30 Crossbowmen to do their bloody work in clearing up any chaff units that could contest central objectives, and Doralia can likewise focus her attention on support heroes to break apart key combos.
The Rest of the Best
The rest of the top 8 is as follows:
- 3rd (5-0) – Kurt Roeper – Living City: Four Celestial Hurricanums is quite frankly an excessive amount of Hurricanums, providing ranged mortal wound output that some grumpy Longbeards can sit in front of and guard.
- 4th – Thomas Guan – Bonesplittaz: See showdown.
- 5th – Gareth Thomas – Blades of Khorne: Skarrbrand, some Bloodthirsters, a Khorne DP and ohhhh this one’s spicy – a Krondspine Incarnate.
- 6th – Jarod Brown – Lumineth Realm Lords: Shooty elves with 40 Sentinels, 2 Foxes and a Loreseeker with Lambent Light feature.
- 7th – Evan Markham – Stormcast Eternals: 6 Stormdrake Guard and 10 Boltstorm Judicators make for an efficient core to this Hammers of Sigmar list.
- 8th – Wayne Kaufman – It’s pretty much exactly the LOFP list you think it is.
Atlantic City Open: Age Of Sigmar Championships
73-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Frontline Gaming, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US on June 11 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
The Showdown
Maggotkin of Nurgle vs Maggotkin of Nurgle – Battleplan Unknown
*sigh*
Nurgle – Emma Mangels – It’s flies! Lots of flies! Festus and Bloab round out the list to provide a cheap Locus of Fecundity and spellcasting/melee beat stick respectively.
Emma's List - Click to ExpandNurgle – Bill Souza – It’s flies! Lots of flies! Bill opts to explore outside the confines of the Nurgle battletome to bring some added wrinkles to this list – Be’lakor chief among them.
Bill's List - Click to ExpandThoughts
I sure hope GW does something about Pusgoyle Blightlords? Heh. Emma has the edge in terms of raw efficiency and her Pusgoyles will benefit from D3 heals for as long as Festus is alive. Bill can shut down a key unit (which one? Bloab?) for a turn thanks to Be’lakor, while the Cockatrices provide ranged mortal wound output (likely not that impactful in this matchup, though potentially devastating in many others). A cheeky Plague Priest gives Bill the opportunity to curse a key target and simply drown the target in dice induced mortal wounds if something absolutely needs to die. The problem Bill fundamentally faces is that his toolkit gives him stronger matchups against OTHER armies but don’t really help in the mirror match against an opponent who simply opted to bring more of the raw efficiency that is that damned fly.
Result
Nurgle Victory – Major Win
Nurgle – Emma Mangels – First Place
Emma’s List – See Above
Why it’s Interesting
The LoA with Splithorn Helm and overpowering stench makes for an exceptionally tough lone operator that can shut off command abilities simply by bearing nearby, and the Pusgoyles will simply fly up the board pre-game thanks to Drowned Men and slowly grind the opponent into bubbling rot thanks to the sheer versatility of the warscroll – it’s fairly fast, it’s very tough, and it does *just* about enough damage to be respectable. As mentioned above Festus mostly is here to provide juiced up heals to the Pusgoyles, and Bloab is the spell casting oriented Maggoth Lord, who can pile on the mortal wounds thanks to their Miasma of Pestilence warscroll spell.
Jeremy Veysseire – Soulblight Gravelords – Second Place
Why It’s Interesting
Jeremy’s gone surprisingly light on Battleline, mostly just taking minimum units to fulfil requirements. By going cheap there, he can afford to bring a total of four death stars – Neferata, Mannfred, a unit of 10 Blood Knights and a unit of 20 Grave Guard. Interestingly, the Horrorghast combined with the Immortal Majesty subfaction ability give him a sort of battleshock bomb theme – between the two of them an extra 2D3 models will flee if a battleshock test is failed, and the Horrorghast itself prevents inspiring presence from being used. This is a mean combination as the big unit of Blood Knights can multicharge a number of units, split attacks to force 2-3 battleshocks and then rely on the battleshock debuffs to make for a devastating Battleshock phase.
The Rest of the Best
As mentioned before, extensive soft scores means the top 8 isn’t entirely based off of traditional tie breakers:
- 3rd – Bill Souza – Nurgle: See showdown.
- 4th – Jon Anderson – Idoneth Deepkin: A Nautilar + Thrall list that allies in two units of Drakespawn Knights for cheap and tough anti-shooting screens.
- 5th – Anthony Trentanelli – Skaven: Anthony’s highly effective Thanquol + 9 Stormfiends list makes another top 8 appearance.
- 6th – Mark Aescht – Daughters of Khaine: 30 Blood Sisters receive a ton of questionable prayers and concoctions to stack Blood rite buffs and promptly blow up the planet in combat. Oh and Morathi’s here.
- 7th – Marcella Helu – Daughters of Khaine: Like the previous list, but swapped Khailebron for Hagg Nar and takes only 25 Blood Sisters to afford some Heartrenders.
- 8th – Jeremy Hauck – Sons of Behemat: Kragnos, double Gatebreakers and a mini gargant + Lifeswarm.
GT de CAT
A 30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Barcelona, Catalunya, ES on June 11 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
The Showdown
Seraphon vs Nurgle – Battleplan Unknown
Seraphon – Marc “CZero” Pi – It’s Thunder Lizards good stuff with a Celestant Prime, ladies and gentleman.
Marc's ListNurgle – Guille Moya – Flies, lots of flies.
Guille's List - Click to ExpandThoughts
The newest season of Stranger Things is pretty good if you haven’t caught it – it goes back to it’s horror roots in a big way after a mixed bag thematically that was Season 3. Episode four is a particular highlight and there’s some absolutely fantastic Steve moments – man Steve is such a fun character in this show isn’t he? Can’t believe he was originally written to be a villain character.
Oh about this matchup? Well hm. The Nurgle list doesn’t have to worry about Scaly Skin as his damage is all 1 anyway, which is a nice edge to have considering the stupendous power of a Thunder Lizards list firing on all cylinders.
If the flies can break through the front lines and pin the Seraphon player in turn one, and avoid the double turn, they may have this one in the bag. What can’t be allowed to happen is for an unproductive first turn that leads to a double turn going the other way as that can get real ugly real quickly considering the raw damage output of a Stegadon when well supported.
Result
Seraphon (Marc) Major Win
Seraphon – Marc “CZero” Pi – First Place
Why It’s Interesting
If you were to ask me to run a Seraphon list it would likely be this one – it’s got raw numbers, it’s got a pro-active yet disposable Monster threat in the Stegadon chief, and the Celestant Prime gives it another angle which can apply pressure on your opponent and force difficult decisions.
Seraphon – Javi Fernández – Second Place
Why It’s Interesting
Very similar Thunder Lizard list that opts for the more expensive Kroak option and a second Bastiladon, which is afforded by cutting down on the number of skinks. It’s got less objective presence but more ranged damage output that *doesnt* require significant buff investment to be productive.
The Rest of the Best
Three other players went 4-1:
- 3rd – Pedromancer Lechado – Legion of the First Prince: It’s got a Boomthirster and some Horrors, that’s pretty cool.
- 4th – Guille Moya – Seraphon – See showdown.
- 5th – Matias Alejandro Sosa – Seraphon – It’s more Thunder Lizards! *jazz hands*
Sunshine Coast Open
A 28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in East Dean, England, GB on June 11 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in <a href=”https://web.bestcoastpairings.com/event.php?eventId=XzQ8OCKZtR&embed=false”>Best Coast Pairings</a>.
The Showdown
Seraphon vs Seraphon – Battleplan Unknown
Seraphon – Chris Myhill – IT’S NOT THUNDER LIZARDS! Starborne Seraphon with an Incarnate!
Chris' List
Seraphon – Tavi Gane – A Thunder Lizards list with a difference – Saurus!
Tavi's List - Click to Expand
Thoughts
It’s a matchup we don’t see that often, but it’s interesting to take this as an opportunity to examine the differences between Starborne and Coalesced in this ‘mirror’.
In this case, provided the Starborne can keep his Slann alive, he can keep bringing more and more units onto the board to maintain control thanks to their ability to give up spellcasting for summoning points. That said, their damage output is significantly lower as they can’t double fire an EOTG or the Bastiladon, which could be a problem.
As for the Coalesced’s troubles here, it’s primarily that the Scaly Skin that serves them so well usually is rather mediocre in this matchup as most of the damage is coming from spellcasting or 1 damage weaponry anyway. Complicating matters is the fact that this list is leaning on Saurus heavily, which while still perfectly potent feels a little like driving in third gear.
Result
Seraphon (Chris Myhill) Major Win
Seraphon – Chris Myhill – First Place
Why It’s Interesting
An Incarnate makes for an interesting punchy element to what is typically a rather pillow fisted version of Seraphon. It’s a combo that works quite well when you stop and think about it, as the Incarnate can clog up the frontline and live just long enough for the heroes in the back to really get the summoning engine going.
Nighthaunt – Matthew Gouldesbrough – Second Place
Why It’s Interesting
Bladegheist Revenants in Scarlet Doom represent a dangerous amount of damage – For every model in a BGR unit that successfully charges, roll a dice – on a 5+, do a mortal wound. That means that 30 brick of BGR will do 10 MW before they even get round to fighting – and they’re pretty good at that too!
The 3 heroes act as support pieces that reduce damage taken by nearby units similar to Scaly Skin, replenish models into the BGR units each turn thanks to Captured Soul Energy, or simply provide +1 to wound, meaning with AOA a single Bladegheist revenants is putting out 3 attacks that hit on 2s, wound on 2s, and have a cheerful pip of rend.
It’s a simple gameplan and brutally efficient – lean into a strength.
The Rest of the Best
Three other players went 3-1-1 or better:
- 3rd – Hazel Moon – Idoneth Deepkin: A balanced arms Ionrach list that utilises both eels and Namarti.
- 4th – Tavi Gane – Seraphon – See showdown.
- 5th – Greg Dann – Sons of Behemat – Four gargants in total in Taker Tribe – 2 Kraken-eaters, a Gatebreaker and a Warstomper.
Wrap Up
Oof. This week is perhaps a little rougher than most recently, which means it’s good timing that a GHB is just around the corner – TILL NEXT TIME SIGMARITES!
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