This week we have the biggest fourth edition tournament to date, the Old Town Roar in California. We also go to the East Coast of the US and to the other side of the world in Australia.
Old Town Roar in ‘24
126-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Lake Forest, CA, United States on August 10 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
Due to the size of the event with no cut off, there were 4 undefeated lists. So we will instead do a deep dive on these lists.
The Showdown
Mission – Feral Foray
Tad Baten – Nighthaunt
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vs.
Aaron Elias Newbom – Ironjawz
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Thoughts
Simply put, this mission is very much Nighthaunt’s Happy place. Feral Foray really encourages bold early charges to seize objectives and snatch them from the opponent while discouraging playing defensive.
Luckily this Ironjawz list is much more aggressive than the usual Brute-focused objective holders. Brute Ragerz want to get that charge in just as much as Nighthaunt and would do well on this mission against almost any other force. While the Nighthaunt’s high rend is rather wasted on Ragerz, and the Brutes can get a lot of attacks, the Nighthaunt have much more maneuverability to get into position to charge early and cut through them. It ends in a crushing victory for Nighthaunt.
Result
Nighthaunt Victory – 40 – 0
Tad Baten – Nighthaunt – 1st Place
The List
See Showdown
Archetype
Nighthaunt Good stuff
Thoughts
As the name implies, this list is all about stacking Rend (and the attacks to make use of it)
This is the prototypical Nighthaunt list, focusing on waves of Dreadscythe Harridans and Bladegheist Revenants as the hammer to take down as much of the enemy as they can. Olynder supports them by casting her spells and healing up a bunch of lost models once per game.
The inclusion of Awlrach is an interesting choice, and the Lord Executioner makes an excellent partner. He can teleport them both within 7″ of the enemy and have the Executioner make a reasonably consistent charge roll to mulch through a lot of weaker infantry and foot heroes, especially in tandem with the big hammers in the army.
Colt Hegardt – Gloomspite Gitz – 2nd Place
The List
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Archetype
Troggs
Thoughts
The typical Trogg list, Troggs are just baseline good. Arguably undercosted, they can tank quite a few hits and hit real hard despite their 4+ to hit, each hit will leave a mark at Rend -2 Damage 3.
Trugg obviously leads the parade, able to handle out random (but solid) buffs to his allies and box alongside them. The only unusual part of this list is swapping Skragrott for a Madcap Shaman, which allows them to add a Rabble-Rowza so the Troggboss and Trugg can run and charge. Not at all a bad trade.
Jeremy Lefebvre – Cities of Sigmar – 3rd Place
The List
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Archetype
Cav Focused Cities
Thoughts
As the name states, this list focuses on bringing Cities of Sigmar Cav. Freeguild Cavaliers and Drakespawn are both excellent units and do a lot of work especially when properly supported. The Duardin contingent allows a cheap Priest with some hammerers to operate as protection while the sorceress supports them with magic.
Gavin Grigar – Gloomspite Gitz – 4th Place
The List
Army List - Click to Expand
Archetype
Troggs and Squiggs
Thoughts
We usually only see one or the other, but a mix of Troggs and Squigs actually compliment each other quite well. Troggs are rather slow, while Squiggs are fast and can often wipe out the enemy on the alpha charge, but arent very resiliant if they get caught up in a real fight so why not mix the two?
The Squigs take the initiative, bouncing forward and snatching up objectives. With any luck they’ll take out a few enemies or chaff on the way, giving the Troggs time to show up and finish the job.
Bathurst GT 2024 | Age of Sigmar
46-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Bathurst, NSW, Australia on August 09 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
The Showdown
Mission – Battle for the Pass
Jacob Strachan – Lumineth Realm-Lords
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vs.
Thomas Oliver – Slaves to Darkness
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Thoughts
Battle for the Pass tends to favor people who can either make a bold charge (or a sneaky teleport) for their opponent’s backline or hold the center 2 objectives and their own back line to grind out points. This Slaves to Darkness list is pretty good at the former, while Lumineth can favor either strategy (Though this Vanari focused list likely will focus on the center).
It’s a good fight but the Lumineth take it.
Result
Lumineth Realm-Lords Victory – 37 – 25
Jacob Strachan – Lumineth Realm-Lords – 1st Place
The List
See Showdown
Archetype
Vanari Good Stuff
Thoughts
A lot of Lumineth lists are relying on Hurrakan stuff, this sticks to the OG Vanari, apparently to great effect.
The Sword of Eltharion acts as the scalpel to remove key pieces from the board, alongside the bladelords which pull double duty, also acting as guardians for the Heroes next to the Wardens. The Wardens and other characters sit in the back hitting the enemy with Ranged fire and spells, removing chaff and debuffing the bigger threats.
All in all a solid all rounder list.
Bob Van emmerik – Soulblight Gravelords – 2nd Place (Undefeated)
The List
Army List - Click to Expand
Archetype
Midrange Soulblight
Thoughts
This list hits a lot of bases. Led by Mannfred who functions as both an excellent combatant and a support piece who can redeploy units directly into combat (bypassing any dicey charges). The Coven Throne supports this by letting two units Redeploy, doubling the potential abuse of this neat little power. It also gives a 5+ ward for the chaff, definitely a solid support piece.
The Grave Guard, Blood Knights and Black Knights are the primary hammers, while the Deathrattle Skeletons and Zombies can soak up wounds with their 5+ ward. The fell bats remain a cheap screen, they’ll probably die in one turn but Mannfred is just going to redeploy the scary blob behind them in next turn.
The Best of the Rest
There were 6 more players on 4-1 records. They were:
- 3rd – Terence Voller – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor and Varanguard.
- 4th – Thomas Oliver – Slaves to Darkness: See Showdown.
- 5th – Steven Nuttall – Nighthaunt: Nighthaunt Good stuff with Olynder and Reikenor.
- 6th – David Sulava – Ironjawz: Ironjawz Mid-range.
- 7th – Tom Rands – Stormcast Eternals: Dragons and Infantry.
- 8th – Austin Cranfield – Ironjawz: Ironjawz mid-range.
The Salt City GT 2024 Age of Sigmar Championship
31-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Syracuse, NY, United States on August 10 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
The Showdown
Mission – Close to the Chest
Oscar Savastio – Nighthaunt
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vs.
Devin Courtman – Cities of Sigmar
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Thoughts
On the surface this seems like a real good match for Nighthaunt, the Nighthaunt list is basically just Nighthaunt Good Stuff while the Cities of Sigmar list is much more well rounded, which has its advantages and drawbacks. The Cities list does have excellent shooting to keep the Nighthaunt at bay, and plenty of debuffs to blunt their charge. It’s going to depend very heavily if the Nighthaunt can poke holes in their strategy to seize a win but after a very close match the CoS clutch it.
Result
Cities of Sigmar Victory – 11 – 9
Devin Courtman – Cities of Sigmar – 1st Place
The List
See Showdown
Archetype
FRIENDSHIP
Thoughts
This list is interesting because it embodies what a lot of people want (especially Games Workshop) from Cities of Sigmar but never really manifest: All 3 races working in unison, using their abilities to make a stronger whole.
The human element is basically your vanguard. Calis and Toll can deep strike to snag an objective, or act as anti-Wizard should the neat arise, while Wildercorp Hunters can sneak up undisturbed by enemy’s ranged fire.
The Duardin Contigent is a lot more straight forward. Hammerers make a solid anvil, while still being able to punch back a lot harder than Ironbreakers. They help shield the Runepriest, who brings the very solid suite of prayers for Cities, boosting the shooting of the Wildercorps and Darkshards, protecting other units or laying down some damage themselves.
The Aelf section is the biggest and is the majority of the hammers and scalpels here. The Drakespawn can run down infantry and even some more elite units, while the Executioners take down the big stuff. The Darkshards lay down covering fire while the Sorceress supports them with magic which also comes with great buffs, debuffs and damage.
The Best of the Rest
There were 4 more players on 4-1 records. They were:
- 2nd – Garth Scannell – Kharadron Overlords: Arkanaut Company and Endrinriggers.
- 3rd – Oscar Savastio – Nighthaunt: See Showdown.
- 4th – Dylan Therriault – Cities of Sigmar: Another FRIENDSHIP list
- 5th – Luke Scannell – Maggotkin of Nurgle: GUO and Rotigus with Slimex and a collection of troops.
Wrap Up
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