Just one event this week – GW’s US Open in Tacoma. It’s a weird system for a five round event (I’ll explain below) but it’s a huge event so it’s going to give us some good data at least over the next month or so as we try and figure out collectively who sits atop the roost now.
US Open Tacoma
96-player, 5 round Tournament in Tacoma, Washington. All lists can be found on best coast pairings. Note that after 3 rounds the event cut out the top 8 into a bracket for the final two rounds. As a result, I’ll cover the lists of the two players to go undefeated in the top 8, as well as the player who went undefeated in the swiss bracket – all 5-0. Weird system with only five rounds!
Carson Whitlock – Meatfist: Army list - click to expand
– Subfaction: Meatfist
– Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder
– Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS
Butcher (140)*
– General
– Command Traits: Shaman of the Chilled Lands
– Tenderiser
– Spells: Blood Feast
Firebelly (120)*
– Spells: Billowing Ash
Frostlord on Stonehorn (460)*
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder
BATTLELINE
Ogor Gluttons (240)*
– Crusher
– Bellower
– Tribal Banner Bearer with Lookout Gnoblar
– Paired Ogor Clubs or Bluntblades
Ironguts (240)*
– Gutlord
– Bellower
– Rune Maw Bearer
Ironguts (240)*
– Gutlord
– Bellower
– Rune Maw Bearer
Ogor Gluttons (240)*
– Crusher
– Bellower
– Tribal Banner Bearer with Lookout Gnoblar
– Paired Ogor Clubs or Bluntblades
ARTILLERY
Ironblaster (200)*
OTHER
Gnoblars (120)*
– Groinbiter
TERRAIN
1 x Great Mawpot (0)
CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Created with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The App
vs
Jeremy Lamoy – Mortis Praetorians:Â Army list - click to expand
– Subfaction: Mortis Praetorians
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS
Arkhan the Black (380)
Katakros (460)
Mortisan Boneshaper (140)
– General
– Command Traits: Dark Acolyte
– Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key
– Spells: Drain Vitality
BATTLELINE
Kavalos Deathriders (180)
– Mortek Hekatos
– Necrophoros
– Nadirite Blade
Immortis Guard (440)
Necropolis Stalkers (220)
– Dread Falchions
Kavalos Deathriders (180)
– Mortek Hekatos
– Necrophoros
– Nadirite Blade
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Created with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The App
Thoughts
Quite a few points drops for the foot slogging Ogors makes this new list possible (and barely, it’s 2k on the nose), and Gluttons make great targets for Hoarfrost due to their high quantity attack profile held back only by it’s low rend. The list is good and has a high amount of output, but it’s hard pressed to leverage that output against the save stacking capabilities of Ossiarch Bonereapers armies led by Katakros.
Arkhan’s bonuses to cast/unbind will make actually casting Hoarfrost difficult, and with Mystic Shield/Katakros’ aura/All out Defence, the Immortis Guard can be at a potential 0+ save before rend. What makes this even more difficult, is that said guard can charge on Carson’s turn thanks to the subfaction bonus of Mortis Praetorians – somewhat negating the potent Ogor charge mortals the army otherwise has.
Result – Ossiarch Bonereapers Victory – 27-13
1st Place – Jeremy Lamoy – Mortis Praetorians
Archetype
Extremely tough anvil/movement shenanigans
Thoughts
Oh hey it turns out when you only mildly nerf the top OBR build, they can adjust slightly and/or drop an endless spell and keep on trucking into the new season. Arkhan’s here to take advantage of the new primal dice mechanic, and Dark Acolyte can give the army an easy turn 1 battle tactic if they only commit to casting one spell for the Magical Dominance battle tactic. Not too much else to say here, other than Deathriders make a lot of sense to pivot to from Stalkers in order to give the army a mobile element.
2nd Place – Stark Pister – Fangs of Sotek
The List
Army list - click to expand LEADER 1 x Lord Kroak (410)* 1 x Skink Starseer (150)* 1 x Skink Oracle on Troglodon (270)** 1 x Slann Starmaster (275)** 1 x Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)** BATTLELINE 5 x Saurus Guard (140)* 5 x Raptadon Chargers (150)* 5 x Raptadon Chargers (150)* 5 x Drakespawn Knights (110)* 10 x Skinks (90)* ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Malevolent Maelstrom (30) 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30) 1 x Chronomantic Cogs (50) TERRAIN 1 x Starborne Realmshaper Engine (0) CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment **Command Entourage TOTAL POINTS: (1995/2000) Created with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The App
Club: Dimensional Cascade
Army Faction: Seraphon
– Army Type: Starborne
– Army Subfaction: Fangs of Sotek
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumphs: Indomitable
– Spells: Speed of Huanchi, Merciless Blizzard
– Spells: Cosmic Crush, Speed of Huanchi
– General
– Command Traits: Lord of Celestial Resonance
– Artefacts: Spacefolder’s Stave
– Spells: Comet’s Call, Hoarfrost
– Saurus Guard Alpha
– Icon Bearer
– War-drummer
– Raptadon Charger Alpha
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Raptadon Charger Alpha
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Standard Bearer
– Hornblower
– Dread Knight
– Skink Alpha
– Boltspitter
– Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler
– Magnificent
Archetype
Mortal wound spam/summoning
Thoughts
We entered a magical season just as Seraphon got a new tome, so it’s not a huge surprise to see Kroak’s smug little undead face leading Seraphon forces to a 5-0. This list is still extremely potent even with the Battlescroll nerfs, as it can generate a *lot* of summoning points each turn, then unleash the full barrage of mortal wound spells at its disposal at mid range while stuff deals with Skink screens.
Raptadon chargers make a useful addition to their forces, as they present a reasonable amount of damage for their cost and come on cavalry bases, making them great space occupiers as 5 strung out at max coherency limits can block off a lot of space.
The Rest of the Top 8:
Result – Player – Army:
3rd Place – Jiwan noah Singh – Darkwalkers:Â 9 Bulgors in a china shop
4th Place – Ricky Fischer – King’s Gitz:Â This list wins and loses on the back of it’s 2 units of 9 Rockgut Troggoths – points hikes mean fewer support heroes than before
5th Place – Joe Krier – Hosts Arcanum:Â Another army that loves the new season, this one even brings Ephilim’s warband to the party. The list stacks two battle regiments and a large amount of MSU chaff units including 2 units of Furies
6th Place – Carson Whitlock – Meatfist: See showdown
7th Place – Chris Lamoy – Legion of Night: Soulblight players shrugged their shoulders, swapped the Mortarch on the mount from Neferata to Mannfred and pivoted to a potent board control/counter charging list
8th Place – Matt Slemon – Harvestboon: Warsong revenant leverages Hoarfrost to buff up the new and improved bug cavalry
9th Place – Benjamin Hosking – Ravagers (5-0 from Swiss)
The List
Army list - click to expand LEADER 1 x Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (150)* 1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* 1 x Darkoath Warqueen (90)** BATTLELINE – all cultists 30 x Splintered Fang (300)* 30 x Splintered Fang (300)* 9 x The Unmade (80)* 10 x Splintered Fang (100)** 9 x Untamed Beasts (80)** 9 x Untamed Beasts (80)** 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)** 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)** BEHEMOTH 1 x Chaos Gargant (150)* 1 x Chaos Gargant (150)** OTHER 1 x Mindstealer Sphiranx (100)* 1 x Mindstealer Sphiranx (100)* CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment **Battle Regiment TOTAL POINTS: (1960/2000) Created with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The App
– Army Subfaction: Ravagers (bring back cultist or darkoath unit at half strength rounded up as a heroic action – ww 12” of that hero outside 9” – can normal move/run/charge after in my turn – can be used in both players hero phases)
– Grand Strategy: Dominating Presence (1 S2D unit wholly within each quarter)
– Triumphs: Indomitable
– General
– Command Traits: Idolater Lord (all cultists get his mark, plus he is priest)
– Hellforged Sword
– Trophy Rack (ignore battleshock wholly within 9”)
– Artefacts: The Conqueror’s Crown (within 6” enemy models with 1-2 wounds don’t count for holding objectives)
– Prayers: Heal
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle (-1 to wound in combat)
– Spells: Hoarfrost
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided (re-roll 1 die on EoTG table)
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
Archetype
Recycling efficient chaff units
Thoughts
The sleeper STD list continues to pick up attention as it starts stacking results – this one forgoes Archaon entirely in order to fit a *ton* of Cultist units along with some decent support in Chaos Gargants (to get these units access to rend0, and Mindstealer Sphiranxes (put fights last on a unit then swarm it in chaff).
The main output of the list comes from the Splintered Fang, who put out something silly like ~100 attacks for a unit of 30, with Nurgle mark making them all surprisingly difficult to kill.
Closing Thoughts
That’s it for the week – bit of an odd event but it was cool to see a mix of stuff crushing it at Tacoma. It’ll be interesting to see how much counter magic or magic dominance armies actually thrive in the new meta game, but early GHB success is usually found by armies with good book battle tactics to fall back on and a pretty varied toolkit so they can adapt to the new missions on the fly as players learn them. Until next week!
