We’re back in the swing of things with two tournaments to cover and four Aelf lists to look at closely. Both events are using last season’s GHB and may be the last big tournaments we see using said rules, so let’s get to it!

AoS Nottingham GT

41-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England GB on January 14 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission –

Mathew Davies – Sylvaneth Heartwood: Alarielle toolbox
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vs.

Matthew Gouldesbrough – Lumineth Realm-Lords Helon: The hated enemy returns
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Result

Heartwood Victory – 11-9

Thoughts

It’s an interesting matchup because both armies are setup to try and deny their opponent the ability to operate freely. The trees will be without reliable casting and forced to utilise their command points judiciously thanks to Total Eclipse, whereas the Lumineth will be without easy ability to reach out and blow up units as the Sylvaneth will be hugging trees in order to hide out of LOS of the Sentinels.

The bad news for the light aelves is that the trees are better able to adapt to this matchup, in part because the Kurnoth Hunters are going to force the issue and make Davies break up his castle to try and shut them down before they wittle him down to nothing. Likely another key factor here is Alarielle herself, who can be utilised very aggressively knowing that even if she doesn’t kill enough to justify her points before she’s dead, she’s likely to revive later on in the game where your opponent is no longer able to leverage enough damage to finish her off for good.

Mathew Davies – Sylvaneth – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Alarielle Toolbox

Thoughts

I think this is a good opportunity to elaborate on what makes Alarielle interesting despite being a rather contentious value proposition for some players. I’ve heard people point out that a lack of ward really dooms her, but I think her true value can only be ascertained when you consider game flow. Your opponent still has to devote quite a bit of resources to kill a 16W 3+ save model in one turn before she’s able to heal up, and said attention is then torn away from the rest of the tree army.

But that’s not the complete picture – as Alarielle is likely to come back later on in the game, she can also come back to a landscape very different from what we’re looking at during deployment. The 6 Kurnoth hunters and the Gossamids will have chipped down your opponent’s units in the interim (as would the summoned unit Alarielle brought with her), which means the likelihood that your opponent STILL has the kind of firepower necessary to kill her is greatly diminished.

It’s fantastic to see Mathmallow take a 5-0 with the trees, especially one that’s fairly off the beaten path – well done.

Adam Mumford – Lumineth Realm Lords – 2nd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Helon long range mortals

Thoughts

This archetype is going to be popular going forward so get used to it. Adam stormed to a 4-0-1 record over the weekend with this, and it’s easy to see why. How does it win? Each turn it’s capable at putting out anywhere between 20-30+ mortal wounds at effectively limited range thanks to teleporting Sentinels, Rune of Petrification and Storm of Searing Light. 

On top of that, it layers multiple defensive spells to protect the castle as well as debuffs like Total Eclipse to make your opponent’s ability to execute their own gameplan significantly more challenging. Once you finally get into close range with them, their shooting effectively doubles in potency thanks to Helon and I need to stop before I throw up.

The Best of the Rest

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

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 3rd – Matthew Gouldesbrough – Lumineth Realm Lords: See showdown
• 4th – Charles Hollom – Beasts of Chaos: A fun as hell looking Gavespawn lists that runs no less than 5 Doombulls with Bullgors for a Minotaur mash
• 5th – Glenn Friend – Lumineth Realm Lords: This flavour of elf nonsense is stone, swapping out the bows for diamond picks and giant cows
• 6th – Joshua Jenkins – Lumineth Realm Lords: Very similar to Adam’s list, with the Regent swapped for a Loreseeker being the main difference

Blood In The Snow Age Of Sigmar GT

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England GB on January 14 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission – Turf War

Peter Twigg – Sylvaneth: Aggro trees
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vs.

Baz Norman Jnr – Daughters of Khaine: Unkillable Monsters
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Result

Khailebron Victory – 26-21

Thoughts

This is simply a bad battleplan matchup for the trees – Peter has to come up to the center and contest objectives, and his alpha strike plan with the flying bugs hit’s a significant speed bump when it comes to the Incarnate and Morathi – both of which are impossible to kill on the first turn.

The thing that *does* work in Peter’s advantage is numbers, as if he can lift the Melee Snakes early on then Baz is put in a position where he doesn’t have that many pieces that can actually sit on the point without also putting him in a position where he can’t meaningfully reach out and murder their opponent. Sadly for Pete, savvy play from Baz will mitigate risk and will have helped ensure he won the day.

Baz Norman Jnr – Daughters of Khaine – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Melee Morathi

Thoughts

I had the joy of getting my ass kicked by Baz at this tournament round one so thankfully I have first hand experience to tell you how it works! It trades out the bow snakes for melee snakes, and utilises the Khailebron teleport in order to deliver them to your opponent’s face quickly. Put simply, there aren’t that many armies in the game that are able to withstand the opening salvo of the Shadow Queen, an Incarnate AND 15 Blood Sisters without getting ground down… especially when said Sisters can teleport back to their own deployment zone when they run low on models so they can rally back on 4+. Congrats Baz! I’ll get you next time!

Peter Twigg – Sylvaneth – 2nd Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Bug Aggro

Thoughts

Doing it’s best fly spam impression, this army seeks to move over half of it’s army pre-game in order to deliver a punishing alpha strike on the first turn of the game and compromise your opponent’s ability to establish board control from very early on. Strike and fade means that one of the unit’s can be pulled back to safety, and the larger unit is *just* durable enough that if it’s put in the right spot your opponent may struggle to finish them off before they’re in a position where they can slowly revive back and live to fight another day.

As with other typical Sylvaneth lists, the other core pieces are two units of tree revs for cheeky objective play and easy battle tactics, as well as a Spellsinger Warsong Revenant to add some much needed AoE damage and reach.

The Best of the Rest

There were 4 more players on 4-1 or 3-1-1 records. They were:

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 3rd – Daniel Bean – Ironjawz: A Gore Grunta Mawcrusha list that trades out a second Mawcrusha for an Incarnate.
• 4th – James Mckenzie – Slaanesh: A shooting heavy Slaanesh list that aims to pin your front line with Glutos, shoot the shit out of you with Blissbarbs and summon Daemonettes for a midgame objective push
• 5th – Pete Brizio – Ogor Mawtribes: Longtime Ogor advocate Pete is back on his bullshit and pilots a triple Ironblaster + Beastclaw list to great success.
• 6th – Courtney Brightwell – Sylvaneth (3-1-1): Courtney goes against the grain and brings a total of 25 Spite Revenants and NO Tree Revs. The Spellsinger Warsong is here but Kurnoth Hunters are nowhere to be seen, instead replaced with 10 Gossamids for a mobility/ranged element

Wrap Up

It’s time to turn the page and wave farewell to Bounty Hunters for good. Though it’s impact was somewhat diminished over the later months of the Season (in large part due to armies leaning into one drop armies and Galletian Veterans disappearing from lists), it’s potency held down certain styles of lists so it’s going to be very interesting to see how this new metagame unfolds when foot infantry are not the liability they once were, and the importance of small foot heroes is emphasized.

Ellarr also has his own Youtube channel to cover other aspects of competitive Age of Sigmar which you can find here. If you have any questions or comments leave one down below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.