NICON 2016, less than a week to go - final touches are being made to armies, rules packs are being printed, scenarios are being scrutinised. Tournament week can be intense times!

We finalised our field for the Age of Sigmar event last week, with a total of 8 players. I am encouraged by this number, as I had about 16 express interest but unable to make if for the weekend. Some would have to have travelled quite far, and some couldn't commit to the two days. I think future events will take the form of single-day events in future, once the General's Handbook has been released.

What's more is that many of those playing AOS were not part of the 7th or 8th edition tournament 'scene', so good on them for giving it a go.

Below are the lists, with some brief thoughts. As a reminder, we can bring up to 120 points to the event, but we can deploy only 80 per game. The exception is summoning, where you can summon 2 points worth of troops for every point less than 80 that you deploy.

Army Breakdown

This is a fairly small field compared to the big oversees events, so the diversity of armies is somewhat limited, with no Destruction armies at all - though the composition of each is quite different.

Army Lists

I'll start with my list. I have the option to go infantry-heavy, but as mentioned in my previous post, my main competitive 'trick' is based around getting the Mourngul and Morghast summoned in the first turn in order to quickly cause carnage and contest objectives. Arkhan will extend his spells to buff, but if I need to play a defensive game, Krell will lead with his Lord of Bones to give units extra attacks. 

My potential Warscroll Battalion choice is the Legion of Death, giving my Deathrattle units and extra 4" move, and an extra body back each turn.

The other Death army is mostly Tomb Kings, but with some of the newer units as well. Based around Settra's buffing ability, and that of the Priests, Necromancer and Tomb King, his aim is to turn the Necropolis Knights and the Tomb Guard into unstoppable forces. The smallest list, but probably the toughest nut to crack.

This order list is making good use of the larger selection of units available to Grand Alliance: Order. Containing units of Free People, Duardin and Stormcast, the Warrior Lodge has a good mix of speed, shooting and armour. Potential battalion in the form of the Thunderstrike Brotherhood for the Stormcast would allow Tristan to 'deep strike' a large portion of his force, which could be handy for several of the objective-based scenarios.

A pure-lizardmen list, led by none other than Lord Kroak himself, I'd say Carl will be making use of his summoning pool, with Kroak providing support from the rear lines. The area-of-effect damage potential is significant, and there are some excellent synergies to be had with his other heroes nearby his troops. Scary potential. I believe this list would allow him to take the Bloodclaw Starhost if he chose to.

This Order list has also mixed it up, with Sylvaneth in a reluctant alliance with the Fyreslayers. Led by the damn-scary Durthu, Marlin will have to rely on the big tree damage, synergistic with the Sylvaneth Wildwood terrain features he is bringing with him and could potential summon with Durthu. Good use of that terrain could really mess with his opponents.

A pure aelf exile list, replete with the one and only Malus Darkblade, returning to form post-End Times to bring the pain. Executioners are the stand-out unit, with Nicholas having the choice of deploying them as five separate units or as one host of suffering. It's got speed, magic, shooting, hitty-ness. How Nicholas works the force together will determine it's overall performance against lists with excellent individual units.

Embracing the Blood God's own ethos, Byron has decided to field the best of what the Bloodhosts have to offer - no less than 13 heroes, including three unique 'special characters'. But with a cunning of Tzeentchian levels, there is also a ton of synergy here, with the Blood Reavers, Bloodsecrator, Wrathmongers, and Bloodstokers able to make his meat-shields dish out the hurt in their own right. Can't wait to see it on the table. Potential battalions include the Goreblade Warband, Gorechosen and Dark Feast.

Another scary list, with a good mix of synergies and individual prowess. A myriad of potential summoning options, and the magical fire-power to make it work. Dan could flood the board with units, which will make of challenging games for his opponents, and the speed with which he can cross the board will serve him well with many of the scenarios. Another tough list to beat.

So those are the lists. I will post some updates from the event on my Twitter feed and Facebook page if you'd like to follow along. The next post will probably be of the results, followed by a post-event write-up. I think I will be too busy to post anything before then.