Vastus

Goldchaser Maw-Walkers As part-time mercenaries, the Mawtribe has frequented a nearby city (name TBD), one that trades with the Kharadron Sky-Ports as well. Here Grub, a Butcher of the Mawtribe, first saw some of their technology. What interested him most were the aethermatic saws used in construction, but also in the processing of large, monstrous cadavers. He decided to save up and earn himself one fit for his size. While raiding the abandoned temple-city in the nearby jungles however, Grub lost his dominant hand. Never one to be deterred he managed to communicate his desires with some of the local engineers and he was able to kill two birds with one saw. They fitted him a prosthetic with an oversized saw that was used in ship construction, which would allow him to carve up any foe he may come across, ready to be tossed in the mawpot. It's a little sluggish though, so he usually has to use his clawed ironfist to hold it up. Since I've been planning to make a steampunk/KO themed Cities army as well, I wanted to tie everything more together technologically, and Ogors seem like the types to easily submit themselves to experimental tech if it allows them to fight better and eat more. Also aztec cyborg ogres sounds fun. I need to buy some 50mm bases though.

Heraldors are one of those units where it feels initially hard to evaluate them on paper. Looking at the typical terrain setup and the small board size in AoS though, it's nigh impossible to avoid being near any before taking into account faction terrain. You probably get a lot more value with multiple to the point where it's actually terrifying to be near terrain. I wonder how much they did in that list. What's also crazy to me though is that Stormstrike Chariots have the same impact hits as Ogor monsters like Stonehorns. They're tough to kill too. Really, Stormcast have so many good and varied units.

Oh lovely, I really like Rockgut Troggoths. They're quite strong honestly with high rend and damage, and a 5+ ward on regenerating wounds is great. To top it off they are easily one of the best aos kits as well. Mangler Squigs are really funny, but you gotta hope your dice work with you. I remember seeing a Gitz list that went 5-0 recently which had Kragnos, Loonboss on Mangler and a bunch of regular Squigs iirc. Kragnos actually makes them a lot more reliable at getting in, seemed like a nice list too. Despite being generally considered one of the worst armies, Gitz actually have some good tools. About as reliable as a Skaven though .

Oh yeah, I remember seeing that Chariot list, never thought I would see Heraldors be useful but he made it work. Honestly Stormcast have so many units, but it seems like all you ever get to see is Stormdrake Guard, Longstrike Raptors and/or Fulminators. The Vanguard Palladors in the picture are a really underrated unit. I've been looking a bit into them recently for the Cities army I'm planning on. It would be Chamon/steampunk-themed so I was thinking of adding some Stormcast converted a bit into automatons. Anyway, one unit that caught my eye are the Protectors. You don't see them that often, but I think anyone would agree that Protectors with Unleash Thy Hatred and the Maces are quite scary. If you're not familiar, the Maces have a single attack that requires no attack roll and simply does D3 MW on a 2+. It still has an attack characteristic though, so something like UTH that grants an extra attack basically doubles the MW output. A 10-man unit with 4 of these Maces pumps out 8D3 MW in addition to the 37 regular attacks. Now Tempest's Eye (my planned city) can do something similar with Aura of Glory. The allegiance abilities also gives them extra speed in the first round to compensate their low base movement. If you use At The Double they run 14" turn 1, probably enough to get on/near an objective and sit there with your 1+ save (2+ from turn 2) which you have without even using any buffs. The rough draft I have as of now is as follows: Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar - City: Tempest's Eye - Mortal Realm: Chamon - Grand Strategy: Predator's Domain - Triumphs: Bloodthirsty LEADERS Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (280)** - Lore of Eagles: Aura of Glory Freeguild General on Griffon (290)* - General - Command Trait: Swift as the Wind - Runesword - Artefact: Arcane Tome - Mount Trait: Soaring Guardian - Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Lord-Relictor (145)** - Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse UNITS 5 x Freeguild Pistoliers (105)* 5 x Freeguild Pistoliers (105)** 6 x Demigryph Knights (350)* - Lance 10 x Protectors (450)** - 4 x Starsoul Maces BEHEMOTHS Arkanaut Frigate (250)* - Kharadron Overlords Battleline (Sky Port: Barak Zilfin) CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment **Battle Regiment TOTAL: 1975/2000 WOUNDS: 118 You have the block of Protectors running up the board with the Hurricanum (honestly this might be the one spot where I'd consider a Luminark instead for the 6+ ward, but the +1 cast is nice) and the Relictor who can drop a Curse, since the non-Mace Protectors still pump out an absolute ton of attacks with 3" reach. Pistoliers can form fast screens or flankers depending on the situation, and the General+Demigryphs are a huge flanking threat, that can also sit on objectives and be quite tanky. And the Frigate is there because it's cool to pressure the backline/flanks. It's rather light on bodies because this is something I'm actually planning to slowly assemble, and I'm allergic to painting large units of infantry and they don't fit the aesthetic, but a Sorceress with Dreadspears to get a huge +cast and guarantee Aura of Glory could be a good thing to slot in to make it more reliable.

EDIT: Changed title from 'Your favorite list that you'll (likely) never play' to this, since I didn't want to exclude people who actually dedicated themselves to playing cool lists, and the goal of the thread is just to see some creative ideas. I know I'm not the only one always dreaming up new ideas for armies, both theme/aesthetic/conversions and army lists, and I wanted to focus on the latter this time. We all have these cool ideas that we come up with sometimes that will never see the light of day, because time and money is unfortunately (very) limited. I know I can barely finish an army, let alone a dozen. I also firmly believe that there are far more solid options than are represented in tournament placings. Due to the investment required to make an army, the meta in wargames like AoS is glacial at best. For competitive lists people also tend to just gravitate to what is commonly seen as the best, even if it isn't necessarily the best (Still think Big Yellers is meh, and Kruleboyz would do better clogging the board as Grinnin' Blades. Fight me.). Anyway, I thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread where everyone can toss in ideas they came up with. The wilder the better. This is a creative hobby, and there's no reason that shouldn't be the case for list building as well. If you happen to have a unorthodox list that you actually do play, don't hesitate to share as well. I'll start with a small idea I had while looking into the CoS army I am planning. Now I'm not going in this direction because I have no cool conversion ideas for it, but I was a little intrigued by the Irondrakes Bridge combo that I saw pop up a lot. You're rather dependent on getting it up, which the Sorceress can do well, but know who does it better? Other dwarves of course. Not only can they guarantee it with Spell in a Bottle, you can get some juicy re-rolls in there through the power of grudges, as well as adding exploding hits 1/battle. And the rest of the army is lightning fast too, so they can easily keep up with your teleporting Irondrakes so they aren't stranded out there without support. Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords - Sky Port: Barak Thryng - Mortal Realm: Chamon - Grand Strategy: Predator's Domain - Triumphs: Inspired Kharadron Code - Artycle: Chronicle of Grudges - Amendment: Take Help Where You Can Get It - Footnote: Honour The Gods Just In Case LEADERS Runelord (100)* Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit (180)* - General - Command Trait: Supremely Stubborn - Artefact: Grudgehammer Aether-Khemist (90)* - Artefact: Spell in a Bottle Aetheric Navigator (95)** UNITS 20 x Irondrakes (340)* 10 x Arkanaut Company (100)** 3 x Endrinriggers (120)** - 1 x Skyhooks - 1 x Drill Launcher 3 x Endrinriggers (120)** - 1 x Skyhooks - 1 x Drill Launcher 5 x Grundstok Thunderers (135)** 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (155)** - Main Gun: Drill Cannon - Great Endrinworks: Zonbarcorp 'Debtsettler' Spar Torpedo BEHEMOTHS Arkanaut Ironclad (490)** - Main Gun: Great Sky Cannon ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS Soulscream Bridge (70) CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord **Battle Regiment ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS Artefact TOTAL: 1995/2000 WOUNDS: 103 I will admit that the rest of the list can probably be optimized quite a lot more, but I think it's a cool idea overall. The Irondrakes with Runelord provide some -2 rend that KO sorely lack, and they are fairly durable against enemy shooting as well. You only get to single reinforce them, but they hit hard with all the buffs. It still plays the same alpha-strike style of regular KO, but it's got some juice. And you get to make a duardin coalition! Who doesn't want that.

On another note, I was thinking a bit about the Midnight Tome and potential Endless Spells. Terminexus seems like the obvious choice because it does decent damage, but with a casting value of 6 it's likely to be dispelled on your opponent's turn. Geminids is one that popped into my mind as being potentially very valuable. Since we can guarantee it going off with Midnight, you are very likely able to stop your opponent from Redeploying a key target away from your charges, which could cause you to miss a Battle Tactic for example. It's also great against shooting lists of course, since it shuts down Unleash Hell. Also, with two models it can take up a decent amount of space. The other I considered was the Purple Sun. It kind of does the same thing as Terminexus without the healing flexibility (which doesn't res, so isn't all that great tbh). It's a bit riskier, but with a casting value of 8, it's actually kind of tough to remove, allowing you to continue generating value. I really like the idea of Geminids honestly, but I've no experience with it yet. Any thoughts?

Are they? The Eshin one is similar enough sure, but the Masterclan ones are entirely new if I'm not mistaken. Verminus is still multiple CT's, but way different in execution considering you get to choose the right one for the moment which is a big deal in terms of how much value you can get, especially out of the more niche CT's. Also the General can have it in addition to its main one.

Oh I like that. Good to see that Skaven isn't just a copy&paste as some were speculating. It's an interesting system and some of the abilities are also pretty unique such as the synchronized pile-in. If the warscrolls hold up, they could be a very versatile army.

Okay yeah, you got a lot of heroes and support, but you're sorely lacking in bodies. A blob of 20 Chainrasps would be the easiest fit. If you want to avoid them, you could drop the Chainghasts and get a blob of 20 Grimghasts instead. That would hold down the middle nicely, plus they would shred hordes. It's still the same amount of models as the Chainrasps though. If you really don't want to paint any infantry, a hero deathstar is the alternative. You have basically all the pieces for it already, I would just slap Kurdoss in there to round it out. I'm not sure how well that archetype works, but you could give it a try.

Goldchaser Maw-Walkers Zurug Goldchaser (Ogor/Tyrant/Slaughtermaster proxy) Quite happy with how he turned out for the most part. Tried a bit brighter and more vibrant colors this time. I think I like this better than the dark and heavily shadowed approach I used for the previous models, may just use a mix of both so they don't all look the same.

Looks like some decent changes if true, although Sentinels may need a slight cost reduction after this.

Goldchaser Maw-Walkers "Blast 'em with all yous got boys. We kill 'em quick so we can get to eatin', their weapons should replenish our ammo plenty. No holding back!" Finished my Leadbelchers. I like the models and I'm happy with how they came out. The colors ended up working out well, and I dig this style with extreme shadows. Been thinking of doing some more significant conversions next, replacing arms with claws and such. I could see Ogors taking any opportunity to improve/strengthen themselves if the tech presents itself, all so they can fight better and thus feast more often. Aztec cyborg ogors I guess?

But for those interested in said pictures, there's one for the Screaming Bell warscroll on the AoS reddit. Casting and chanting bonuses, but only 1 cast now. It's also lost the Battleshock immunity bubble.

I dig the flavor of the box being one Skaven luring them into the ambush to prevent another to rise to power.

Huh interesting, so you're somewhat incentivized to save up your points. I don't know how well that works though considering the bonuses are small, and your units are still overcosted to compensate for the summoning which you're now delaying. I guess it makes it more attractive to save up for that big summon maybe? Also, yeah, my neck....

Okay, interesting changes, I like them. Bit surprised at the Kurnothi getting 3+ save at base though, with AoD that's a 2+ that's really hard to work through. Free command copying is also seemingly becoming a theme, but the range is very short. I like the Skaven changes a lot though. Clanrats always having a 5+ makes them more durable, and they can feel like a neverending swarm with that replenishment too. Nice and thematic. Stormvermin are actual bodyguards now too, which is immensely valuable. Also a 4+ save at base helps them be a bit tankier. Solid changes overall.

I thought with the Nighthaunt Frightful Touch rule that maybe GW had learned a little about tying damage output entirely to MW's...Guess not, we're still doing this apparently. Everyone wants to have some way of bodyguarding their heroes nowadays or they just drop like flies.

Interesting that it emphasizes battleline and not infantry. Wonder if it's just gonna be any battleline, which means it would also affect non-infantry battleline such as monster battlelines. And how if it's going to affect conditional battleline units. Considering we have no monsters though, it can only be an improvement for us.

Goldchaser Maw-Walkers The Gildhorn Looters are some of Zurug's longest-lasting followers on the Mawpath. They are veterans of many battles and have gathered tons of scrap, random acessories and most notably, some big ******-off cannons. They fill these with the weapons of their latest victims to blast away the next group with shrapnel shots. It's modern recycling really. Currently they are well-stocked with weapons from the Seraphon temple so they are itching for a fight. Anyway, yeah, the Leadbelchers arrived this week. I made a couple adjustments so they fit in with the army theme, and now it's just some final filing down before I can prime them and start painting.

That makes sense. The Spirit Hosts do not really add additional wounds to Olynder though. Just in case you weren't aware, their 3+ bodyguard replaces any ward saves the unit might have, of which Olynder has a 4+. So you're spending points and losing models to basically increase her ward from 4+ to 3+. If she's very close to death that may be worth it, but usually isn't. The Guardian of course benefits massively from them. Anyway, just wanted to make sure you knew that interaction, I do like the idea of the list.

I like the list overall, couple of points though: -Why the third units of Spirit Hosts? You only have two heroes that really need to be protected, since Olynder doesn't really benefit from them much (3+ instead of 4+ Ward isn't much difference), and she's likely to be near one of the other heroes and their bodyguard anyway. Those points could be used to reinforce one of the smaller rasp units. -I think Seal of Shyish and Shademist are probably our best spells, and key if you want that larger block of Chainrasps to stay alive. Unless you have a specific combo with Knight of Shrouds in mind I don't think Soul Cage is as valuable anymore now that it only works on our turn rather than the whole battle round (on top of losing the 'no retreat' and increasing in casting value). (Edit) - Also don't forget your batallions. You could get a nice Lightshard of the Harvest Moon in there for a nova turn with a Warlord batallion. Separate from the list, I wanted to mention one thing regarding the Harridan discussion. Yeah, you don't want to reinforce them, and I don't think they are amazing as the central focus of a list, but having one or two MSU is still worthwhile imo. You have to remember that they are very self-sufficient and good at dueling other small units on objectives, or supporting your actual main threats. The -wound makes them durable and means they are fine being activated last, while they provide their own self-bonuses on a relatively easy condition with a massive amount of attacks. And if they aren't taken care of, they can clutch a late-game when everything is limping by.

I feel that's somewhat flawed logic. Just because another subfaction is specific to that unit, does not necessarily mean you get more value from it. Quicksilver Dead for example is rather niche and even if I'm using a boatload of Harridans I'd probably still go Emerald Host to pressure high value targets. You may also be bringing them for other synergies. For example, the Harridan's abilities are geared towards weakening and grinding the opponent down. Couple this with some healing/resurrection, and it synergizes very nicely with the Emerald Host ability which benefits from drawing a game out longer. In short: it still depends on what role the subfaction fulfills, and what role the unit is supposed to fulfill. Anyway, I do agree with Hexwraiths and Olynder seeming pretty strong. If you factor in the MW on charge, Hexwraiths are not too far off of other units in potential output, and they can easily get all their models into combat with units of 5. They also benefit more from Olynder's resurrect and are extremely good at playing the objective game. Emerald Host is probably my go-to subfaction unless you really, really want to spam the hell out of Bladegheists. Even then, unless you run more than 30, Emerald Host may still get more value anyway because you can choose priority targets for it whereas Bladegheists can be screened.

It's an interesting discussion between our troop choices. Grimghasts are still somewhat iffy I think, even with adjusted math. Against lower saves they get outperformed by Harridans mostly, and against higher saves they aren't likely to get their bonus (how many 10+ units with 3+ saves do you see realistically?). The 2" reach is nice for bigger units, but do we even want bigger units? We benefit from getting off multiple charges to stack debuffs and with the points increases we can't field all that many units to begin with, so MSU seems nicer. The main argument for larger blocks is survivability, and being able to regen them. There might be potential for a good list there honestly, with some larger blocks and becoming very tough to deal with through a combination of: Dreadblade echoing Discorporate, Krulghast aura, Spirit Torment regen, Olynder regen, maybe even Midnight Tome for a guaranteed Lifeswarm (or just Reikenor Corpse Candle/Master of Magic). That could be quite nasty if you can just outlast and grind the enemy down. Emerald Host would benefit from that as well, since extending the game means it's more likely that the MW from it are actually impactful before the game is decided. In general we seem to be more of an army about outmaneuvering and outlasting. The main issue is that there's a bunch of nice synergies and ideas, but it's hard to fit all of it in pointswise, and we're gonna be very low on models and wounds. I just kind of keep flip-flopping between ideas. On a side note, Emerald Host has made me reconsider the Scriptor Mortis. I wasn't a fan before (and still not much tbh), but together with Emerald Host that's a lot of passive pressure to put on a key piece of your opponent. It can also help with our issue of taking down high save monsters/heroes.

Couldn't you make it 4 even, if you have a second Dreadblade? Nagash is automatically a general, so you can have another unit as your general issue Discorporate, and copy that with the second Dreadblade. It says "Once per battle round, when your general issues a command, this unit can issue [...]", which I think means it's once per battle round for that specific Dreadblade. Otherwise it would say 'a unit with this ability' instead of 'this unit' right?

Phew, that's good to know. I rather like my Kurdoss conversion so I want to use him.