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I can't find anything specific on this. According to FAQs, Warscrolls and the like get overwritten by ones published at a more recent date, but unless there's something explicitly saying that an older feature is getting overwritten (like with the MP Realm Artifacts), is it still viable? Would I be able to use mercenaries in an army that's otherwise operating on GHB 2020 rules? Ideally, I'd like to find some kind of official ruling on this in the event it comes up in any games I might play in the future.

The Storm of Sorrows Legion of Grief at CanCon2020 Hello there people, been a hot minute hasn’t it? I’ve been a little too busy to spin yarns about my personal favourite sowers of terror and woe, but I’m back and ready to burn CP like they’re going out of fashion. Without further ado or preamble, the list I will be taking to CanCon 2020. The List As regular readers can clearly see, changes have taken place. Friendship has been ended with Dreadscythe Harridans, now max-size blocks are my best friend. CanCon (and the TransTasman Cup held the night before) are competitive events, so any illusions around having a “fun” list have been dropped. Below is a rundown of the changes made between Masters2019 in NZ and CanCon this coming weekend. Guardian of Souls – Removed I said in my pre-masters post that this little lad was on performance review and he just didn’t make the cut, forcing me to outsource his role to a more competent hero. 140pts is simply too much for a cut-rate Vampire Lord who’s regen is tied to an unbindable spell with no buffs to cast. The +1 to wound was the only thing keeping him in the game, and frankly having +1 attack works better than that in this army. Maybe see you later in the new Nighthaunt book buddy, until then you’re gonna collect some dust for me. Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed – Replacing Guardian of Souls The Knight of Shrouds will be replacing the Guardian of Souls as the +1 to attack command ability brings far more utility to my list than +1 to wound and occasionally bringing back dead models. He is also far, far more mobile and therefore better at hero-driven scenarios and chasing after units to provide Inspiring Presence and All-Out Attack. Dreadscythe Harridans – Removed I was blinded by my buyer’s remorse with these lasses, they simply are not good enough for their cost. Point for point they cost the same as Grimghast Reapers so you would expect them to be every bit as powerful as them. Do you remember Dreadscythes dominating the meta? Me neither. Chainrasp Hordes – Increased a unit of 10 to a unit of 40 Something everyone can agree on, Chainrasps are the best unconditional battleline GA: Death has ever cast it’s eyes across. They’re especially powerful in an allegiance that can bring slain units back, as killing 40 once is an uphill battle. Killing them twice? Good luck. Grimghast Reapers – Increased from 20 to 30 The king hitters of the ghost roster, a unit of 30 of these featured in nearly every top Legions and Nighthaunt list since the day they came out. A unit of 20 is durable and threatening, but with a 2” range a unit of 30 is stronger in every possible way as the only drawback, some models not being able to strike, is not an issue here. The 30 models with a 4+ ethereal save will blockade any foe, and hack them to pieces in short order. Myrmourn Banshees – Added another full unit As the Realmscape Magic is active at CanCon, nearly from day 1 we have had chatter in the NZ competitive scene heading over that they plan to abuse this as much as humanly possible. Expecting their behavior to be the norm among the Australian competitive scene and having no viable way of abusing it myself, I set about doing the next best thing… riding those coattails directly to victory. Any player attempting to spam magic or endless spells risks turning my Myrmourn Banshees into absolute engines of destruction, given they are now paired with the KoS on Ethereal Steed to give them an additional attack on top of their +1 for an unbind and +1 for a dispel. The Stated Goal This list is extremely transparent. If the enemy lack numbers, or the ability to punish my numbers in any meaningful sense, I will swamp the objectives and slowly trade them out of the game as my models drag themselves back up and into the fight to keep them locked in place as my threat units sweep in and over for the kill. The strategy is tested and time-honored, and is sure to give anyone unprepared for it one hell of a headache. With seven games ahead spread over 3 days, I may indeed be in need of a Command Point to resummons myself back from the cold void of death. Reminder to anyone going over to CanCon to drink up, stay hydrated, and if you see me come say hi. I’ll be the ridiculously hairy short man with the obnoxiously loud voice. Twitter: @ThreeTwoPrince

Hi all, Finally I can field my Everchosen at a somewhat decent level. So far the list is: Slaves to Darkness: 2000 points Legion: Host of the Everchosen Varanguard Circle: Sixth Circle Leaders: Archaon = 800 points /w Mask of Darkness & Aura of Slaanesh Battlelines: Varanguard x3 /w 1x Fellspear, 2x Ensorcelled Weapon & Mark of Slaanesh Varanguard x3 /w 1x Fellspear, 2x Ensorcelled Weapon & Mark of Slaanesh Varanguard x3 /w 3x Fellspear & Mark of Slaanesh Warscroll Battallions: Overlords of Chaos Current Total: 1820 Now, I need help with what to do with the spare 180. Another hero? Maybe a sorcerer or some beast running around picking off stragglers? Thanks for your help!

List Breakdown Recap – Legion of Grief at Masters 2019 Overview Gidday all, Aiden’s back with a recap looking at how my list did at Masters and the changes I’d make from my various games and the experience I gained. With the list breakdown post currently being my most read post on this blog, the format is going to quite literally be a copy paste deal where I show what I originally said, then I respond to it based on how it all played. I’ve neatly done my responses in a good honest ethereal blue so it’s clear where my reviews can be located for each paragraph and breakdown. The List Allegiance: Legion of Grief Mortal Realm: Hysh Leaders Dreadblade Harrow (90) - General - Trait: Vassal of the Craven King (whenever you spend a CP, roll a dice. On a 5+ you get 1 CP) Necromancer (130) - Artefact: Aetherquartz Brooch (whenever you spend a CP, roll a dice. On a 5+ you get 1 CP) - Spell: Dread Withering (-1 to a unit’s save rolls within 18” of the caster) Guardian of Souls with Nightmare Lantern (140) - Spell: Dread Withering (-1 to a unit’s save rolls within 18” of the caster) Knight of Shrouds (100) Battleline 40 x Chainrasp Horde (280) 10 x Chainrasp Horde (80) 10 x Chainrasp Horde (80) Units 20 x Dreadscythe Harridans (280) 15 x Dreadscythe Harridans (240) 12 x Myrmourn Banshees (210) 20 x Grimghast Reapers (320) Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs Extra Command Point (50) Total: 2000 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 1 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 147 Allegiance Choice – The Legion of Grief Anyone familiar with my dreams of a competitive ghost army knows I’m in a perpetual pull between the Nighthaunt and Legions of Grief allegiances. Nighthaunt offers battalions, Wave of Terror and a flexible deployment method, Legion of Grief offers Gravesites and all the thrills that come with them. Given the local meta has a proclivity for taking lots of threat units, I valued the defensive capabilities of Gravesites and they won out this time. I will however be trialling Nighthaunt post-Masters to see if I want to take them to CanCon. Review: This went very well for me. There was one time in the whole event where I would have had an advantage running pure Nighthaunt allegiance and that lasted all of 15 minutes. Legion of Grief remains the vastly superior choice to Nighthaunt, for the time being. The ability to bring back units that have been slain allows the ghosts to play around burst damage and attrition, two fields that the Nighthaunt allegiance was heavily outclassed by when people were attempting to run it competitively. Realm Choice – Hysh, Realm of Light Lol, you know why I picked this. At this stage Aetherquartz Broach is going to end up in my Last Will and Testament. Review: God bless this hot mess, Aetherquartz Broach isn’t going ANYWHERE any time soon. Dreadblade Harrow – General – Vassal of the Craven King This one goes without saying. The combination of his ability to teleport basically wherever he needs to be every turn to resurrect fallen minions and the sheer power of the command trait Vassal of the Craven King singlehandedly prevent Olynder from ever being ran in her OWN legion. The Dreadblade is no close-combat king, he’ll struggle in a fight against even the most basic of chaff, but what he lacks in punch he makes up for with sheer utility. His movement happens at the START of the movement phase, and resurrection can be used at the END, ensuring he is always right where he needs to be to pull a unit out of the dirt. He’s a good boy. Review: Always a good choice, doesn’t really require much explanation. Everything above remains correct, and through clever gameplay and execution my Dreadblade Harrow spent at least 2CP every game on resurrection while not dying even once over 5 games. Necromancer – Aetherquartz Broach – Dread Withering Another that goes without saying. Pre-Grief, Nighthaunt players were willing to give up their first CP of the game just to sneak one of these into their army with Sons of the Lichemaster. His unique spell turns any of the threat units in this army into a slaughtermachine, and his Deathly Invocation is always handy if he’s near said units. Giving him Aetherquartz Broach makes sense because he can be kept the safest of my 4 heroes (except the Dreadblade, but never put all the eggs in one basket) so I don’t need to fear losing it. I’ve also given him Dread Withering in the even I need to dig through a high save value. Necromancer is another good boy. Review: Quietly powerful, the Necromancer was able to do good work over the course of the event. I found I strongly preferred his Vanhel’s Dance Macabre on the big blob of Chainrasps, especially if it had charged. The only change I would make here is giving his Aetherquartz Broach to the Dreadblade Harrow as the Necromancer is a Nagash-damned bullet magnet for threats and the Dreadblade managed to survive 5 times out of 5 to the Necromancer’s 2 out of 5. Guardian of Souls with Nightmare Lantern – Dread Withering This lad is less certain than the previous two. He’s here purely for his Nightmare Lantern buff that provides a radiant wholly within 12” bubble of +1 to wound for NIGHTHAUNT units. Weighing in at 140pts, this guy is 8 Myrmourn Banshees’ worth of model and I’m grimly aware of it whenever he under-performs. A vulnerable character with only 5 wounds, this can be smacked out of the game by an opportunistic chaff squad or just a good round of shooting. However despite these flaws, when he’s in the right place at the right time the Guardian of Souls can guarantee a unit of Dreadscythe Harridans or Grimghast Reapers will destroy their targets, and even give Chainrasps a dangerous punch. His spell is not worth relying on but it’s nice, he’ll mostly cast Dread Withering. An average boy, with a lot to prove given he replaced the Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed and a potential Triumph. Review: Ooooh bad news Guardian of Souls, you’re out of the band. 140pts is just too expensive for a radiant +1 to wound attached to an extremely vulnerable threat magnet. He died in nearly every game, failed to cast constantly and overall was a disappointment. “Dice games and external factors” you say to me, but for 20pts less I can have a Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed throwing out +1 attack, comparable to +1 wound, with no dice roll. Which I intend to. See you next GHB Guardian of Souls, don’t call me unless you’re 100pts. Knight of Shrouds My personal favorite character in the army, nay, the Nighthaunt line-up in general. He’s very simple, a cheap close combat bruiser with a niche healing mechanic and a very powerful command ability. Spectral Overseer can turn even the infamously swingy Myrmourn Banshee melee profile into a weapon of nuclear destruction, and he spends most of his time smack in the centre of a unit of Dreadscythe Harridans. Serving as the nozzle of the funnel I pour all my excess Command Points into, he supports the team, he looks after the ‘Rasps and he’s the type of guy who’s happy to sober drive the Black Coach home. A very good boy, potentially the best boy. Review: What a good lad. Made the army work in every game while slapping to death any unit that had the AUDACITY to try and confront him head on. 100pts for this bloke is a steal, and he pulls the hard work every time. The only change I would make is have him dedicated to following around a unit that rewards his bonuses to hit more with damage output. Dreadscythe Harridans really couldn’t get it over the line but the Myrmourns slaughtered elite units with ease when buffed, and the Chainrasps smashed aside any threat with superior weight of dice. Chainrasp Hordes Hands down the best generic 80pt Battleline available to the entire Death Grand Alliance (fight me Skeleton Warriors). Chainrasps are another very simple unit, they have an Ethereal 5+ save and if there’s more than 10 of them, reroll 1’s to wound. Like any Death unit, their big vulnerability is mortal wounds and magic, but they make up with this with high bravery and the occasional deflection of a -3 rend attack that should by all rights erase them. They swamp objectives well, and nothing crushes the enemy spirits more than resurrecting 40 Chainrasps right as they manage to finally brick them the first time. Review: The only, only change I’m making is DOUBLING UP on that unit of 40. These little beauties were directly involved in every victory and close defeat all weekend. When squatting on Gravesites these little lads are nigh irremovable and bringing back the unit of 40 was impossible… because no opponent successfully managed to stomp it out. Let the ghostly glow of my ocean of Chainrasps become my signature, because all they do is win win win. Taking them out of the movement trays (following the lead of top NZ player Mitch Harty and his Skaven deployments and maneuverings) helped me think outside the box and make better use of their absolute area denial. Dreadscythe Harridans Alright these are a stylistic choice if I’m being honest. I bought 4 boxes when I started playing Nighthaunt (wanted to run a Shrieker Host to ****** off Skaven players) and ever since I’ve tried to make them good. They bring a lot to Legion of Grief as the best of the Big Three Nighthaunt threat units (Grimghast, Dreadscythe, Bladegheist) for buffing with the Knight of Shrouds command ability given they’re cheaper than the other 2 while having the most output raw damage wise with 2CP invested. Their -1 to hit aura also tends to come in handy against Destruction armies (well well well) and their large footprint and Ethereal save give them a wide range of options to contribute to the force. Review: Not great. Running Dreadscythe Harridans is a risk because their -1 to hit aura is a large part of their points cost but it will come into effect maybe 40% of the time due to popular armies tending to boast high bravery (Slaanesh, all Death armies, Stormcast Eternals) or boosts and rerolls that let them effectively shrug off the debuff (Skaven, Daughters of Khaine). The Dreadscythe’s only major contribution over the weekend was their large base size helping to zone off enemy units, and I could have achieved that with twice their number in Chainrasps for the same cost. Outside of running my meme-tier Shrieker Host in local games days, these ladies will be sitting on my shelf for a while. Myrmourn Banshees World’s most monopose unit. Coming in at a grand total of 4 available poses, which is 3 more than they have attacks. What they do have however is -2 rend and D3 damage on said attack, and they get a bonus attack for unbinding enemy spells, which they also get a large bonus to do. They can also dispel an endless spell at the cost of taking D3 wounds (happens at the start of the phase, do it near a gravesite and you’re golden) which ALSO gives them +1 attack. With even a single bonus attack this unit becomes scary, with 2CP invested from a Knight of Shrouds there isn’t a single thing they won’t kill. With only 12 in the unit, it’s not very hard for the enemy to murk this unit pretty quickly, but it would be a shame if somebody… brought them back. Review: Oh damn, it’s the golden girls. How does such a small unit over-perform so hard? They had no equal this event save the Chainrasps. One opponent outright refused to cast spells all game because he knew if he rolled a low but successful cast I would obliterate him with them immediately. Fantastic vehicles for the CP Farm that Legion of Grief is, these models are absolutely what you want in this list. And if 12 doesn’t quite cut it for you… perhaps 24? Grimghast Reapers A unit that needs neither justification nor explanation. Grimghast Reapers single-handedly kept Legions of Nagash relevant during the Daughters of Khaine Winter, and even bumping their cost to 160pts for 10 couldn’t hamper their effectiveness. Point them at an enemy threat unit and watch it die. Invest some CP in them and watch the enemy army die. When THEY die, bring them back. Rinse and repeat. Review: Yeah you don’t need me telling you these guys kick ass. Only change I would make is up the unit to 30 of them. They can just roam around the table with no support and still threaten anything the enemy may have half-capable of contesting them. They can fight over top of other units, reach over chaff screens to slap a cowardly hero hiding behind them and cheat their way up the table by taking 3 Damned Terrain sets of mortal wounds then immediately healing off 3 Gravesites and a Necromancer on turn 1. They’re good, and unless the GHB slaps them with ANOTHER unmerited points hike (stop punishing us for the behavior of Legion of Sacrament) they’ll stay golden. The Plan for the Future Obviously I’m taking the Legion of Grief to CanCon. I changed my twitter bio to feature “Number One Legion of Grief” and frankly I can’t come down from that level of behavior. Look forward to a similar list breakdown (and consequent review) in January when we take these ghosts straight to Canberra, Australia.

The Post Masters Post Hey all. I did say there would be one. I had planned to get this out a little sooner but needed some time to detox. Masters 2019 was a reasonably mixed bag, with the Top 20 players for 2019 majority living in the North Island only 11 of them accepted the invite. This is not out of the ordinary, no masters event has ever been attended by more than 65% of the Top 20. However due to the nature of the event and it being in the South Island, only a single North Island player who didn’t make the Top 20 (number 21 on the rankings) accepted the invite and the rest of the numbers were filled by locals, causing the field to go as deep as number 85 on the standings. The result was the top quarter of players largely playing others in their bracket, while the middle pack had an awkward disparity in levels of skill and experience. Another bugbear some players from the North had during the wind-up to the event was the introduction of soft scores into Masters. The previous Masters events have categorically lacked these, a fully painted army and perfect sportsmanship aren’t fields to be rewarded, they’re expected. These soft scores caused heavy consternation initially, though I personally defended them saying that as long as people maintained the standard expected from previous Masters events, they’d receive full points in these fields anyway. Given I played five full, five turn games over the weekend I’m obviously not going to cover them all. I will post my results for each match, and I plan to cover off my game against New Zealand Master 2019 James Page and my personal favorite game of the event against NZ Warhammer icon Shaun Bates in future posts as they characterize what happens in the worst possible matchup and what happens in the best (army-wise). So without further ado, the results. Game One · Opponent: Big Waagh · Scenario: Duality of Death · Secondaries: Secret Mission and Defend (both achieved) · Outcome: Major Loss Opponent would go on to win the event. A canny player, James used his superior movement and the ability to decide who starts to tag both objectives on turn one while throwing disposable units of Ardboyz into my only units capable of contesting these points. As I was unable to retreat and push the enemy off the points in the same turn I lost this one handily. Game Two · Opponent: Cities of Sigmar – Living City · Scenario: Scorched Earth · Secondaries: Terrify and Ancient Heirloom (both achieved) · Outcome: Major Win I made my opponent start as I had the choice, and interestingly he summoned Chronomantic Cogs and immediately set it to speed up time, while deploying his whole army directly in front of me (the tournament ruled that all woods on the tables were Citadel Woods, an interesting concept none of the northern players abided by in games between each other due to it not being in the pack. However it seems my opponent misread/cheated me here as Living City can’t just deploy on Citadel Woods. This would be the beginning of my disappointment). Not realizing my opponent was not actually allowed to do this, I simply charged headlong into him, obliterated a full 60% of his army immediately and burned all the objectives on the table turn two. The decision to set Cogs to speed up time sealed my opponent’s defeat more or less immediately, as well as his cocky (and illegal) choice of giving me his army as a stepping stone to get to his objectives. Overall a frustrating game as I spent far too much of it having to read my opponent’s battletome and correct countless errors that came up. Game Three · Opponent: Stormcast Eternals – Anvils of the Heldenhammer · Scenario: Border War · Secondaries: Invade and Onslaught (both achieved) · Outcome: Major Win This game was a rough one for my opponent. Shaun’s army excels against all comers unless they have large numbers with resistance to battleshock, or the ability to get around his devastating rend. Conveniently I had both in spades, so Shaun’s superior ability to play the game didn’t mean a lot in the face off 150 wounds hiding behind an ethereal save. Shaun and I yarned the majority of the game, engaged in flagrant cheating and deception, then wrapped up quickly to get a beer and get ready to shoot back to our accommodation for more yarns and beer. Intermission This was the highlight of the weekend. One of The Boys (Cameron, Seraphon) has a lovely family home locally overlooking the ocean with a fantastic outdoor eating area. Local legend Richard acquired vast sums of meat as a tithe-offering and manned his barbecue, bring succor to the masses. A few of the locals made it up as well as all the players who traveled for the event. We had a fantastic time, had some good chats and overall it was a perfect experience. The next day we rose early, briefly debated the virtues of going to the Zoo, then made our way down to a local café for a group breakfast. Given the large number of Wellingtonians in the group we needed to get some avocado toast in their systems before they start shriveling up. We took pictures, I mounted an antique motorbike and smashed back a milkshake and mince on toast for breakfast. Overall pretty fantastic. Remembering we had come down for a Warhammer tournament, we paid up and headed to the venue. Round Four · Opponent: Grand Alliance Chaos – Everchosen Battalion · Scenario: Gifts from the Heavens · Secondaries: Dominate and Seize (both achieved) · Outcome: Major Victory This was a slow-burn game. My opponent was hesitant to leave his deployment knowing that I would swamp him and fly directly over him to the objective, and resolved to turtle up. The game boiled down to me mowing my way diligently through the numbers while constantly reviving my losses to ensure control of my home objective. This was the game in which I entered the “Grief Zone”, spending 7 Command Points in a single turn, while starting on only 2. This made my army in the last turn of the game majority hitting on 2’s rerolling 1’s, wounding on 2’s, with the enemy saves diminished by my rend and Dread Withering. Round Five · Opponent: Skaven · Scenario: The Better Part of Valour · Secondaries: Ancient Heirloom and Sacrifice (failed to earn Sacrifice) · Outcome: Major Loss This game was extremely swingy the whole way through. I used my gravesites to sneakily move around his overwhelming numbers while keeping his rats locked on his side of the table for the first 3 turns by callously discarding my Grimghast Reapers and Dreadscythe Harridans, fully intending (and succeeding) to return them to the table due to my general being so far removed from the game I could safely bet on it. My army copped massive waves of shooting but rolled less well than against the Longstrike Stormcast and I was pushed back to my deployment. A dicey Skitterleap from a Verminlord Warbringer burned an objective of mine and pushed the game towards my opponent, ending things. Final Results · Win/Loss: Three Major Wins / Two Major Losses · Secondaries: Nine Achieved / One Failed · Kill Points: 6260pts · Paint Points: Full Points · Sports Points: Full Points Overall, my issues with Masters 2019 stem strongly from the scoring. I defended the soft score element to those that didn’t like them, explaining that if we maintained our usual standard these wouldn’t matter. However, many people had armies that were not completed, lacking basing on models, having less than 3 colors and a variety of other issues, only to receive full paint points. I purchased and painted my army to it’s (in my opinion) high standard and full rubric in less than a month, only for it to be considered equal to these other armies. Furthermore, I experienced numerous issues over the event with opponents either not knowing their rules or misrepresenting them, and even experiencing the poor sports of a player constantly interjecting into my game rudely and into the TO when he attended the table, only for full sports to be awarded across the board. These issues are not unique to this tournament, and overall I’ve no doubt not representative of the scene in the South Island. However I was disappointed to travel down for a Masters event only for it to be this way. Many of my friends declined to attend due to issues with the harshness of the painting rubric making them fear they would lose out for not being as talented painters, only for it to not matter at all. I was sadly disappointed, and given the severe financial expense of the weekend compared to the payoff have little desire to travel beyond the capital city any time soon. Despite these flaws I met a good collection of people, and I hope I acquitted myself well enough that they don’t unfollow me the moment they read this. I initially only wanted to cover the positives, but as my local club explained to me people who know me know my thoughts, and to cover less than that would be disingenuous.

Details Date: 16th November 2019 Army: Legions of Grief with Buff-o-Rama Opponent: Regan O'Halloran - Legion of Night with Debuff Focus Game Type: Matched Play 2000pts Scenario: Border War 2019 (rolled at random) Setup We rolled out the random terrain and ended up with a healthy blend of new and old rules, with the large centerpiece terrain model and the piece next to it yielding overgrown which would have been neat if either of us had shooting attacks or any ranged focus. We placed our Gravesites predominantly on (my) left side, both clearly planning to strongly contest the point there. Regan won the rolloff, but with no Commanding or Arcane terrain on the table he opted to take the side with the least terrain to prevent him moving around, being fully aware that my army cannot receive cover saves from terrain anyway. In a canny play of tactics Regan didn't deploy his Vargheists till the end, and opted to NOT ambush anything in his army. Of course by the time this revealed itself, I had placed my 40 Chainrasps behind my army to cover off any potential ambushes (last game we played he ambushed and killed two support heroes nearly immediately), his subtle mind-game tricking me into deploying my army further back from him than I normally would, ensuring I would be making no massive moves into his army turn 1. With both sides set up and Regan having the choice of who would start, he categorically selected me (man loves that Double Turn potential) and gave me the first move. (Besides what is visible above, Regan has paid for a Balewind Vortex and an extra Command Point. I have also paid for an extra Command Point) Battle Round 1 - Bore-der War Having been given turn 1 in Border War, I began the process of doing exactly what everyone playing Border War on turn 1 EVER does, moving up to tag the side objectives and score 5 points. My hero phase was brief, immediately failing to cast Mystic Shield on turn 1 always gets my hopes high. I had some good runs, had to spend a Command Point to nab a 6 to run after the Chainrasps on the right rolled a 1 and was rewarded by receiving 2 Command Points back from my Vassal/Broach combo. My troops moved up on all fronts to insulate my home objective (and Gravesites) and the flanks secured both objectives with enough models to make sure Regan would need to seriously commit to take each from me. Confident I had taken the best available course of action, I passed to Regan. Regan's hero phase was a lot more exciting than my own. He immediately summoned a Balewind Vortex while dropping Morbeg's Claw, granting his Necromancer and Mannfred von Carstein +2 to their casting rolls. Largely out of range for now (and with my Myrmourn Banshees close at hand) they kept their casting succinct, laying down Mystic Shield and Van Hel's Dance Macabre on the leftmost unit of Skeletons with Swords. Neferata blessed the unit of Vargheists nearest to her with Dark Mist, and both units then immediately closed in on my unit of Myrmourn Banshees. I had left a 5" gap between my unit of Dreadscythe Haridans and my Myrmourn Banshees, ensuring that no massive boost to movement could place a model between the units in the move phase, and that a charge that carried the unit over the front rank would draw both into combat and guarantee the destruction of the enemy. Regan rolled a modest charge and instead opted to dump all of his attacks into the Myrmourn. Half the unit was immediately evaporated, and the other half was able to kill a Vargheist in the other unit before meeting the same fate themselves. Regan's other flank failed to get enough skeletons into range of the point to capture it from me, and he scored 3 points. Priority Phase came around with myself winning the toss. With no Predatory spells in play and me being close enough to Regan to immediately cop a charge from him should he go, I elected to take the turn. End of Battle Round 1 Score: Aiden 5 - Regan 3 Battle Round 2 - Dirty Debuffs, Done Dirt Cheap In keeping with the grand tradition, I opened my turn by attempting to cast Van Hel's Dance Macabre on my Grimghast Reapers and immediately failed to cast it. Disappointed but not surprised, I ordered my ghostly legions into a full advance. The Dreadblade Harrow warped into being within 9" of a Gravesite, and the 40 Chainrasps moved up to replace the 20 Dreadscythe Harridans as they began their advance forward to the Varghiests. On the left flank, the 10 Chainrasps advanced JUST far enough to recap the objective from Neferata and her backup Skeleton dancers. On the right flank, the Chainrasps and Dreadscythe Harridans heavily consolidated their grip on that objective, and the Grimghast mobilized forward to charge the 40 Skeletons with Spears. With the moves finished, the Dreadblade Harrow called to beyond with a Command Point (and got it back) to return my slain Myrmourn Banshees to existence. The Grimghast Reapers then swept in, intent on sweeping the skulls from the skeletal bodies of their opponents. Activating the Grimghast Reapers first (being consciously aware that the massive pile of attacks from the Skeletons would be adequate to brick the unit entirely) I started swinging my scythes around. Without a single buff the unit managed to strike down half the unit, clipping it's combat effectiveness on the strike back. Regan then activated his Vargheists into my Dreadscythe Harridans on the other side of the table. Fortunately, I rolled extremely well on armor saves and Deathless Minions saves, and lost barely a handful. In retaliation they shaved away both Vargheist units, leaving a single model in each unit. The Skeletons struck back on the other flank, but their reduced numbers and impressive saves from the Grimghast Reapers saw only 3 fall. Regan spent a Command Point (and got it back) on the Skeletons to dodge the brutal Battleshock test. I scored another 5 Victory Points and the turn passed to him. Regan's hero phase began with no less than 10 Skeletons returning to his unit of Skeletons, giving them their combat buffs back. Then he began casting some magic from his Necromancer, Mannfred and Neferata. After a few unmodifed 9's to cast on Fading Vigor and Overwhelming Dread he had turn my Dreadscythe Harridans into having 1 attack and hitting at -1, then popped a Command Point to use Neferata's Twilight Allure to make sure the turn went his way. Regan's moves were relatively conservative - Mannfred drifted behind the Balewind Vortex to bide his time, Neferata advanced to make sure she could charge the Chainrasps holding the left objective on a 3, and everything else largely stayed where it was. With no shooting either, he went straight to charges. Predictably, Neferata and her entourage of Skeletons thundered into the 10 Chainrasps. Predictably Regan opted to activate his Skeletons fighting the Grimghast Reapers first, and pumped 100+ attacks into them. Amazingly 3 Grimghast Reapers survived. The Dreadscythes were pumped up by the Knight of Shrouds to have a more reasonable hit rate and were able to slice apart the last Vargheist in one unit and leave the other bitterly wounded. Neferata obviously killed 10 Chainrasps, though it was actually a close thing. The Grimghast Reapers spitefully murdered another handful of Skeletons before disappearing in the battleshock phase. Going into the Priority Phase, Regan was able to beat me in the roll and take the turn. While a double turn at the start of the third battle round would be damning, his unit of Skeletons with Spears had a unit of Chainrasps in front of them to prevent their easy advance (I had a feeling this could happen) and the other flank had to stay where it was to prevent a mass sweeping advance from my main force. End of Battle Round 2 Score: Aiden 10 - Regan 8 Battle Round 3 - Vampire Queen, Deceiver, Mortarch... Assassin? The Gravesites once again were good to Regan, bringing his large Skeleton unit even closer to full fighting strength. The debuffs (almost) all went off again without a hitch, this time Neferata's Dark Mist was unbound by a unit of Myrmourn Banshees, netting themselves an extra attack in the process. The Dreadscythes had been once again heavily clipped in their effectiveness, and in an extreme display of believing in the heart of the cards, Regan burned his last Command Point for Neferata's Twilight Allure, and was rewarded for his faith by getting the point back. The movement phase was largely uneventful, with the Skeletons with Spears advancing to the 3" mark from the Chainrasps, and Neferata moving into position to tag the entire left half of the table with her aura. Mannfred smelt weakness on the wind and charged the debuffed Dreadscythe Harridans, and the Skeletons then expectedly charged the Chainrasps. What wasn't expected however was Neferata then charging 11" to place herself behind my army and in range with my... Dreadblade Harrow. Having horrific flashbacks of the last time Regan pulled a similar move, I spent a Command Point at the start of the combat phase on All Out Defense, scoring a Mystic Shield-esque reroll of 1's to save. I also popped the Knight of Shrouds Command Ability Spectral Overseer twice to grant +2 to hit rolls to units wholly within 12" of himself, offsetting Twilight Allure's -1 to hit. Neferata went first and threw everything she had into the Dreadblade, who, astoundingly, only took 3 wounds total. Neferata's infamous Dagger of Jet failed to instantly slay the Dreadblade Harrow, and her assassination attempt was foiled. The Dreadscythes, pumped up to not being completely worthless by Spectral Overseer, were able to score a few hits on Mannfred's Armor of Templehoff, which negated one wound and saw him take a meager 3. The Skeletons swept away the Chainrasps immediately, and Mannfred was able to kill half a dozen Dreadscythe Harridans with sweeping blows from Gheistvor. Neferata faced 8 attacks from 4 Myrmourn Banshees, and with their hit and wound rolls buffed by the Knight of Shrouds and Guardian of Souls respectively, she was torn to pieces and banished to Nulahmia. Regan had recaptured the side objective and scored a solid 5 Victory Points and pulled ahead to 13. My turn opened with a massive power-play. From my Gravesites. Dreadscythe Harridans had their numbers restored fully to 20 as they conga-lined off the fight and over the central terrain piece to wrap around Regan's exposed home objective, and the Chainrasps that had taken by-blows from Mannfred's repeated Winds of Death blasts returned to full strength. The Necromancer, likely suddenly aware that his point cost was coincidentally the same as bumping my unit of Grimghast Reapers to 30 and taking a Prismatic Pallisade, suddenly pulled his finger out and cast Van Hel's Dance Macabre successfully on the 15 Dreadscythe Harridans near him. The Dreadblade Harrow, playing it safe after his brush with death, warped into the center of the Chainrasp Horde holding the home objective. The Dreadscythes near Mannfred promptly retreated and wrapped themselves tightly around the opposing home objective, After the forces had moved into position, the Dreadblade Harrow once again exercised his mastery of the dark arts and returned 20 Grimghast Reapers to the table. The Dreadscythe Harridans thundered into the Chainrasps, supported by remaining wholly within 12" of the nearby Knight of Shrouds. The Myrmourn Banshees, retaining their bonus attack due to the wording of Spell-Eaters, closed in on Mannfred and his supporting units to ensure he didn't chase the retreating Dreadscythe Harridans. The Skeletons had their numbers obliterated by screeching Dreadscythe Harridans finally having a chance to trade blows, and the Myrmourn Banshees took the brunt of Mannfred's enraged fury, halving the unit. The remainder struck back, crippling Mannfred down to a mere handful of wounds remaining. The Skeletons received Regan's last Command Point to stay on the table and denying me the side objective by a single model. Taking the home objective from Regan while retaining my own netted me 5 points, and I won the priority roll. Surveying the table, Regan opted to surrender as my return of the Grimghast Reapers and ability to summon 2 units of 10 Chainrasps onto the left objective meant I would capture all the points in the concurrent turn. End of Battle Round 3 Score: Aiden 15 - Regan 13 Final Outcome: Major Victory to Aiden and the Legion of Grief. Conclusion What went well Not investing points into buffing the Grimghast Reapers and instead supporting the less efficient factors of the army (Myrmourn Banshees, Dreadscythe Harridans) gave the army a consistency it carried all game. Reviving slain units every battle round after round 1 ensured a brutal attrition game that favored me. Screening my heroes (mostly) well ensured all 4 lived till the end of the game. What went poorly The Dreadblade Harrow nearly dying to Neferata was a massive misplay by me, he should never be in a situation where he can have an enemy successfully pile into him. I should have just tagged the unit of Skeletons with Spears on the flank with Grimghast Reapers and waste their combats rather than fight them head on. Make more use of All Out Defense rather than just when desperate to stay alive as it will improve the durability of my threat units, which are almost always illegible to receive it due to being wholly within 12" of a Knight of Shrouds or Guardian of Souls. All around a great game. Regan's debuff list caught me off guard at first and almost stole the game early on. After his recent defeats of me I was however able to apply what I had learned and pull out a win to bring our scoreboard back to an even 3/3. Regan's twitter: @PaintPyrow My Twitter: @ThreeTwoPrince

The Event Details. The Purple Sparkly Unicorns present Decent Of The Faithful, a 2000 point match play event of five games of Age of Sigmar on the 25th and 26th of January 2020 The address of the venue is: Willaston Masonic Hall The Acacia Suite, Wynbunbury Road, Nantwich, Cheshire, CW5 7ER This will be the a two day, 5 game Age of Sigmar, 32-player tournament at 2000pts. Entry is £35 per player advanced purchase, this will include food both days. Payment to the PayPal address of: psunicorns@hotmail.com All mats boards and scenery will be provided! Rules. Battleplans: We will be generating the scenarios using all 18 matched play battleplans. The battle plan will be randomly selected and announced at the beginning of each round. Realmscape features/rules will not be used but realm artefacts can still be selected as normal. Standard General's Handbook 2019 rules will be in use along with all current Games Workshop FAQ's. HIDDEN AGENDAS: will be used in every game, players must select one before the game starts, players cannot select the same agenda more than once over the weekend. Completing a hidden agenda will be worth 2 tournament points each round (maximum 10) Scoring will follow a Major win, Minor win, Draw, Minor loss and Major loss system, the tournament will be run on Table Top To. ALL PLAYERS MUST SIGN UP FOR FREE ON TABLE TOP TO BEFORE THE EVENT. Any rules disputes will be handled by the tournament organiser. Painting The minimum required standard for models used at this event is: • Fully assembled • Three distinct colours applied • Coloured and textured base A number of tournament points will be awarded to each player for achieving the following : Painted: 10pts – Your army has been painted with a minimum of three colours and has had appropriate extra work applied such as but not limited to wash, dry brush, highlighting, basic detailing, etc. Based: 10pts – Bases must be fully textured and painted. Transparent flying bases are excluded. Cohesive Scheme: 10pts – All models look like they all belong to the same army, for example they are painted in a cohesive colour scheme and cohesively based. Army list: 10pts if in on time and legal. Army list submission To give us a fair and fighting chance to check all the lists we ask that all lists are submitted to the psunicorns@hotmail.com email address by midnight on the 19th January 2020, and that you all use War scroll builder to complete your list. https://www.warhammer-community.com/warscroll-builder/ Schedule Saturday 25th January 2020 9:00am Doors open for registration • 9.50am Announcements and first round pairings. • 10.00am Round 1 Begins • 12.30pm Round 1 Ends • Lunch • 1.30pm Round 2 Begins • 4.00pm Round 2 Ends • 4.15pm Round 3 Begins • 6.45pm Round 3 Ends • 7:00pm Standings and Round 4 Pairings Posted Optional evening meal * Sunday - 26th January 2020 9:30am Doors Open • 10.00am Round 4 Begins • 12.30pm Round 4 Ends • Lunch • 1.30pm Round 5 Begins • 4.00pm Round 5 Ends • 4.15pm Award Ceremony and Final Standings Posted Sportsmanship We pride ourselves on being a fun group of friends who like varying levels of competitiveness, that being said we want everyone to have a good time! We expect that all players will conduct themselves in a sportsmanlike manner whilst participating in this event. This means knowing and abiding by the rules of the game, ensuring that both players are always aware of the state of play of the game, and ensuring your opponent maintains the same standards. Stalling, not rolling dice correctly, fairly or visibly, constantly misplaying or misrepresenting rules, and any other form of unsportsmanlike conduct can and will be acted upon by the TO. Winners Prizes will be awarded for the following : 1ST PLACE 2ND PLACE 3RD PLACE Best Painted : There will be a players vote for best painted at lunch on day two. You will be asked on the morning of day two to display nominated armies at lunch for voting. Sparkliest unicorn :This is of course the most important title awarded for the Sparkliest unicorn or best sports, voted for by players, in the event of a tie it will be the highest ranked player from the nominees . Each player will vote after game 5 with their favourite opponent or favourite game. Wooden Spoon : For the player who refused to win a game. Dice Master : For the player who wins the most spot prizes throughout the weekend. Most Bloodthirsty General : The player who scores the most victory points Cunning strategist : For the player who achieves the most hidden agendas. 1st place , 2nd place and 3rd place will be excluded from winning Dice master, most bloodthirsty general and cunning strategist for a more inclusive tournament. *Saturday evening If you are traveling from a distance the are hotels quite close to the venue (a premier inn is 1.1 miles away and a 4 minute drive) there are other hotels as well. We are planning on going out for a meal on the Saturday night, if you want to come along please email psunicorns@hotmail.com with how many people you want to reserve a space for. Contact Details If you want to get in touch with us regarding anything in this pack, questions about the event, queries about the venue, food allergies or intolerances or even simply help with hotels or any other local knowledge then please do get in touch! You can contact us in the following ways: Email: psunicorns@hotmail.com Twitter: @PurpleSparklyU1 ,@rockchef25 , @DodgyRoller

Hello fellow hobbyists! I've been working on a Map-Campaign for our Local hobby shop. Since we're only about 5 Player's within a 100 km radius I figured it would be cool to offer members of this Forum to join in. The Campaign officially starts at the 31th of October 2019. Signing up for this campaign has no obligations; you can leave whenever you want and you don't have to play a single match. But if you play you help your Grand Alliance to conquer the southern reaches of chamon! Forge mighty heroes that grow to be conquerers and defenders that will be remembered through the ages to come! So get your Ossiarchs reaping and your Mawtribes eating! Link for the Sign Up: https://forms.gle/3cKvp8PyeMJwvauT9 The Rules: Campaign Ruleset.pdf The Map (will be decorating a wall in our local hobby shop). complete package with rules and a downlaodable High-Rest-Map: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pGwkgMjIszNEZu7vVB0ioNU1VgDVNp2- kind regards and happy wargaming, Jack

Event Title: Autumn of Empires - 2000 pts Swindon (16th November) Event Author: Thenecbromancer Calendar: Events UK Event Date: 11/16/2019 12:00 AM Hi everyone, We're holding another one dayer in Swindon and would be great to see some of you lovely people there. Details below! Autumn of Empires Saturday November 16th 2019, Firestorm Games, 121 Victoria Road, Swindon, SN1 3BH. Tickets: £10 from https://www.thebattlefields.co.uk/events-at-the-battlefields/Warhammer-Age-of-Sigmar,-Autumn-Of-Empire A 2000 point Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Matched Play Event set in the realm of ShyishEVENT INFORMATIONArmy Size & Composition: Battlehost (2000pt) p.54 of the General’s Handbook 2019. Any Warscroll with official points from Games Workshop or Forgeworld can be used. You must use the most recently published version of any Warscroll. Battletomes released after Saturday November 9th 2019 cannot be used Rules from all supplements bar Malign Portents or Firestorm Campaign supplements in play.From 08:30 Arrival09:00 – 09:20 Registration09:20 – 09:30 Intro09:30 – 12:00 Game 1: STARSTRIKE (Feature and spell: Life Leeching & Ethereal Guide)Display army after game for Coolest Army consideration12:00 – 12:45 Lunch/Coolest Army voting12:45 – 15:15 Game 2: SHIFTING OBJECTIVES (Eternal War & Soulflay)15:30 – 18:00 Game 3: TOTAL CONQUEST (Aetherquake Aftershock & Unnatural Darkness)18:00 – 18:30 Results Admin18:30 – 18:45 Awards and GoodbyeSCORING Major Win = 20 tournament points Minor Win = 15 tournament points Draw = 10 tournament points Minor Loss = 5 tournament points (a minor loss is awarded if opponent scores a minor win) Major Loss = 0 tournament Points (a major loss is awarded if opponent scores a major win) 5 additional tournament points will be awarded to loser in a game if the difference in kill points calculated at the end of the game is less than 501pts 5 additional tournament points will be awarded if a player’s chosen hidden agenda has been completed by the end of the game. The rules regarding rolling on the triumph table will not be used, the same hidden agenda cannot be selected more than once and each player must select their hidden agenda before the dice roll to determine territories is made. Painting: 20 points available if army painted and based Contact: wiltsandglosaos@gmail.com or @thenecbromancer on Twitter Autumn of Empires - 2000 pts Swindon (16th November)

And I'm not just talking about rolling scenery dice and realm artefacts, Im talkin full monty: A.) All realm effects followed INCLUDING Ulgu in all it's 8" limiting glory, and Ghur and the often violently ignored Rampaging Monsters rule. B.) Terrain rules as per their relevant warscrolls. This includes stuff like full on LoS blocking, Obstacle rules, and Garrison rules, that supersede the scenery dice. C.) Full terrain and board setup as seen in the new GHB. Most people I play don't ever bother with realm rules past the artefacts, or possibly the spells. The realm *effects* in particular are very polarizing. Every single person I've played with isn't or is only partially aware of the terrain warscrolls, despite the GHB stating they should be used for matched play. The new board setup is far more readily accepted, as the GHB is pretty clear on how this process is done. *** This topic is really interesting to me because there's a lot to talk about around it. Realm Artefacts for example are readily incorporated because it's a big range of toys for you to pick from, at no major disadvantage. Realm spells, not as much, because it will depend on how caster-heavy your army is. Realm Effects tend to be ignored because there is that one chance you roll something that completely shifts the game dynamic (Ulgu range limitations, Ghur Beasts, Ghyran no run rule, Hysh/Shyish spellcasting bonus rules, Aqshy total LOS blocking on all terrain, etc etc.). Terrain warscroll rules are ignored for good reason: not everyone has all the bits required. There's also the extra layer of rules you now have to account for, and a lot of tournament players correlate not being fully aware of what rules could be in play to losing, often horribly. This is a fair outlook, as some of the terrain warscrolls are considerably more gamechanging than their scenery dice counterparts! And the board setup at this point is an easy adapt cuz it removes a very vaguely defined aspect of the game. The most pushback I've seen levied against it is that it makes the game longer. *** Now, assuming you have a local independent shop, that has several multiples of ALL the warscroll terrain, all proper done up and presented on appropriate neoprene mats. It has two dozen 6x4 tables, it has loads of floor space, and all the nice little small tables with little wheels on the side for you to put your models on. It's an ideal tournament venue! Now imagine the venue does indeed run regular tournaments, but with very specifically laid out rules: they will follow the GHB guidelines to the word. This includes everything I mentioned above (and the painting points/hidden agendas for tiebreaking, but those are less interesting talking points). Would you frequent these hypothetical tournaments, knowing they followed the frankly much more random nature of the GHB's official take on matched play? If you wouldn't, then at what point do you think a matched play game stops "being matched play"? How many of these optional rules do you have to keep intact for it to be an ideal tournament rule set? How much space in their wording do you think GW specifically leaves up for organiser interpretation in this regard? And just to throw another wrench into things, at what pointage do you think would following the *full* GW-mandated matched play setup work best? 2k? 2.5k? Meeting Engagements?

Hi everyone, I wanted to ask a question. After the release of the GHB2019 there was a lot of talk about Meeting Engagements and what a cool new format this is for Age of Sigmar. Directly before and after the release there were a lot of posts and videos about Meeting Engagements. I for myself am not a fan of huge 2000-3000 points battles and most of the time I have not enough space to fight a battle on such a huge table with my gaming group. This is why I really like the Meeting Engagements format and that GW decided to push smaller points games more. But now, as some time has passed, I have the feeling that "Meeting Engagements" was just some initial hype. Some YouTube Channels have gone back to posting only about 2000 points games and also most of the posts in forums or on reddit have also gone back to 2000 point games. The last time something was posted in the "Meeting Engagements" - Thread on TGA was July 12. Normally if a format is relevant there are frequent posts about it. Maybe this is just a personal feeling based on my limited perception and maybe my opinion is totally subjective, but this is why I wanted to post about this. Was "Meeting Engagements" just an initial hype and people will push 2000 points battles more and more or is this just my subjective opinion? Me and my gaming group really like this format, because you don't need such a huge collection for Meeting Engagements and it helped me to pull some new people into the hobby, because the games were fast and there was not so much going on. I would find it sad if the rest of the community pushes this format aside and goes back to mainly 2000 points battles. Don't get me wrong. I also like to play 2000 point battles, but I find "Meeting Engagements" to be easier. I also had hopes that this might be new competitive format, which will be played often. But I have the feeling that the community was only interested initially and now starts to go back to 2000 point battles. I would be interested in more discussions and battle reports about Meeting Engagements online, because it is such an accessible format. I think initially Age of Sigmar was more accessible and I often have the feeling that the existing community often pushes formats, which are very hard to get into for new players. Maybe because many people were collecting miniatures since Warhammer Fantasy and because of that many engaged players already possess 2000 - 3000 points armies. But everytime I search for some inspiration for my local group etc. I find that 2000 points-games dominate most of AoS discussions. This could be a reason why a format like "Meeting Engagements" is pushed aside. But as I said before, this might just be totally subjective. This is why I wanted to ask you all about this. I wanted to discuss if my subjective feeling is indeed correct or if I am just imagining things and in the end "Meetings Engagement" will totally turn out to be a viable matched play format.

Event Title: Spear The Rear Event Author: TimM85 Calendar: Events UK Event Date: 10/19/2019 09:00 AM Limited to 32 players 1000 points - Meeting engagements Tickest -https://entoyment.co.uk/event-tick/store-events/spear-the-rear-aos-itc-1000pt-tournament.html Event Pack https://www.dropbox.com/s/pl66wvuq2dp2v9t/SpearTheRear19%3A10%3A2019.pdf?dl=0 Event Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/328522638092918/ Spear The Rear

I’ve made a system to differentiate between players at a tournament by using the amount of Victory Points scored in each battleplan as the metric. As each battleplan has different ways of scoring and therefore a different total VP available, each battleplan has had a weighting applied to it based off the maximum available VP one player could score if they held all objectives for all five turns. I feel this tiebreaker system represents player skill with less of the random opponent factor of Strength of Schedule for example. It is also more objective based than using Kill Points avoiding giving a bias to just wiping out an army. I have attached a spreadsheet to use if anyone is interested, simply input player VP scored under the battleplan and the Tournament Points for the W/L/D etc. Then use a sort on the total column each round to determine placing. Battleplan weightings: Blood and glory. 1 VP x50 Escalation. 12 VP x4.17 Border war. 45 VP x1.11 Three places of power. 45 VP x1.11 Gift from the heavens. 28 VP x1.79 Take and hold. 1 VP x50 Knife to the heart. 1 VP x50 Total conquest. 40 VP x1.25 Duality of death. 30 VP x1.67 Battle for the pass. 45 VP x1.11 Starstrike. 40 VP x1.25 Scorched earth. 50 VP x1 Total commitment. 40 VP x1.25 Focal points. 40 VP x1.25 The better part of valour. 48 VP x1.04 Shifting objectives. 25 VP x2 Places of arcane power. 45 VP x1.11 The relocation orb. 15 VP x3.33 Stregth of Win.xlsx

Hello all, here I have 2 lists themed around the Monstrous Arcanum, thus using the Grand Alliance: Destruction rules. I know I should play for what I enjoy, but I like the sound of them both equally and cannot decide, so I'm putting it forward to you people and with being relatively new to AoS I was hoping to get some criticisms on the lists relating to competitive play and how they would perform. List 1: Allegiance: Destruction | Realms of Battle: Hysh Leaders: Grot Shaman = 80 points - General | Artefact: Aetherquartz Brooch | Command Trait: Ravager Battleline: 20x Grots /w Jabbin’ Spears and shields = 100 points 20x Grots /w Grot Bow = 100 points 20x Grots /w Grot Bow = 100 points Behemoths: Magma Dragon = 540 points Magma Dragon = 540 points Magma Dragon = 540 points Total = 2000 points Game plan: Magma Dragons: Fly around as a pack, or individually if required and roast anything within range Grots: Hold objectives and pick off any stranglers that may be lurking too close for comfort to the Magma Dragons with their bows. The ones with spears and shields are simply a screen Grot Shaman: A source of magic, be it for defence, offence or something else. ——————————————————————— Now, the next list is more themed and probably less competitive but here it is. List 2: Allegiance: Destruction | Realms of Battle: Ghur Leader: Fimirach Noble = 140 points - General | Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm | Command Trait: Wild Fury Madcap Shaman = 80 points Battleline: Fimir Warriors x6 = 280 points Fimir Warriors x6 = 280 points Fimir Warriors x3 = 140 points Behemoths: Magma Dragon = 540 points Magma Dragon = 540 points Total = 2000 points Game plan: Magma Dragons: Fly around as a duo, or individually if required and roast anything within range. Fimir Warriors: To hold objectives/ provide support for the Magma Dragons or pose a threat, since in comparison to the Grots they hit a lot harder, and are a lot harder to get rid of. Fimirach Noble: Sit around the Fimir Warriors and use his command ability buff all the Fimir Warriors.

Announcement Time!! The First AoS GT is happening in Ireland! Due to a number of issues we decided to move the GT to a bigger venue later in the year 2000 Points Matched Play Event 64 Players 5 games 2 Days Held in the Carlton Hotel near Dublin Airport Tickets are 55 Euro To secure your place at this event please send 55 via the following link: https://paypal.me/pools/c/8dnk8xSrHQ any question please PM me or email me at theherophasepodcast@gmail.com Thanks all, Mick

Event Preparation: ChariCon Upper Hutt First event with "New Skaven" This coming weekend the Wellington Region in New Zealand (The Capital Region, the Best Region, the Once-and-Future Region) is playing host to a new style of event called ChariCon. The astute among you will notice this word is a mash-up of the words "Charity" and "Convention", which believe it or not is no mere coincidence. 100% of the proceeds and revenue generated by registrations and various charity raffles and the like over the weekend will go towards Cancer research, and the tournament doesn't count towards the National Rankings so a huge portion of new players are coming along to get their feet wet and the established players are treating it as an excuse to run fun, non-optimized lists and have a good time just socializing. What better opportunity to take my new army for a spin in a tournament style event without causing my ranking to suffer when I inevitably crash and burn? The list I'm taking is largely things that I already have painted, given my work and home lives have been extremely hectic the last few weeks I didn't want to gamble on having painting time. I got my Gnawholes purchased and I have will need all of the roughly 12 minutes spare time I get each week to get them at least drybrushed. With the next few events being only 1250pts till Notorious Grand Tournament in May my stock of 100 Plague Monks painted to a high standard will get me through painting rubrics, but I'm working on the remaining 60 for the big event. I padded the numbers in the list with some Plague Censer Bearers, which aren't exactly top tier but I converted my own out of Stormvermin and so help me I will run them at least once this year. Without further ado, I present the list: Allegiance: PestilensMortal Realm: UlguLeadersPlague Furnace (180)- General- Trait: Master of Rot and Ruin - Artefact: Liber Bubonicus Plague Priest (80)- Artefact: The Foul PendantPlague Priest (80)Battleline30 x Plague Monks (210)- Foetid Blades30 x Plague Monks (210)- Foetid Blades30 x Plague Monks (210)- Foetid Blades5 x Plague Censer Bearers (60)5 x Plague Censer Bearers (60)BattalionsCongregation of Filth (160)Total: 1250 / 1250Extra Command Points: 1Allies: 0 / 200Wounds: 122 Before anyone asks, no Warscroll Builder hasn't been updated with the Skaven stuff yet I just tweaked it in a word document, I imagine it could be a while before it's updated. To start, one can clearly see the absence of the Verminlord Corruptor. I opted to take the Plague Furnace kitted out with both the Artefact and Command Trait that boost it's prayer effectiveness, in the hopes of getting an early Neverplague. The issue with taking the Corruptor is a small scale game is you need to give him a lot just to make him capable of praying, while the Plague Furnace benefits much more from it at this game size. The two priests on foot are there for two reasons; Hero models for Three Places of Power, and absolutely abusing the prayer mechanic (as always). I've given one The Foul Pendant to deal with non-optimized casting given the event is running Realmsphere rules and each army with a wizard will have access to an extra spell. Three units of 30 Plague Monks are just plain here to party and not go anywhere thanks to Altar of the Horned Rat + Plague Altar making sure they don't take casualties from Battleshock and have a bit more durability. Given they aren't units of 40 I had to select command options rather than just taking them all like the good old days, and opted for Banner of Contagion (6's to wound inflict 2 damage instead of 1) and Bale-Chimes (6's to hit are resolved at -1 rend). I opted not to take the Doom Gongs (+1 to Run and Charge) as i'll need to spend my excess Command Points on SOMETHING, or the Icon of Pestilence (roll a dice when a model is slain in combat, on a 6 the cause takes 1 mortal wound) as I plan to hit first and inflict massive casualties, rather than putting efficiency into being on the back foot. The Plague Censer Bearers are here, good for them. They'll either get set up in bubbles around the Plague Priests to keep them alive or used to push the Plague Furnace around. Perhaps used as a wall or some other suicidal task befitting a unit of their... pedigree. Congregation of Filth remains the mainstay Clan Pestilens battalion, even without providing re-rolls to charge. The 6+ ward save (a save that works against both unsaved wounds AND mortal wounds) is neat and it's wholly within 18" requirement is nothing to worry about. This combined with the fact Plague monks now have a 6+ armor save makes them doubly durable against no-rend attacks. I may be taking a risk taking it at 1250pts given it's 160pts not being spent on more bodies, but risk is the only way to test results. The plan with the army is relatively straightforward. Surround the Plague Furnace with two flanks of Plague Monks heavily buffed up and charging forward forcing the enemy's attention, while the rest of the army pushes up the other part of the board and forces them to split their forces. The Plague Priests will get stuck in on the front lines using Lead from the Back to remain healthy despite being in the thick of it, and the Furnace will (ideally) hang close enough to it's units of Monks that it doesn't awkwardly come to a halt. Looking forward to really stress-testing the list and having a great weekend rolling dice and pushing toy soldiers around for charity, see all of my NZ peeps there.

Won't lie to you fellow ratkin I actually forgot that the warscrolls get revealed a week before the book itself due to how the retail website works so waking up here in NZ to all these changes was like Christmas. But the kind of Christmas where you're not sure if the gifts are cool or terrible. Without further ado, let us get stuck into the warscrolls and talk about what’s different, what’s better, and what’s worse. As ever, we still don’t have points so a lot of this is potentially subjective. Verminlord Corruptor · Unique Spell changed so that it does more damage, but no longer spreads. · Plaguereapers don’t reroll all their hits anymore but inflict mortal wounds on unmodified 6s to hit. · Plaguemaster now does AoE mortals around the Verminlord rather than tick off creatures that have already been hurt by it. · Received a 5+ ward save. · Received a passive bravery debuff to nearby enemies. · Command ability now grants rerolls rather than additional attacks. Big Cheese himself came out looking pretty good. Can’t help but feel that Plaguereaper change will have an FAQ saying he can’t take the Sword of Judgement on top of that ability so goodbye to that. His prior weaknesses (no rend, terrible survivability) have been fixed, and his strengths (two casts, high attack volume) made it through unscathed. Good changes, though I will miss his old unique spell even if it wasn’t exactly good. Plague Furnace · Altar of the Horned Rat now just makes anything wholly within 13 inches ignore Battleshock. · The wrecking ball does far more damage but is a single target instead of AoE now. · The Plague Monk crew actually have attacks now. · It has the same ward save as the Verminlord Corruptor. · It has keywords that prevent it from receiving Look Out Sir now. Good lord GW the Plague Furnace didn’t actually need to be stronger. Yeah it can’t benefit from look out sir anymore, but they give it mini Crown of Conquest and a ward save? Like what? This thing only got better. Thank the Horned Rat I have 4. Plague Priest (Both Variants) · Tumbled into one warscroll. · Gained the attack profiles of both original priests. · The Plague Tome once per game activation is gone. · Pestilent Prayers are all reworked (addressed at the bottom of the post) This was always going to happen. Plague Tome + Wither was one of the strongest combos in the Chaos grand alliance, and people were starting to wake up to it. A shame that they had to change him, but it makes sense why they did. A small price to pay for the rest of the changes, as Iskandar Khayon said in Black Legion, a sacrifice is only a sacrifice if it diminishes the giver. Plague Monks · All once per game effects removed from command options. · Improved Rend on 6s and rats doing damage when they die left untouched. · Banner now causes 6s to wound to do double damage. · Doom Gong now boosts running and charge rolls. · Rerolls for two swords is still here, as is +1 attack for charging. The meat and bones of the army. This one was always going to get changed due to it being a troop unit with more rules than Kairos Fateweaver. But the changes are for the good… or so it seems. All the changes are really strong and benefit the unit. HOWEVER the warscroll specifies 1 in 20 for it’s command options, which likely means the minimum unit size has been upped to 20. Squashes a few of my tactics and will mean some changes. I will however roll with these changes and no doubt actually be better off with them (ideally). Plague Censer Bearers · Aura of damage effect is slightly better. · They receive bonuses for being near monks at a slightly larger range now. I expected nothing and wasn’t disappointed. I was terrified these guys would be the recipient of random buffing that meant I would need to convert another 20 ****** Stormvermin into these, thanks for actually having my back there GW. Plagueclaw Catapult · Receives artillery bonuses if there is 10 or more models in the unit, instead of more than 10. · Does a bravery debuff to victims. I was afraid this thing would get worse not because I use it (I have 3 fully panted to a high standard and they sit in a drawer somewhere) but because I’ve already ragged on it so hard, I wasn’t sure how I would somehow step that up. Pleased to say… that won’t be necessary. It’s slightly better. Changes to Pestilent Prayers and Noxious Prayers The original prayers on the warscrolls of the Plague Priest and Plague Furnace are now gone. They’ve been replaced with new effects that are fundamentally different with bizarre names. Disease-Disease! (Formerly Wither): So instead of making it easier to wound the victim ala Wither, this is ow the Gaunt Summoner unique spell on a 6. Boo hiss. Pestilence-Pestilence! (Formerly Plague Breath): It’s the same as before but the bubble is 3” not 2”. It also doesn’t affect Pestilens units, rather than Nurgle units. Neat. Filth-Filth (Formerly Bless with Filth): Thank Christ it’s still the same. No changes here, and what a boon that is. Rabid-Rabid! (Formerly Rabid Fever): Add 1 to the attacks of something nearby. So this is where they shoved the Verminlord command ability. I’ll forever miss the old one of this, my monks fighting after death is a MASSIVE part of my army’s reputation in NZ due to me taking 2 Furnaces and making sure it was always active. Pouring one out for you my lad. The Battalions Well, the book isn’t out yet so we can’t really say. I can however say that I know all the Pestilens battalions made it through in some form or another, so all I need to see now is what they actually do. Worry not, I will make another one of these posts as leaks emerge. Well, a lot to take in. Most of it really good news too. Let me know your thoughts and let’s talk pestilence in the Mortal Realms.

Hey there fellow Acolytes, figured I might as well do some posts relating to the rules spoilers we will be getting leading up to the battletome. To preface this, it's important to acknowledge all rules we are shown are in a vacuum, we have no idea what other changes may be coming that supplement or affect these rules. But that being said, let's dive straight into it. Kicking off strong. Now "Overwhelming Mass" is exactly the sort of thing I expected with a new Skaven book, it both rewards and strongly pushes taking large unit sizes, which often with Pestilens I wasn't wont to do due to it potentially setting up a bad battleshock. THAT BEING SAID, I think it is extremely, EXTREMELY unlikely the Plague Monk warscroll hasn't had more than a few changed to accommodate this rule. "Strength in Numbers" is also here making a return. I've sung this one's praises in previous blog posts before, it's neat it's clean and it does exactly what you need it to do. Glad you're still here with us buddy. Well well well. "Lead From the Back" is one hell of a rule. Sylvaneth Superstar Lee who I play regularly has started making a habit of shooting his allied Deepkin eels across the table at me and assassinating Priests / heavily damaging Furnaces, and this will provide some insurance against that. It also helps to negate the drawback of the Priests needing to be right in the thick of it with their 13" range prayers. "Scurry Away" is neat as hell. If the enemy doesn't activate into it in time, the Plague Priests and Plague Furnaces can just LEAVE the combat instead of fighting. If the Verminlords get this I'll be shocked, but if they do I'll be a very happy man. This one is a spell for Grey Seers specifically, but it's not far fetched to imagine we will be making a greater use of those under the new ruleset. "Splinter" is funny as hell, you can either use it to casually remove that Daemon Icon Bearer and prevent them from cheesing their way through the battleshock phase, or you can shoot for the moon and try get that cheeky 3+ and knock off a Blood Knight. It's neat and has decent enough utility. On top of all this there were a few little hints scattered throughout the article. "Pestilens players will find their allegiance abilities familiar" implies the return of Echoes of the Great Plagues, but given they gave us 4 other allegiance rules I wouldn't be surprised for it to be a little diminished. The confirmation that every clan has Command Traits and Artefacts means there's a good chance our existing ones have been reworked somewhat to accommodate the new rules. I imagine we'll have a few days of Flesh Eater Courts spoilers (boo, hiss, who cares) interspersed between glorious Skaven rule releases, so i'll check back in a few days when we have more info. As always, leave your thoughts below.

So i guess by the 60 notifications and 13 (a good omen) missed messages I woke up to on here it finally happened. Pestilens review of the book to come, I plan to leave the rest of the content to more educated minds than me. See you all then

NZ Masters Tournament 2018 Road to the Top Overview With the New Zealand Masters Tournament 3 weeks away, and list submissions due in 6 days, I figure it’s close enough to talk about my preparation for this tournament. Unsurprisingly, I’ll be running the Pestilens allegiance and going for the top, with the goal yet again of being the first Clan Pestilens player to win or place a major event. Over the last 2 months my list has gone through a heavy amount of changes, and I ran a version of the list at the recent Notorious Hammer tournament to test the waters as well as countless practice games with close friends to streamline the list and reach a standard of consistent performance I’m happy with. The NZ Masters tournament is an invitational tournament, where the top 20 players n the NZ rankings are offered places at the event and then the invites work there way up from 20 if people decline. The New Zealand tournament meta is relatively consistent and features roughly 20 consistent contenders at most tournaments with a few more players that make the odd tournament here and there, and most people are known clearly for the lists they take and change them rarely. The most popular armies currently are Stormcast Eternals, Nurgle and Legions of Nagash, with the rest of the players displaying a wide variety of forces from all Grand Alliances. This being the case, for anyone to be a contender for the top spots they have to pack tools that let their force deal with decent armor saves, long-range magic and large numbers. All the recent winners of local tournaments will be attending the Masters, and with every player being in the tier of rankings where they on average win 3 or more games in a 5-game event the competition is guaranteed to be fierce. The Event The tournament follows the same pattern as most tournaments, 5 games with 3 on day 1 and 2 more on the second day. Realm Artefacts are available for list building, but the Realm Spells and Realmscape effects will not be. While most NZ tournaments have relaxed painting standards, 3 color minimum at most with the incentive to paint your army being bonus hobby points for the soft scores, at the Masters a model that is not painted to a degree that demonstrates completion (based, highlighted, washed etc) will simply not be allowed to be used. The tournament is in the Kapiti Coast region of NZ, a 45 minute drive from the capital city hosted by the local wargaming club there, who hosted the event last year as well to great success. My List So without further ado, here is the list I’ll be taking in the tournament. Allegiance: Pestilens Mortal Realm: Aqshy Leaders Verminlord Corruptor (220) - General - Trait: Master of Rot and Ruin - Artefact: Magmaforged Blade Plague Furnace (180) - Artefact: Liber Bubonicus Plague Furnace (180) - Artefact: Thermalrider Cloak Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80) Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80) Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80) Battleline 40 x Plague Monks (240) - Foetid Blades 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades Units 5 x Gutter Runners (60) - Allies 5 x Gutter Runners (60) - Allies 40 x Clanrats (200) - Rusty Spear - Allies Battalions Congregation of Filth (170) Congregation of Filth (170) Total: 2000 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 2 Allies: 320 / 400 Wounds: 181 So to start from the top. The general of the list is the Verminlord Corruptor. I chose the Verminlord because him being the general means I can give him Master of Rot and Ruin, which means he can pray in the same manner as a Plague Priest (and as of AoS2, also generate Great Plagues on a 6 to pray), as well as him being incredibly mobile so his 12” range auto-pass battleshock range can get where it needs to go. While I would rather give him Sword of Judgement over the Magmaforged Blade, I needed to pick Aqshy for another artefact in the list so I reached a compromise. The twin Plague Furnaces each fulfil a different role. One has been given Liber Bubonicus, shoring up it’s prayer capabilities so it can follow the large unit of Plague Monks around and keep them buffed up. The second has been given the Thermalrider Cloak, a devastatingly useful artefact for a Plague Furnace by giving it an extra 4” move as well as granting it the ability to FLY. By snaking 10 rats around the furnace you can fire the thing out of the deployment zone and halfway up the table, potentially into a devastating charge onto an objective. The 3 Plague Priests are here to spam their breath prayer on turn 1 to get the Neverplague Great Plague nice and early, then spend the rest of the game harassing unit clumps with their breath and stacking debuffs on vital targets. Keeping one of these lads near the two 40-man units ensures battleshock tests won’t ruin them utterly. The Plague Monks are the life of the party. One unit of 40 that can have buffs stacked on it easily and refuse to get off objectives and four units of 10 to run around and suicide into targets and harass flanks. Plague Monks really aren’t something opponents can afford to ignore, but spending time killing them is time spent not targeting the enormous 12 wound threats in the leader slots. If the 40-rat unit isn’t bled down in the early game, the opponent has to deal with an enormous footprint that will tear a hole in anything that can’t commit to destroying it in a single turn, and even then, the Rabid Fever prayer means they’ll still get to take a swing before they die. Gutter Runners are, for lack of any better description, a pain in the ass. They pop up behind the enemy ranks and throw a bunch of throwing knives into them before running in and shanking them. The shooting attack isn’t exactly Skyfire tier but their melee attacks are nasty with decent hit and wound chances and innate -1 rend. Their main strength is that the enemy needs to spend troops on zoning these bad boys out, while dealing with the massed Plague Monks hurtling towards them from the front. Caught between a rock and a very stabby place, such as it were. Clanrats, god bless them, rarely need any kind of explanation why they’re in a list. They’ll run, they’ll charge, they’ll run away and they’ll do it all again. Retreat and Charge is a crazy feature of a very cheap unit, meaning they won’t get tied up fighting other chaff and their big unit size means getting rid of them means a hefty commitment. The only weakness of Clanrats is their propensity to cut and run the moment they start taking casualties. Well, it would be, if we weren’t living in glorious AoS2 and a battleshock test is one Command Point to get out of jail free. The battalions in this list are 2 Congregations of Filth, each comprised of 1 Plague Furnace and 2 or more units of Plague Monks. The only reason I’m taking this is to shave the list drops down to less than 10 to out-drop other armies that don’t take battalions and for the big unit of 40 getting to reroll its charges. Also I needed a bunch of artefacts and command points. Cheers congregation. List Building Process The list above is actually no less than the 17th Pestilens list I’ve ran, with the goal of creating the ideal list for my meta. After every tournament and serious practice game I have gone over what works, what doesn’t, and made the necessary adjustments. The list has gone from no less than 240 wounds at the start of the year, to running multiple endless spells and allied wizards with the Malign Sorcery drop, and for about 2 weeks dropping it completely and angrily painting my Gautfyre Scorch. The end result is unlikely to be a perfect list but is the most streamlined for my current situation and hopefully will prove as much at the masters. Conclusion I’m hoping this will be the even where I at last bring in the big win for my Clan and the group of very scary people breathing down my neck expecting results. If I win or at least podium, I will have completed the goal I set for myself 2 years ago when I finished the second tournament I’d attended with 0 victories and risen to the top of the highly talented NZ Warhammer scene. If I lose I’ll probably nuke my army from orbit and start an Eshin army for the memes. Anyhoo, see you all after Masters in my new blog Clan Eshin Best Clan!

Building a Skaven List Clan Pestilens The only Skaven clan with a “battletome” (it doesn’t feature any of the stuff modern tomes do, only warscrolls and a small handful of battalions, you need the General’s Handbook for the rest), Clan Pestilens were one of the first armies in the game to receive a book and their line repackaged into the new boxes with round bases and so on. Pestilens takes the existing theme of Skaven being mostly high damage, low durability and escalates it severely. Everything in the book is a melee powerhouse but lacks any form of self-defence. What Makes the Perfect Virus Plague Monks. Everything about this army hinges on and builds around it’s most numerous battleline option. The army features a whole SEVEN warscrolls (people with other armies will think this is a joke, but only Clan Skryre has more options than Pestilens), and all of these bar one are either Plague Monks, or something that makes Plague Monks more useful. It’s unsurprising that the exception, the Plagueclaw, is awful and almost never sees use. Plague Furnace and Plague Priests have access to prayers that buff Pestilens units, or debuff the enemy to make your army more effective at harming them. These prayers are also integrated into the army’s allegiance abilities in a key way. Allegiance to the Great Corruptor Pestilens have 2 allegiance abilities, one is extraordinarily simple and the other is somewhat more complex. Strength in Numbers gives 2 bravery for every 10 models in a unit instead of 1, which makes I far more viable to take 40 stacks of Plague Monks. Echoes of the Great Plagues is where the thinking comes in. Every natural roll of a 6 when praying allows a once per turn use of one of a selection of super plagues. Bar one, all of the Great Plagues hit the nearest target within 13 inches and have devastating effects like body blows of mortal wounds or even making enemies pile into each other. As your army will usually feature a stack of priests who will all be praying their maximum amount every turn, the odds of receiving these are good. MC Corruptor, Straight outta Ulgu Malign Sorcery gave us new artefact tables to draw from, and these come in handy as only 2 of the Pestilens artefacts (Liber Bubonicus and Vexler’s Shroud) are useful. My personal favourite is the Sword of Judgement from Ulgu, which causes d6 mortal wounds on every hit roll of a 6 or more, which single-handedly makes the Verminlord Corruptor the best Hero/Behemoth hunter in the game. Play around with these tables and find what suits you best. Ghur and Ghyran have some gems as well. Unfurling the Plague Scroll Given I’ve actually played well over 100 games with Clan Pestilens and started playing AoS with them, I feel somewhat confident in writing an example list. Over the course of my time in the NZ scene, I meant from 5 Major Defeats with this army to maintaining a win-rate of 3/5 games or better. While most wouldn’t consider this an impressive brag by any stretch, I feel it’s pretty good in a meta that mostly only features the battletome armies. Allegiance: Pestilens Mortal Realm: Ulgu Leaders Verminlord Corruptor (220) - General - Trait: Master of Rot and Ruin - Artefact: Sword of Judgement Plaguesmog Furnace (180) Plague Furnace - Artefact: Liber Bubonicus Congregation Furnace (180) Plague Furnace - Artefact: Doppelganger Cloak Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80) Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80) Battleline 5 x Plague Censer Bearers (60) 5 x Plague Censer Bearers (60) 40 x Plague Monks (240) - Foetid Blades 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades Units 10 x Gutter Runners (120) - Allies 10 x Gutter Runners (120) - Allies Battalions Congregation of Filth (170) Plaguesmog Congregation (140) Total: 2000 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 2 Allies: 240 / 400 Wounds: 166 Plan here is simple. Charge the enemy with the 40-man unit of Plague Monks with both the Bless with Filth and Rabid Fever buffs active. This unit will likely die to counter charges, but the active buffs will ensure it takes well over its own point cost with it. This is followed up in the next turn by both Furnaces hitting the enemy. Both will get full chance to fight as the one activated second has Doppelganger’s Cloak and so can’t be fought till it’s activated. The small units of Plague Monks and the Censer Bearers are there to follow up aggression and take objectives, and the Gutter Runners coming on behind the enemy force them to split their deployment, so they can’t present 100% of their defence against the front charge. I myself have ran this list several times and can confirm it will have no trouble taking down combat armies, but has trouble against heavy magic lists. To counteract this, utilize Gutter Runners to harass backfield mages and split the enemy’s focus. Don’t forget to remember the Plague Monk’s once per game activations and the radiant mortal wounds on the censers and furnaces. Go forth, and embrace the 3/2 glory that only an army getting absolutely murdered by Tzeentch can know.

Building a Skaven List Clan Moulder Rats on rats. Moudler is the Skaven clan characterised by two things; the massive weight of monsters and numbers it can bring to the table, and the staple reliance it’s players have on Forgeworld. A cursory look at the Moulder GW line will give you an entire Online Order Only army, most of which has lacklustre rules. Fortunately, daddy Forgeworld has our back. Brood Horrors and Wolf Rats are massively underutilized Skaven units but are both absolutely fantastic units, and very strong in the current meta. Building a Better Rat Moulder have no battalions since the gutting of the clawpacks, and no allegiance abilities either. This means we’re going high drop counts, and we’re going in with one artefact. A Moulder list hinges on it’s Packmasters, a specialized hero who provides a swathe of buffs to nearby Moulder monsters. He can whip a nearby unit to make it charge further and hit harder, and Moulder units near him double their bravery during the battleshock phase. Their battleline options are the cheap swarms of Giant Rats that get better the more there are, and the hard hitting Rat Ogors. Go Big or Go Home You have 4 behemoth slots at 2k games, and we need to fill all 4. The best unit for the job is the Brood Horror, a Forgeworld warscroll who boasts an impressive combat profile and the ability to heal itself for d3 wounds every turn. The Hellpit Abomination is also a contender for this slot, but their higher points cost, lack of durability and random modifiers tend to make them subpar compared to the Brood Horror. You’ll need speedy units for objectives, and again Forgeworld provides with the Wolf Rats. These fast moving units hit hard on the charge and are great targets for Packmaster buffs. The final piece of the puzzle is something that can tie the enemy up and keep them from counter-charging your Horrors and Wolves, and what better for this than massive units of Giant Rats. Their stats decline horrifically as they lose models, but at their best these things will slam hard into enemy infantry. Imperfect Monsters The army’s weaknesses lie in it’s vulnerability to battleshock and bravery shenanigans, it’s lack of wizards and absence of reliable shooting. Strong units to ally can be the Verminlord Corruptor, who’s command ability will aid your army while also providing a valuable wizard, and the Gutter Runners of Eshin who flank behind your horde and harass support heroes. Pestilens Plague Priests can buff the army’s wound rolls and allow rerolls to wound, making Giant Rats and Wolf Rats even more lethal on impact. The Horde Unleashed Here I’ve constructed a list designed to capitalize on the impact of the army. Given the enemy will be deciding who goes first more than likely, the best case scenario is going second and setting up a double turn. Praying for Wither on the enemy and then hitting them with the Giant Rats, as well as flashing the same enemy with the Plague Tome, will ensure the Giant Rats annihilate the front row. This leaves the Brood Horrors free to advance and take hit buffs from the Packmasters. Allegiance: Moulder Leaders Packmaster (60) - General - Herding Whip & Blade - Trait: Malicious Conqueror - Artefact: Crown of Conquest Packmaster (60) - Herding Whip & Blade Packmaster (60) - Herding Whip & Blade Verminlord Corruptor (220) - Allies Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80) - Allies Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80) - Allies Battleline 40 x Giant Rats (200) 40 x Giant Rats (200) 10 x Giant Rats (60) 10 x Giant Rats (60) Units 10 x Wolf Rats (200) 10 x Wolf Rats (200) Behemoths Brood Horror (160) Brood Horror (160) Brood Horror (160) Total: 1960 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 0 Allies: 380 / 400 Wounds: 195 This is one hell of a lot of bodies. Hit up your local Pestilens player for their spare decorative rats to get a lot of Giant Rats quickly. Purchase a can of Mournfang Brown and a small bucket of Agrax Earthshade. And finally, develop both an intimate understanding of the British Pound exchange rate and the virtue of patience as you deal with our Forgeworld Overlords.

Building a Skaven List Clan Skryre Gautfyre Skorch. Done. Go away. Ok fine, I’ll do this properly. First up in my series on building Skaven armies to a specific allegiance will be Clan Skryre. I chose Skryre because so far, they’re the most popular Skaven clan and actually see a lot of exposure in the percentages of tournaments. They’re also a relatively easy army to build, given most of the thinking is done for you with the Clan Skryre Enginecoven system. Allegiance to the Skryre Clans The Skryre ability gives you a bunch of tokens you can use to either reroll casting rolls, reroll hit and wound rolls, or add 1 to the damage characteristic of an attack. Essentially, they let you reroll casting rolls. The other two options are almost entirely pointless. As for traits and artefacts, the Cunning Creature trait will keep the Arch Warlock alive and Vigordust Injector will let you buff the Stormfiends, who by now you will understand are the army’s poster child. Start Your Enginecovens Clan Skryre features a battalion that is unique amongst the battalions of the game. It’s composed of one battalion, Clan Skryre, and 2 “Enginecovens”, which are sub battalions. A Clan Skryre battalion must be composed of at least 2 of these. As we can see from the image, the battalion requires at the very least an Arch Warlock and two Warlock Engineers. You’ll also need some Stormfiends and probably a Warp Lightning Cannon. From there you decide what kind of army you want to go with. Clan Skryre The Arch Warlock gets to reroll any one dice for himself each turn. He can however pass on this to give it to a Warlock Engineer on the table, who can in turn use it on any model in his Enginecoven. Handy for Arkhspark and Gautfyre who can hurt themselves with bad rolls. Whyrlblade Threshik Pick a Doomwheel or one of the Doomflayers and roll 2 dice, it moves that distance. If it’s a double, it also takes D3 wounds. Meh. Arkhspark Voltik Popular because it’s the cheapest Enginecoven. You shoot the Warp Lightning Cannon in the hero phase and roll a dice, on a 4+ it hurts itself. Pretty decent as you get more uses out of the cannon and its stats don’t decline with damage. It probably won’t die the first or second time, so you can get 4 shots out of 2 turns easily. Gascloud Chokelung The acolytes / wind-mortar battalion. This lets you throw a warpstone nuke at the enemy each hero phase, dealing D6 mortal wounds with a chance to fail and deal D3 wounds to the thrower. Rattleguage Warplock The dakka battalion. Lets a unit in the battalion fire during the hero phase, then take D3 wounds which can’t be avoided. Good on the Stormfiends as they won’t die to D3 mortal wounds. Gautfyre Skorch Hooooh boy, it’s the big bad wolf of Skaven competitive lists. This is the battalion that takes the concept of winning or losing the game on a single cheese strategy and just runs with it. The Warp Grinder can be set up anywhere on the table and then everything else gets to come up within 8 inches, with everything within 3 inches of the enemy taking wounds. Basically, this lets you drop a full unit of Warpfire Thrower Stormfiends right in front of the enemy, hose whatever you want with 18d3 mortal wounds, and then leave whatever happens to even survive boxed in with fiends. You can use this to kill every single hero in the enemy army. You can use this to obliterate everything in the enemy army via shooting, charging then the battleshock phase. Essentially, this gives your opponent cancer. Adding Allies Clan Skryre is the Skaven clan that doesn’t need to ally wizards, already having the best wizards in the Skaven line-up. Usually what Skryre needs is objective holders as the most effective Skryre build is the Gautfyre + Arkhspark build. Consider Clanrats, Gutter Runners and Plague Monks. A melee focused Stormfiend army will roll around on the enemy if you ally in Packmasters (Stormfiends have both the Skryre and Moudler keywords). Assemble the Doom Machine Here’s my take on Clan Skryre. I’ve gone for the most meta build, but have swapped out the usual 20 Clanrats for 2 units of 5 Gutter Runners. Their mobility and the fact they appear in the movement phase means they’re deployed after the Gautfyre comes down enabling you to better position them for taking objectives. The Acolytes are only there to take backfield objectives. Allegiance: Skryre Leaders Arch Warlock (140) - General - Trait: Cunning Creature - Artefact: Esoteric Warp Resonator Warlock Engineer (100) - Artefact: Vigordust Injector Warlock Engineer (100) Battleline 9 x Stormfiends (870) 5 x Skryre Acolytes (60) 5 x Skryre Acolytes (60) Units 1 x Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team (70) 5 x Gutter Runners (60) 5 x Gutter Runners (60) War Machines Warp Lightning Cannon (180) Battalions Clan Skryre (80) Arkhspark Voltik (70) Gautfyre Skorch (150) Total: 2000 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 1 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 99 This was a really long way of typing out Gautfyre Skorch is da best. Seriously, it’s super flexible and good in a meta where you don’t need to roll to hit with the Warpflame (get rekt look out sir). You will win or lose the game depending on how your hotdrop on top of the enemy goes. If they’re a static elite army like Stormcast or Sylvaneth, GGEZ. If they’re a bubblewrapping horde army like Moonclan or any chaos horde army with Crown of Conquest, touch luck buddy. Go with the Horned Rat and cheese in his name.