Age of Sigmar Battle Report: Adepticon 2022 GT

I’m not sure how to open this other than to say that it was a joy to return to Adepticon after 2 years away. The cancellation of Adepticon in 2020 was the event that cemented to me that the COVID pandemic was going to be a big deal. I had started a new job a few months prior, and didn’t yet accumulate a ton of vacation time, so I burned everything I had and even planned to use personal days. My supervisor told me “I’m going to allow this, but you won’t have any time after this so make sure it’s what you want.” I knew it was, Adepticon was my most important event of the year.

Then a week later it all got cancelled and I got to tell my boss not to worry about it after all.

2021 came and went and another Adepticon was cancelled, of course, but this year we got to return. It became a ritual in the past years of Adepticon for me to pack everything in a car and head from Boston to Chicago, so I could carry more stuff and not have to trust the TSA would get everything there intact. Last time I did it alone, which was a risky venture but this time I was accompanied by my husband and my friend James “LunarNight” Aguiar and it was a great trip, though I may finally be at my limit to be able to drive 14 hours there and back.

At the event I had a fully loaded schedule. Thursday and Friday I did the team tournament with patron GossipGhoul and 2 of his friends. The whole thing was a lot of fun and I personally came out 3-2, though helped by having Gargant and Lumineth players on the team.

Saturday and Sunday was the GT and I brought my Ossiarch Bonereapers yet again. A list I’m seeing pop up frequently at a lot of events caught my eye and I decided to give it a shot.

RagnarokAngel's Ossiarch Bonereapers - Click to Expand

Allegiance: Ossiarch Bonereapers
– Legion: Petrifex Elite
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis (450)
Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (360)
Liege-Kavalos (185)
 General
 Command Trait: Mighty Archaeossian
 Artefact: Godbone Armour

Battleline
20 x Mortek Guard (280)*
 Nadirite Blade and Shield
 Reinforced x 1
10 x Mortek Guard (140)*
 Nadirite Blade and Shield
10 x Mortek Guard (140)*
 Nadirite Blade and Shield

Behemoths
Gothizzar Harvester (215)

Artillery
Mortek Crawler (215)

Core Battalions
*Hunters of the Heartlands

Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 100
Drops: 8

Previously I had written off both the Harvester and the Crawler. The Harvester is a bit of a glass cannon, if it can get into combat and do it’s job it’s exceedingly effective, doing its fair share of damage and bringing back dead Mortek. The downside is it’s only got 10 wounds and a 4+ save, it’s pretty sad for a monster and drops off in damage pretty fast when it gets injured. It’s an easy Monster kill point if your opponent has a fair amount of range. I decided what the hell and to try it again.

Similarly, I was iffy on the Crawler. It fires 3 shots (4 if you have a Liege or Katakros nearby to grant it an extra attack), they have no rend but 5 damage at max health. So it won’t always hit but when it does it tends to gib stuff. I found it extremely swingy and wrote it off. Not having any sort of ranged was proving a huge problem so I also decided to give it another shot.

The rest of the list is self explanatory, Katakros hands out a slew of buffs and alongside Arkhan can bring back dead models/heal injured models. Arkhan is the best caster in the army, with a +3 Cast/Unbind and knowing all the spells. The Liege allows you to spread out the range you can use the powerful Endless Duty command ability over a larger area. Mortek are the workhorse of the army, able to move deceptively quickly thanks to Relentless Advance giving them a 7″ movement speed before running, and with Katakros and the Liege you are usually swimming in Relentless Discipline.

Round 1 – Derek Senter’s Lumineth Realm Lords (Savage Gains)

Me deploying in vain to avoid the incoming shitstorm
Derek Senter's Lumineth Realm-lords - Click to Expand

Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords
– Great Nation: Zaitrec
– Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Vanari Lord Regent (155)*
 General
 Command Trait: Fast Learner
 Artefact: Gift of Celennar
 Extra Spell: Total Eclipse
 Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light
Archmage Teclis and Celennar, Spirit of Hysh (740)*

Battleline
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)*
 Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)*
 Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh
30 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (510)*
 Lore of Hysh: Ethereal Blessing
 Reinforced x 2
10 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (170)*
 Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh

Endless Spells & Invocations
Emerald Lifeswarm (60)
Umbral Spellportal (70)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 82
Drops: 1

Immediately I knew this was going to be a problem. Most armies struggle against Sentinel Spam but Ossiarchs in particular don’t have many answers. Without deep strike, or teleport there’s no real way to hide from these guys or get up close to them. You have to weather the storm and hope for the best.

I tucked everything off in the corner, hoping it would help. My opponent went first and I popped Finest Hour on Katakros to try and cut off any damage I could. He got Lambent Light and Power of Hysh off and fired away. Katakros did survive with 4 wounds left, but it wasn’t really enough. I took my next turn and moved up, lost the double turn and lost Katakros. At that point there really wasn’t much I could do. He shielded his Sentinels well with Wardens and I couldnt get in there to mess them up. It boiled down to picking off my stuff one by one with Sentinels. I knew from the start it’d be an uphill battle but it just wasn’t going to work out. I took the first loss.

Round 2 – Vince Ptacek’s Ironjawz (Veins of Ghur)

Vince Ptacek's Ironjawz - Click to Expand

Allegiance: Ironjawz
– Warclan: Bloodtoofs
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)**
 Boss Gore-hacka and Choppa
 Artefact: Destroyer
 Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un
Orruk Warchanter (115)**
 Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (115)**
 Warbeat: Killa Beat
Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)
 General
 Command Trait: Touched by the Waaagh!
 Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork

Battleline
6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)*
 Jagged Gore-hackas
 Reinforced x 1
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)**
 Jagged Gore-hackas
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*
 Pig-iron Choppas
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)
 Pig-iron Choppas
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)
 Pig-iron Choppas
5 x Orruk Brutes (160)
 Pair of Brute Choppas

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Core Battalions
*Hunters of the Heartlands
**Warlord

Total: 1980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 141
Drops: 10

My second round was against Vince, one of the sons of the couple over at Partners At War. I fought Vince and his mom, Tracy in the Team Tournament. He put up a good fight with his Ironjawz and I was very excited to take on the full force of his army.

Veins of Ghur is a very unique mission, on turn 1 the objectives don’t appear. On turn 2 one will drop somewhere in the middle of the field, and on turn 3 one will drop on each player’s side. To make up for the delay in being able to score, each point is worth whatever turn it is (so on turn 3 each one is worth 3 points, etc.). This requires slower armies to deploy more cautiously, so they can move in whatever direction they need to.

Shockingly, my 8 drop list beat Vince and I got to make the call. Ironjawz can very easily make the turn 1 charge but I decided to risk it and let him go first. He hesitated and didn’t move up, not knowing where the objectives would appear. Rather than commit he tried to cast Great Green Hand of Gork, but Arkhan shut that down. On my turn I moved up cautiously, trying to keep most of my forces to the center-left so I could anticipate where it would go. I kept one unit of Mortek and my Liege on the right side in case it dropped there.

On turn 2 the objective dropped fortuitously on my left side, and I won the roll off. I quickly shifted everything over to the objective, building my castle up with a line of Mortek and everything else behind. I waited, and Vince moved everything he could up to me. He used all his buffs and slammed his piggies and Warboss into my Mortek, turning them into paste. I was honestly pretty shocked, I always underestimate just how much damage they do on the charge. Despite all that, I managed to hold control, with Katakros being Metamorphosis’d for the extra models on the point.

Round 3 was make or break. The objective on my side dropped on the right, conveniently where I left a 10 man Mortek and my Liege to anticipate where it would land. I won the round 3 roll off and had Katakros and the Harvester punch back. They managed to prove themselves and thin their numbers, and Katakros even brought the war boss down to 3 wounds with the help of a Curse of Years from Arkhan. Vince tried to make up for it but just couldn’t kill anything, even the unit I left alone back in my deployment to anticipate the incoming objective (which thankfully, landed right in front of them) managed to hold enough models to keep the point. Vince conceded at the bottom of Round 3, leaving me at 1-1.

Round 3 – John Henderson’s Skaventide (Feral Foray)

John Henderson's Skaventide - Click to Expand

Allegiance: Skaventide
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Grey Seer on Screaming Bell (265)*
 General
 Command Trait: Master of Magic
 Lore of Ruin: Skitterleap
Master Moulder (95)*
 Artefact: Rabid Crown
Master Moulder (95)*
 Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
 Universal Spell Lore: Levitate
Master Moulder (95)*

Battleline
6 x Giant Rats (40)*
6 x Giant Rats (40)
6 x Giant Rats (40)
6 x Giant Rats (40)
6 x Giant Rats (40)
6 x Giant Rats (40)
6 x Giant Rats (40)
6 x Rat Ogors (285)***
 Mutation: Toughened Sinews
 Reinforced x 2
6 x Rat Ogors (285)***
 Mutation: Insanely Rabid
 Reinforced x 2

Behemoths
Hell Pit Abomination (240)**
 Mutation: Toughened Sinews
Hell Pit Abomination (240)**
 Mutation: Best-best Warpstone Spikes

Endless Spells & Invocations
Warp Lightning Vortex (90)

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Alpha-Beast Pack
***Hunters of the Heartlands

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1970 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 142
Drops: 15

Despite all my events I’ve attended recently, I’ve never fought Skaven before, not even once. Further still, this was a very unusual list which put me on the back foot early. All I really knew was that the Gnawholes allowed teleport, so I tried to deploy tactically to block him sneaking up behind me and dropping it.

John put his Giant Rants up front as screens for most of his actual stuff, I let him move up turn 1 and then charged in, not knowing what I was getting into. Hell-Pit Abominations are nasty. They get to do Mortal Wounds to every model within 3″, and at full health that procs on a 2+. I was completely unprepared for this and that’s on me for not doing my homework first. I also underestimated how good a beat stick Rat Ogors are. In short I put things in the wrong place, I should have put my 20 man mortek up against the rat ogors and my Harvester against the Abomination. I did not and they were both wrecked. So this required me to act with more haste.

Katakros got into the fray and Arkhan ran for a long bomb on the other side. My opponent had moved everything dangerous up so this let Arkhan hold objectives on my opponent’s side for longer and tip things in my favor. If he got attacked, Protection of Nagash would let him get out of there.

It was a long fight, with one of the funniest parts being his Gray Seer teleporting to cast Warp Lightning Vortex, getting a bad roll and blowing himself up. In the end I managed to hold tight and eek out a win as Katakros and the Mortek Crawler did most of the heavy lifting killing stuff.

Round 4 – Lisa Quebedeux’s Cities of Sigmar (Tectonic Interference)

Lisa Quebedeux's Cities of Sigmar - Click to Expand

Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar
– City: Tempest’s Eye
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Battlemage on Griffon (255)*
 Mount Trait: Soaring Guardian
 Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (280)*
 General
 Command Trait: Hawk-eyed
 Artefact: Patrician’s Helm
 City Role: General’s Adjutant
 Lore of Eagles: Strike of Eagles

Battleline
10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (105)
10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (105)
10 x Freeguild Guard (85)*
 Halberds
10 x Freeguild Guard (85)*
 Halberds
10 x Freeguild Guard (85)*
 Halberds
10 x Freeguild Handgunners (105)*
10 x Freeguild Handgunners (105)*
10 x Freeguild Pistoliers (210)
 Reinforced x 1
10 x Freeguild Pistoliers (210)**
 Reinforced x 1
10 x Freeguild Pistoliers (210)**
 Reinforced x 1
5 x Freeguild Pistoliers (105)**

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Hunters of the Heartlands

Total: 1945 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 164
Drops: 7

Day 2 opened with disaster. Due to a Mr. Bean series of mishaps, somebody accidentally pushed me into a door frame holding my tray with models, crushing a lot of them. I had to move quickly to do field repairs before the event. Thankfully someone saw me in my desperation and came by with glue accelerant and helped me repair what I could. I thankfully got everything back together not too much worse for the war. One of the benefits of Bonereapers is everything is big and chunky so it’s ok if it looks a little dinged up.

As for the game itself, what a unique list. You don’t see Tempest Eye as much as some other cities and Lisa’s list really leans into what the subfaction is about: Speed and shooting.

Lisa won on drops. She decided to go first and charge me, probably a smart move. I sat there and waited. I had deployed as defensively as possible, since even though shooting is my danger zone, at least here it wasn’t a lot of Mortal Wounds on 6s shooting. Her pistolleers managed to remove one 10 man mortek squad but everything else mostly managed to hang on intact. She charged in with the horses to tie them down and my work got to begin in earnest.

I started shredding through everything as much as I could. Ultimately her list was all glass cannons, once they got into combat I could make easy work of all of them. I won the roll off and kept pushing up and up, taking down what I could turn by turn. The first round, with Lisa moving all her units took almost an hour so by round 3 we were running out of time, but she was ready to concede. I had removed almost everything except her General (who resurrected with the artefact and moved away).

This was easily my favorite game of the event. It made me feel like what Ossiarch Bonereapers should, which is standing to brace for the hit and then once the dust clears grinding back round after round until victory is achieved. Lisa was a great opponent and one of the finalists for best painted.

Round 5 – Mark Aescht’s Daughters of Khaine (Power Struggle)

Mark Aescht's Daughters of Khaine - Click to Expand

Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine
– Temple: Hagg Nar
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Hag Queen (105)**
 Artefact: Khainite Pendant
 Prayer: Blessing of Khaine
Morathi-Khaine (330)**
The Shadow Queen (330)**
Bloodwrack Shrine (190)**
 General
 Command Trait: Devoted Disciples
 Artefact: The Ulfuri
 Lore of Shadows: Steed of Shadows

Battleline
15 x Blood Stalkers (540)*
 Reinforced x 2
20 x Witch Aelves (240)*
 Pairs of Sacrificial Knives
 Reinforced x 1
10 x Witch Aelves (120)*
 Pairs of Sacrificial Knives

Units
5 x Khinerai Lifetakers (90)

Endless Spells & Invocations
Heart of Fury (55)

Core Battalions
*Hunters of the Heartlands
**Warlord

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 101
Drops: 8

I struggle against Daughters the same reason I struggle against Lumineth: Lot’s of ranged mortals.

We also do need to discuss an elephant in the room: The terrain at Adepticon sucked. Not a lot of Line of Sight blocking terrain (The rock in the picture above was doing a lot of heavy lifting) so I had to rely on the dice and well….they did not.

Mark won the roll off, so he finished first. He had me go first so I opened by casting Metamorphosis on Katakros and doing the Triple Monster Ferocious Advance, trying to get an early lead. Mark played cagey, not moving his witch aelves up too far to engage and settled for two solid turns of shooting.

I cast all my buffs on the 20 man Mortek (Mystic Shield, Reinforce Battle Shields and Empower Nandirite Weapons) and charged in. Daughters become more dangerous as the game goes on so I was hoping to remove some threats from the field early but I just could not roll for crap. The 20 Witch Aelves whethered my barrage of attacks with some below-average rolling and then Mark’s above average rolls wiped them out next turn. While I’d say the shadow queen was an under-estimated threat she really didn’t do all that much, she didn’t need to.

After that the dice just didn’t go my way on this one, at all. I think it could have been a different game if I had gotten a few double turns or didn’t roll so poorly on so many attack rolls. Mark just kept taking the top the entire round and rolling hot. Still, Daughters of Khaine are a tough nut to crack with their 5+ Ward from the command trait and rerollable basically everything. I feel confident I did what I could with a bad hand. Mark was a great guy and a gracious winner.

Wrapping Up

That’s my second event I ended with a 3-2, which I feel pretty good about. Ossiarch are still an underperforming faction and I think if a few things went just a bit different on Game 5 I could have finally clinched that 4-1 that still eludes me. At the very least I know that the 3-2 I got back at Everwinter wasn’t just a fluke and seems to begin to show an upward trend that I hope I can continue.

Adepticon was a blast and a joy to return to after so many years away. I was glad to meet up with people I hadn’t seen in a long time and play a bunch of games. It was the first GT for a few friends who had come along, too and they had a blast in the environment.

My next event is Atlantic City Open June 10th to the 12th. Not sure what I’m bringing yet, I may keep the current list or may bring something else entirely.

If you have any questions or comments drop one below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.