Who says February has to be boring? After a few weeks of some slow small to medium events, we get 3 big events all in one weekend. Right after the battlescroll too, what excellent timing!

This week we’ll go to the Netherlands for a Super-major, and then two major GTs in England the US.

Alliance Open Age of Sigmar Masters 2024

126-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Hoofddorp, NH, Nederland on February 24 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Erwan Margotin – Cities of Sigmar:
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vs.

Hadrien Torrin – Sons of Behemat:
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Thoughts

So, this list probably was designed right before the nerfs to this exact type of list to Cities of Sigmar and the player didn’t have time to change (or they figured they’d press ahead anyway). Steam Tanks (and commanders) all went up in points, probably necessitating cutting one or two. In addition the Warforger only gives 6s do mortals in melee, which is not nothing for a steam tank but certainly not their primary use.

Since fighting Sons of Behemat is basically just a DPS check, it begs the question if these changes reduce the damage output enough that they cant keep up. Looking at the score…apparently so.

Result

Sons of Behemat Victory – 20 – 0

Hadrien Torrin – Sons of Behemat – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

King Brodd, 2 Megas and some Mancrushers

Thoughts

The inclusion of Mancrushers is actually a bit of a surprise. While not unheard of it’s certainly uncommon. This list is otherwise what you expect from Sons of Behemat, they don’t have a ton of options after all. King Brodd, The Warstomper and the Gate-Breaker do their thing by camping on objectives, trying to get 1, 2 and more while the mancrushers can function both as screens and to escort King Brodd to keep his Ward up.

Jorin Kamper – Gloomspite Gitz – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

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Archetype

Gitz variety pack

Thoughts

Rather than settling for just moonclan, squigs or troggs this list goes for a bit of all 3. The Squigs lead the pack by charging in early and doing a bunch of Mortal Wounds. If your opponent somehow gets through that, they will have to contend Stabbas, latter likely holding a surprise unit of 10 Loonsmashas Fanatics to wreck your day.

Hiding in the back is the caster heroes and Fellwater Troggoths to offer some artillery fire and soften up any enemies trying to get close.

Probably the most unique and clever inclusion is the allied Daggok’s Stab-lads. Cutting down on the number of attacks will prevent a lot of stronger Hammers from cleaving right through the softer units (Which is well, most of them).

Leo Barby – Skaven – 3rd Place (Undefeated)

The List

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Archetype

Skaven variety pack

Thoughts

After weeks of seeing just censer bearers this is at least a little different. It’s still got Skabbik, you’d be crazy not to, but we still got Thanquol to cast the big spells and clear out hordes with his flamethrower, a Verminlord to bring the heat and Grey Seers to buff their allies.

There’s a ton of chaff to cut through, between all those plague monks and clan rats, supported by an abomination as a decent hammer and a wheel for a bit of whimsy (and mortal wounds.

The Best of the Rest

There were 16 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 4th – Martin Feingold – Skaven: No list uploaded (must have been good though)
• 5th – Federico Azzali – Blades of Khorne (Reapers of Vengeance): Dual Bloodthirsters and Be’lakor.
• 6th – Andrea Filhol – Blades of Khorne (Bloodlords): Skarbrand and Boomthirster.
• 7th – William Hatch – Soulblight Gravelords (Legion of Night): Soulblight good stuff.
• 8th – Erwan Margotin – Cities of Sigmar (Lethis): See showdown.
• 9th – Guglielmo Famiani – Soulblight Gravelords (Legion of Night): Soulblight good stuff.
• 10th – Henrik Tafler – Blades of Khorne (Reapers of Vengeance): Skarbrand and Boomthirster with the usual retinue of Khorne good stuff.
• 11th – Antoine Dumont – Disciples of Tzeentch (Guild of Summoners): Kairos and the usual caster heroes with chaff to hold the line.
• 12th – Arthur Devaud Aguilella – Seraphon (Fangs of Sotek): Kroak and Slann duo with the usual heroes and Saurus.
• 13th – Nicolas Tassone – Lumineth Realm-Lords (Zaitrec): Herohammer with Avalenor, Light of Elatharion, Scinari Cathaller and the usual dawnriders, wardens and bladelords.
• 14th – Dante Amadeus – Skaven: Thanquol and Master Molders with Rat Ogres and Hell Pit Abominations
• 15th – Marc Elschner – Blades of Khorne: Reapers of Vengeance: Skarbrand and two bloodthirsters with chaff and cannons to accompany them.
• 16th – Luca Quinale – Slaves to Darkness (Knights of the Empty Throne: Lots of Varanguard lead by a Nurgle Daemon Prince.
• 17th – Mathew Davies – Daughters of Khaine (Khailebron): Morathi leads 15 Bloodstalkers, 2 units of Shadowstalkers and Heartrenders for battle tactics.
• 18th – Matthew Spencer – Stormcaster Eternals (Knights Excelsior): Lots o’ Annihilators.
• 19th – Hugo Rikken – Blades of Khorne (Reapers of Vengeance): Skarbrand and Boomthirster

Sheffield Slaughter 2024

94-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, GB on February 24 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Phil Marshall – Nighthaunt: The Scarlet Doom:
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vs.

Jack Armstrong – Seraphon:
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Thoughts

(As a note, although BCP says Jack played Flesh Eater Courts, his list is Serahon)

Yeah this is…an awful setup for Nighthaunt. Since Nighthaunt don’t care about rend, the solution is to bombard them with as many Mortal Wounds as possible. Look at that, Seraphon, arguably the biggest “spam mortal wounds” army in the game to ruin their day.

Result

Seraphon Victory – 20 – 0

Jack Armstrong – Seraphon – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Slann Good Stuff

Thoughts

Your usual suspects of Kroak and the Slann and two skink wizards dropping Mortal Wound bombs on opponents from a distance while the Astrolith Bearer helps boost their casting. The Saurus Guard will protect them from stray fire, while the Saurus Warriors march up and clobber any enemies they can engage with.

Max Barton – Blessed Sons – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

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Archetype

Glottkin and Maggoth Lords

Thoughts

These types of super elite Glottkin and Maggoth Lord lists are really tearing things up lately. It’s not surprising why, either. The Glottkin is probably priced even a bit (just a bit) cheaper than the value he brings, and the Maggoth Lords are all very solid combatants, with one being one of the best casters in the army.

The Best of the Rest

There were 2 more players on 4-0-1 records and 12 more on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd – Philip Springall – Lumineth Realm-Lords (Alumnia): Herohammer and a lot of Bladelords
• 4th – Danny Elvestad – Ossiarch Bonereapers (Null Myriad) – Katakros with 30 mortek, harvester, deathriders and 6 immortis Guard.
• 5th – Dan Brad – Blades of Khorne (Reapers of Vengeance): Triple Bloodthirsters
• 6th – Ritchie Mccalley – Flesh-Eater Courts (Hollowmourne): Dual Regents with a grab bag of different units.
• 7th – Mick Wendel – Disciples of Tzeentch (Guild of Summoners):  Usual entourage of Tzeentch foot casters and acolytes with Pink Horrors, Enlightened and Ogroid Theradons for some punch.
• 8th – Tom Mawdsley – Skaven: Screaming Bell, Dual Verminlords and Plague Priests with Censer Bearers and Underworld Warband.
• 9th – Geir Vedeld – Blades of Khorne (Skulfiend Tribe): Dual Bloodthirsters with tons of chaff to sacrifice.
• 10th – Phil Marshall – Nighthaunt (The Scarlet Doom): See Showdown.
• 11th – Tom Blaxall – Ogor Mawtribes (Meatfist): Ogor soup.
• 12th – Benjamin Flodda – Ossiarch Bonereapers (Null Myriad): Identical list to Danny (4th place)
• 13th – Andy (Michael) Brown – Kharadron Overlords (Barak-Zon): Dual Frigates with Kharadron good stuff.
• 14th – Tom Patton – Kharadron Overlords (Barak-Zon): Also Dual Frigates with (different) Kharadron good stuff.
• 15th – Dominic Stonebridge – Stormcast Eternals (Hammers of Sigmar): Herohammer with Karazai and Ionus leading and Vanquishers and Fulminator units.
• 16th – Alex Bruce – Fyreslayers (Vostarg): Usual Fyreslayers good stuff but making use of that new 2″ range on Vulkites.

Frontline Gaming Cherokee 2024 Age of Sigmar GT

67-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Cherokee, NC, United States on February 23 2024. The 5th and 6th round of the tournament was a series of 4 man brackets, so we’ll cover the 4 lists that made it to the top (4-0) bracket. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Geomantic Pulse

Mike McAbee – Nighthaunt (The Scarlet Doom):
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vs.

Chai Tzola – Blades of Khorne (Skullfiend Tribe):
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Thoughts

This battle is basically going to come down to who gets the charges they want first. Nighthaunt as an army desperately want to charge to get their debuffs off, while the Khorne army’s Blood Thirsters and Skullreapers want to charge first. Khorne has some screens in the form of the furies, while the Mymourn Banshees can play the same role for Nighthaunt, since their services of eating up spells is not required.

It looks like Khorne got what they wanted with the absolutely decimating score, and it’s not terribly surprising. Skarbrand alone can deal out a crazy amount of mortal wounds, Nighthaunt’s enemy, and he likely did a lot of work single handedly.

Result

Blades of Khorne Victory – 17 – 3

Chai Tzola – Blades of Khorne – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Twin bloodthirster and Skullreapers

Thoughts

We’ve seen this list before, Skarbrand and a Boomthirster working in Tandem is really hard for many lists to manage, short of some wild dice rolls. The mortal characters following behind help support them while the troops help hold objectives and soften things up.

The use of Skullreapers in the Skullfiend tribe is a bit unique, they get Strike First with an 8 on the charge which is huge for possibly clearing out 1-2 units before the Bloodthirsters even swing. The furies make a nice screen to get some early blood tithes once they’re wiped out.

Mike McAbee – Nighthaunt  – 2nd Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Nighthaunt Good Stuff

Thoughts

Nothing too crazy here, just commitment to the best the army has to offer. Olynder functions as the center of the army, casting and handing out debuffs while the other characters debuff enemies and buff friendlies.

Bladegheist revenants on the charge do some serious damage, especially with their new 2″ attack range. Two blocks of 20 can do some serious damage, while the Spirit hosts can absorb some hits that try and go past them into the characters.

Walter Brock – Ossiarch Bonereapers – 2nd Place

Army List - Click to Expand

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Arkhan and Mortisans with Legion of Night Regiment of Renown

Thoughts

This is a unique list, using the new Regiment of Renown. The usual standbys of Arkhan as caster supreme, and a Mortisan to offer support with their excellent Artefacts for healing, along with 6 Immortis Guard are pretty standard.

Mannfred’s regiment has some utility to offer OBR, both offering some useful screens in the form of fell bats and grave guard (Something the pricy OBR often lack) and these units can teleport which makes up for OBR’s usually very poor utility.

Jon Anderson – Lumineth Realm-Lords – 4th Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Lumineth good stuff

Thoughts

Nothing too crazy here, we have the usual suspects of Lumineth. A cathaller and Calligrave as your basic casters, Bladelords to protect them, Wardens to hold the line and Dawnriders to function as outriders. Alarith has gained some traction in recent months as a Monster that can do some serious damage as a hammer.

The surprise inclusion is that of the Tidecaster, and likely for the warscroll spell which causes a -1 to hit. Definitely makes those wardens more annoying to take down.

Wrap Up

Whew, that was a lot. Tune in next week for another exciting round of events as we continue to look at how the meta develops.

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