After a slower week last week we’re back with a vengeance with four, count em four events. As the meta begins to take shape around the new GHB we see which armies are truly rising to the top in the new caster heavy scene.

Summer Slaughter 2023

This was a 113 person event in Stowe, Pennsylvania in the United States.

Kaleb Walters – Guild of Summoners: Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Adam Lindsey – Boulderhead: Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

It’s pretty clear on its face that Tzeentch has the upper hand here. In the more caster centric meta it’s basically tailor made for Tzeentch to succeed while a single Nullstone Icon is not likely to be able to hold back the tide of sorcery.  That said to be able to rock up a fully Beastclaw Raiders list into the finals is damned impressive and Adam holds out better than you’d think.

Result – Disciples of Tzeentch Victory – 13-17

1st Place – Kaleb Walters – Guild of Summoners

Archtype

Lord of Change summoning engine with Krondspine for support

Thoughts

Put another one on the scoreboard for Kaleb who seems to always do well with Tzeentch, rain or shine and right now it is very much Tzeentch’s happy place. With the amount of casters available Kaleb can easily get a second Lord of Change on the board on turn 1. The Lack of horrors, likely due to their increased cost, does mean less chaff to help hold back the tide of the enemy. However due to the overwhelming amount of Mortal wounds available, it often weakens the enemy before they even get close. If that doesn’t work, he can use the new season spell Rupture on his own Krondspine to get a bonus to casting Round 1 and then cut the cord as soon as necessary and make it wild so he can slam into his opponent with a 2+ to hit without burning a command point. Nasty Stuff.

2nd Place – Ted Adams – Null Myriad

The List

The List-Click to Expand

Archetype

Ossiarch Bonereapers Good Stuff, in Null Myriad Variety

Discussion

Pretty no frills – a lot of Ossiarch Lists tend to look similar and the subfaction is interchangeable based on what you what to do with it. Katakros hands out buffs like cand and assists the Boneshaper in healing and topping off nearby units – Healing up to 3 Immortis Guard models in a single unit with the right dice rolls. The Soulmason knows all the spells, bringing casting flexibility (with the first spell unable to be denied, thanks to the command trait)

The units are no frills. 2 units of 6 immortis guard are very hard to crack and count as 2 on the point. Deathriders meanwhile help compensate for the poor speed on OBR to snag some objectives and to complete the Ossiarch Trample the Defiant battle tactic.

3rd Place – Nate Trentanelli – Nighthaunt

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Hexwraith spam supported by Craventhrone and Banshees.

Thoughts

Nate continues to dominate with Nighthaunt regardless of their reputation. With the Hexwraiths Nate can charge an enemy with multiple units to do mortal wounds or run a whole 24″ to grab distant points as needed while the Craventhrone Guard offer fire support and the Banshees can eat spells that get through unbind attempts.

The Guardian of Souls gives an important +1 to wound buff to several units and Reikenor is one of the best casters in the army. Finally the Knight of Shrouds gives a crucial free all Out Attack to a unit in order to maximize damage.

The Best of the Rest

There was one 4-0-1 and 15 4-1s at this event:

4th Place – Jiwan noah Singh – Legion of Night: Mannfred, a Vampire Lord and the Warcry Warband leading 60 Zombies, 20 Dire Wolves, 20 Grave guard with some bats for screens.
5th Place – Austin Thimesch – Grinnin’ Bladez: Gobbsprakk and dual shamans, Killaboss and Snatcha Boss leading 40 Gutrippaz and 12 Man Skewers.
6th Place – Jacob Brandon – Grinnin’ Bladez: Similar to last list, but triple Shamans for three units of Man Skewers.
7th Place – Joe Shoemaker – Big WAAAGH: Herohammer heavy list with Brutes and Ardboyz with a 6 man Gore-Gruntas for the heavy charges.
8th Place – Graham Wrenn – Darkwalkers: 6 Bullgors and 6 Tzaangor Enlightened.
9th Place – Adam Lindsey – Boulderhead: See showdown.
10th Place – William Hatch – Vyrkos Dynasty: 40 Graveguard lead by Belladomma, Vampire Lord and Torgillus.
11th Place – Nicolas Walters – Bloodtoofs: Megaboss on Maw-crusha, Weirdnob Shaman and dual Warchanted with a surprise ally Skragrott leading Brutes and Gore-Gruntas.
12th Place – David Dill – Breaker Tribe: Dual Gatebreakers and a Kraken-eater lead 3 Mancrushers.
13th Place – Connor Sell – Jaws of Mork: Grab bag of different Gitz stuff, with a focus on an astounding 36 man squig herd.
14th Place – Julian Lesenge – Barak-Nar: KO good stuff with an Ironclad and Frigate, with an interesting addition of Hammerers and a Rune Priest.
15th Place – Bill Hennesy – Cabalists: Knights and Varanguard with a Krondspine and Untamed beasts and Corvus Cabal.
16th Place – Andrew Weinman – Legion of Night: Mannfred, 2 necromancers and vampire lord lead a frankly irresponsible number of summonable chaff.
17th Place – Basil Inferrara – Koatl’s Claw: The usual Seraphon Hero retinue leading a ton of Warriors and Celestant Prime makes a guest appearance.
18th Place – Matt Lorah – Fangs of Sotek: So. Many. Raptadons.
19th Place – Dakota Tanner – Null Myriad: Arkhan with 30 mortek, Deathriders, Morghast Archai and 6 immortis guard.

Feud on the Fens

This was a 60 person event in Brampton, Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom.

Russell Taylor – Hagg Nar: Army List- Click to Expand

Allegiance: Ossiarch Bonereapers

– Legion: Null Myriad

– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant

– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders

Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (380)*

Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis (460)

Mortisan Boneshaper (140)*

– General

– Command Trait: Aura of Sterility

– Artefact: Artisan’s Key

– Lore of Ossian Sorcery: Reinforce Constructs

Battleline

5 x Kavalos Deathriders (180)*

– Nadirite Blade and Shield

5 x Kavalos Deathriders (180)*

– Nadirite Blade and Shield

5 x Kavalos Deathriders (180)*

– Nadirite Blade and Shield

6 x Immortis Guard (440)*

– Reinforced x 1

Endless Spells & Invocations

Soulstealer Carrion (40)

Core Battalions

*Battle Regiment

Total: 2000 / 2000

Reinforced Units: 1 / 4

Allies: 0 / 400

Wounds: 114

Drops: 2[/expand]

Thoughts

Well this is an interesting match up indeed. DOK has been dragging in the lists as of late and seeing one back on top sure is something. Null Myriad is a strong protector against The Withering but won’t do much good against Mind Razor, the actual spell to worry about. With that spell Daughters might be able to crack through the shell of OBR. It’s a close bout that ultimately ends in a Morathi Victory.

Result – Daughters of Khaine Victory – 11- 9

1st Place – Russell Taylor – Hagg Narr

Thoughts

This list does away with the Blood Stalker archers, which many have considered to be too expensive at this point to realistically run (and don’t do enough damage in lower numbers to be worth it) to take advantage of the Primal Dice to cast Mind Razor on 15 girl block of Sisters. Smart play, with Hagg Narr they’ll be at max combat effectiveness by round 3, but still do a lot of damage leading up to that. The Witch Aelves make great screens for the girls and objective holders, while the Khinerai allow a super simple battle tactic and can be versatile as hell once they come in.

The Tree Lord is an interesting inclusion to give a third hammer to worry about alongside Morathi and the Blood Sisters. You don’t see them allied in much but they do decent damage and can inflict strike-last to keep your opponent from hitting your delicate Daughters first.

2nd Place – Ritchie Mcalley – Morgaunt

Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

This sort of list has been gaining some traction thanks to the new points cuts bringing down the cost of Flesh Eater Courts and Nagash. Unlike other Death armies, Flesh Eater Courts don’t really have recursion. Their thing is to use command abilities to bring in more units past the 2k cap. Nagash gives them that, allowing 30 Crypt Ghouls to come back as a unit of 15 even if you do wipe them out. The principle is the same as the more popular soulblight lists right now, bog the board down in bodies, and even if they do manage to wipe a unit, just bring it back and do it again.

The Best of the Rest

There were nine 4-1s at this event:

3rd – Jack Armstrong – Avengorii: Terrorgheist and Zombie Dragon Monster Mash
4th – Owen Jackson – Reapers of Vengeance: Dual Bloodthirsters and Bloodreavers, Be’Lakor and dogs.
5th – Mike Stewart – Fangs of Sotek: The usual Seraphon Hero suite with a Krondspine
6th – Matthew Gouldesbrough – Dracothian’s Tail: Standard Seraphon Heroes with 2 Arks of Sotek Bastiladons
7th – Ben Mardle – Pretenders: Shockingly few Blissbarb, lots of Seekers of normal and Slickblade Variety.
8th – Darren Watson – Oakenbrow: Warsong and Durthu with 2 treelords. Surprise Gotrek ally!
9th – Max Barton – Befouling Host: All 3 Maggoth Lords, a GUO and beasts for the rest
10th – Ollie Fox – Null Myriad: See Showdown
11th – James Lake – Vyrkos Dynasty: Zombie Spam

Midwest Meltdown

This was a 58 person event in Washington, Illinois in the United States. As a note, the army lists will go over 2000 points because the event had a unique rule to include an appropriate Warhammer Underworlds warband for free.

Raymond Lane – Blessed Sons: Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

A very unusual Nurgle list here, leaning on two coalition’d plague claws. While you might think that Ossiarchs have the advantage, as they have had for much of the tournaments in the last few weeks, this corners two things that Ossiarchs often do struggle with: ranged fire and mortal wounds. The -1 to wound from Petrifex doesn’t matter with ranged fire, so they need to slog it across the board and hope to make it.

The battle ends in a pretty strong victory for Nurgle, showing this off-shelf list has teeth.

Result – Maggotkin of Nurgle Victory – 12-3

1st Place – Raymond Lane – Blessed Sons

Archtype

A very unique list focused on ranged fire with the Glottkin as the problem you can’t ignore in the center.

Thoughts

This list basically corners what Nurgle is traditionally bad at: Ranged fire. The Rotmire Creed rarely do a lot of damage but can spread disease around to an enemy trying to castle up (such as, say, Ossiarchs in the finals). Plague Claws cannot benefit from Disease but 2 Rend -2 D6 shots (more shots and damage into hordes) can do some work with hot rolls. The Glottkin works as an incredibly strong hammer while the Lord of Blights uses the traditional Helm and Stench combo to shut down commands.

The Best of the Rest

There was one 4-0-1 and 7 more 4-1s

2nd Place – Isaiah Ramczyk – Cla n Eshin: No I didn’t get that wrong, this list is pure Eshin. A deceiver with 4 Deathmasters and a metric ton of Gutter Runners and Night Runners. No other clans allowed.
3rd Place – Brendan Melnek – Crematorians: Katakros and a Boneshaper with Stalkers, Deathriders and Immortis Guard
4th Place – Kyle Blasky – Petrifex Elite: See showdown.
5th Place – Samuel Grinnell – Glogg’s Megamob: Trogg Spam
6th Place – Clay Heilman – Barak Zon: Lots of Endrinriggers and Skywardens on 2 Frigates.
7th Place – Colin Kelley – Barak-Zon: This time, Endrinriggers and Arkaunauts on 2 frigates
8th Place – Brody Calihan – Zaitrec: A teclis Free list which uses the extra space to add more archers and ballistas.
9th Place -Palmer Middlekauff – Hammers of Sigmar: Fulms and Crossbow good stuff.

FLG Outlaw GT

This was a 46 person event in Allen, Texas in the United States.

Thomas Guan – Vyrkos Dynasty: Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

It’s interesting to see one of the Regiments of Renown at the top tables. Functioning as both an annoying screen and early game deep strike potential, they synergize well with gargants to compensate for thing they generally are bad at. Ultimately the list could not keep up with the Vyrkos but the match comes in real close.

Result – Soulblight Gravelords Victory – 20-19

1st Place – Thomas Guan – Vyrkos Dynasty

Thoughts

That is…an irresponsible number of zombies. 180 all told, and with Gorslav bringing them back, it’s near impossible to chew through that many unless you have a way to make models with 1 wound not count on the point. Frequently its impossible to even get on the point because every square millimeter is filled with zombies.

And that’s basically the strat. Get set up on the point and hold out for 5 rounds.

Best of the Rest

There were 8 4-1s

2nd Place – Christopher Schelling – Breaker Tribe: See Showdown.
3rd Place – Jonathan Schlieszus – Null Myriad: Katakros and Arkhan with Mortek, Stalkers, Immortis and Deathriders
4th Place – Noah Aquino – Greyfyrd: The Fyreslayer 6 hero suite with Vulkites, Hearthguard and Grimwrath.
5th Place – Randal Brasher – Meatfist: Footsloggin Ogors with Kragnos and quad Tyrants.
6th Place – James West – Goretide: Grab bag of good Mortal Khorne Stuff
7th Place – Dillon Corcoran – Null Myriad: Katakros and Arkhan with Stalkers, Immortis and Deathriders.
8th Place – Jeff Visgaitis – The Flayed: Skarbrand and another Bloodthirsters lead a grab bag of different Khorne troops. Surprise coalition Varanguard.
9th Place – Raymond Wellacher – Barak-Nar: KO Grab bag, pretty much one of everything.

Closing Thoughts

Whew! That was a lot to cover. We’re starting to see the meta converge around 2 major armies: The super elite Ossiarch Bonereapers and the horde based Soulblight Gravelords. Other armies continue to wait in the wings to snipe at whichever one they can take down easier, but it’s going to be an interesting season for sure. Until next time!