After a bit of a lull last week with only two events, we’re back with another weekend jam-packed with big events, just in time to get a final view of the meta before Fyreslayers and Idoneth Deepkin join, with the later likely to have a bigger impact. This is also a week where we can really see the impact of the Beasts of Chaos Tome Celestial rules, and whether that faction is a real top contender or merely “pretty good” following their updates.

Kent Grand Tournament

A two-day, five-round event held in Hothfield, England. You can find lists for this event in Best Coast Pairings. 

Luke Skelton – Seraphon – First Place

Luke Skelton's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Stegadons as Battleline – as the faction was intended
• Lack of Salamanders
• Honestly that’s all I got for you

Why it’s Interesting

Despite the Thunder Lizards ability to take Stegadons as battleline, opening up an option for a “Kaiju list”, that’s really never how you see it done competitively. Stegadons are pretty not great, they’re a bit on the delicate side for Monsters and don’t do nearly enough damage to justify the point cost in your army. Generally the cost is made up with Salamander or Skink screens.

Well not so here, and clearly it worked. Even though the list is functionally like most Thunder Lizard Bastiladon lists, having more big boys on the table is nice to see and a slight departure from the norm.

Matthew Gouldesbrough – Seraphon – Second Place

Matthew Goldesbrough's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Not Thunder Lizards!
• Matt comes for a return victory
• Allied in Celestant Prime!
• Not Thunder Lizards!

Why it’s Interesting

Matthew went second with this list at Sheffield Slaughter 2 weeks ago and proves with a repeat victory it wasn’t a fluke.

There was a time when you didn’t just see Thunder Lizards on the field. Starborne has a lot of interesting buffs that make a very convincing argument to run either Dracothian’s Tail or Fangs of Sotek. Free teleportation once per turn with no strings attached, and summoning extra units in for screens (especially with Kroak at the helm) is a pretty good series of bonuses to work with, it’s just not always quite as reliable as Thunder Lizards in the current format.

There’s a few deviations from the Seraphon norm, using a Starseer with an Arcane Tome instead of a Starpriest and a lack of a 30 man skink blob that is usually a staple in these lists. I also couldn’t go without mentioning the Celestant Prime who was a popular ally in Order armies for a brief minute due to its ability to be reasonably competent without needing any faction buffs.

The whole thing feels like a bit of a throw back to a few months ago and it’s refreshing to see.

The Rest of the Best

7 more players finished on 4-1, which we’ll cover below:

• 3rd – Ben Biddiss– Stormcast Eternals: Hammers of Sigmar with Knight-Draconis, Bastian Carthalos (for spice) and then the 8 Stormdrake Guard he could cram in there. Still looking pretty effective after the price hike.
• 4th – Chris Green – Legion of the First Prince: The usual list you’re expecting to see here with Belakor, Kairos, Bloodthirster and a Daemon Prince. Be interesting to see the shelf life of this with 3 of those on the bounty list.
• 5th – Joseph Mcgough – Seraphon: A stock dual Bastiladon Thunder Lizard which allies in some Stormdrake for more punch. A bit leaner on Heroes than most.
• 6th – Tom Connell – Daughters of Khaine: Morathi and 15 Bloodstalkers provide support to Blood Sisters and Shadowstalkers.
• 7th – Kristian Barlow – Seraphon: Skink Blob, Bastiladon and Stormdrake Allies. Lotsa punch for your lizards.
• 8th – Michael Lows – Beasts of Chaos: 3x 10 man Gors, 3x 10 Ungor Raiders, 6 Bullgors, 6 Tzaangor Enlightened and 2 Ghorgon. Healthy mix of board coverage and heavy hitters.
• 9th – Dennis Tartarkov – Stormcast Eternals: Hallowed Knights with Annihilators and Retributors bringing the punch, and supported by Gardus and Judicators.

‘Grots Gone Wild

A two-day, five-round event held in Welland, Ontario. You can find lists for the event in Best Coast Pairings. A smaller event with only 26 people, nobody went 5-0 this time, with the best record being 4-1. Also sees a lot of noted names from the US who went up together to practice for AOS Worlds.

Jeremy Veysseire – Kharadron Overlords – First Place

Jeremy Veysseire's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Kharadron Overlords won a GT!
• Boat heavy.
• Allied in Stormdrake Guard

Why it’s Interesting

The Kharadron Overlords are in a bit of a rough place right now, although their shooting prowess previously commanded them a lot of respect, they’re not longer the best shooting around. With Mortal Wounds on 6s shooting common to many factions now (some getting to fire multiple times and/or get rerolls) a volley of normal shots really isn’t cutting it much anymore.

Add on top of that, the boats present problems. They’re nasty to be sure, but are extremely expensive and don’t count as more than 2 models on objectives (even though they probably should). As a result you might see an airship or two providing covering fire and not much else. This list said to hell with all that and only included 2 infantry units, minimal characters and sent the fleet in (With some Stormdrakes on loan from the Stormcast Eternals for good measure, of course) Excellent work with suboptiminal conditions.

Mitch Khwaja – Maggotkin of Nurgle – Second Place

Mitch Khwaja's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Lord of Afflictions!
• Pusgoyle Blightlords!
• There’s literally nothing else in this list and that’s noteworthy!

Why it’s Interesting

No one’s doubting the strength of the Pusgoyle Blightlords, especially when supported by Lord of Afflictions. You do rarely, however, see a list this…blunt. No casters, one drop, there’s not a ton of finesse here. Just a lot of deep strike potential with a fair number of wounds you need to cut through to get to the juicy points behind them.

The Rest of the Best

3 more players finished on 4-1, which we’ll cover below:

• 3rd – Anthony Trentanelli– Skaventide: Double reinforced Stormfiends make up almost half of this list at 945 points, backed up by Thanquol and dual Warlocks.
• 4th – Bill Souza – Flesh Eater Courts: Ghoulking on Terrorgheist and Arch-Regeant lead 9 Crypt Horrors and 12 Crypt Fiends. Allied in 40 Zombies with Gorslav provides screens and point coverage.
• 5th – Yury Sichinava – Sons of Behemat: 2 Gatebreakers and 2 Warstompers lead a breaker tribe list, a refreshing change from Taker Tribe.

Mortal March GT

A two-day, five-round event held in Mesa, Arizona. You can find lists for this event in Best Coast Pairings. A 38 person event, both 1st and 2nd place went 5-0.

Colt Hegradt – Sons of Behemat – First Place

Colt Hegradt's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• A Gargant list wins a GT!
• Breaker tribe instead of the popular Taker Tribe
• Artefacts, lots of Artefacts.

Why it’s Interesting

Let’s be frank, it’s hard to vary too much on a Gargant list. You can swap out the big ones, maybe throw in some small ones if you feel spicey, but they’re going to look pretty similar and the list is going to boil down to the same strategy.

It’s because of that that Gargants rarely win large events, they’re difficult for less advanced players to beat but once they get to the top they usually are defeated by one of the top lists. 4-1s are common but 5-0 and first place is worthy of some respect.

Colt focused on Breaker tribe and two Bosses of the Stomp to flood his list with Artefacts, making each one an engine of destruction on the battlefield. Great work.

Richard Renekke – Seraphon – Second Place

Richard Renekke's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• A stegadon?
• Yeah that’s all I got, sorry.

Why it’s Interesting

Yep another stock Thunder Lizard list. This one’s got a Stegadon, that’s pretty cool. Otherwise this is all stuff you’ve seen before and going 5-0 with this isn’t terribly surprising. It works.

The Rest of the Best

4 more players finished on 4-1, which we’ll cover below:

• 3rd – Matt Nguyen – Beasts of Chaos: More Bullgors than you can shake a stick at, backed up by a Dragon Ogor Shaggoth, a Doombull and a Khorne Daemon Prince coalition’d in.
• 4th – Camaron Hallford – Cities of Sigmar: A Living City, but not what you’re thinking. This coalitions in a Stardrake who leads 3 20 woman sisters of the Watch and 2 packs of tree-revenants. A very fluffy tree focused list.
• 5th – Tyler Rowles – Soulblight Gravelords: A Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon and one on foot, Radukar the beast and So. Many. Zombies. 100 in fact. All rounded off with a Gargant Mercenary for some serious punch.
• 6th – Aaron Newbom – Orruk Warclans: A Big Waaaagh! list with a mix from all 3 subfactions. Mostly Ironjawz, but supported by some Kruleboyz Killer Bows and a Wurrgog Prophet.

Victorian Grand Tournament 2022

A two-day, five-round event held in Victoria, Australia. You can find lists for this event in Tabletop TO. There were 54 players with 2 lists at the top going 5-0.

Joel Graham – Slaves to Darkness – First Place

Joel Graham - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Archaon might be down but he’s not out
• Tzeentch-mark heavy
• Mindstealer Sphiranx

Why it’s Interesting

Slaves to Darkness has been on a bit of a downward trend since 3.0 launched. Archaon was always better in other Chaos armies but after his recent warscroll change he never really recovered. Slaves to Darkness has sort of meandered close to the bottom ever since.

Well, this is a nice change in that direction! The Varanguard offer a solid punch while the Untamed Beasts and Iron Golems create a nice number of units for objective sitting and holding the line. The Sphiranx is a nice bit of whimsy, potentially forcing a fights last effect on the enemy.

David Kerr – Stormcast Eternals – Second Place

David Kerr's List - Click to expand

Notable Features

• Dragons still kicking ass

Why it’s Interesting

I’ll be honest, nothing really exciting here. It’s all killer no filler with all the best stuff Stormcast has to offer right now (well, except for fulminators). Longstrikes for the opening double salvo, Translocation to teleport them  as needed, and Stormdrakes to ruin stuff’s day. It’s brutal and not many lists can take that much damage and stand. Can’t argue with success.

The Rest of the Best

7 more players finished on 4-1, which we’ll cover below:

• 3rd – Joel McGrath – Beasts of Chaos: Another high ranking Beasts of Chaos list post-buff. 3x 6 Man Bullgors, 4x 10 man Gors, and 6 Dragon Ogors give a nice mix of horde and heavy units.
• 4th – Sam Morgan – Legion of the First Prince: An interesting Legion of the First Prince List which includes an absolute ton of Furies, The Masque and a Skullmaster, forgoing the traditionally considered mandatory Kairos.
• 5th – Daniel Edwards – Soulblight Gravelords: A Herohammer heavy list of Mannfred, Radukar, Belladomma and a Necromancer lead 60 zombies, 10 skeletons and 20 Grave Guard.
• 6th – Alexander Krohn – Kharadron Overlords: A custom skyport with two Ironclads, the Underworlds Warband and a return of the Lighting Vortex trick. Wild stuff!
• 7th – Michael Thomson – Lumineth Realm-Lords: Teclis, a Lord Regent and a Hurkan spirit lead 20 sentinels, 30 Wardens and 5 Dawnriders, showing this type of list isn’t out of the running yet.
• 8th – Tyler Macdonald – Maggotkin of Nurgle: 9 Pusgoyle Blightlords, accompanied by Bloab, Daemonspew and a Lord of Afflictions. Notable for having 30 coalition’d in Gors for bodies.
• 9th – Mark Nodge – Stormcast Eternals: One Knight draconis and enough Stormdrake Guard to fill a school bus. You know the drill.

Next Time: Idoneth Make a Splash and the Hunt is On

That does it for this week’s events but join us next week when we should start to see the first impacts of the new battletomes in the wild, and depending on the event we might even see one or two use the new Hunt rules! Or we’ll have to wait another week. Either way, we’ll be covering all of the GT-sized singles events we can get data on.

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