There are a lot of events this week, five in total. The notable American GT The Rocky Mountain Open was this week and a few other comparably sized events sprinkled around the country in Washington and Missouri. Rounding things off was a smaller GT in the UK and Australia. The winners are...eclectic ranging from Gitz to Ogors to even Ossiarch Bonereapers! So let's jump in, we got a lot of ground to cover.

Rocky Mountain Open AoS Championship

54-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Brighton, CO US on March 11 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission -

Zach Pfeifer - Boulderhead:

vs.

Dalton Kahle - Gloomspite Gitz:

Thoughts

That's a lot of mortal wounds from the gitz, but the stonehorns may be the thing most ideal to fighting it with their built in 5+ ward. They also have the power to dish out what they can take and clear the gitz screens out with minimal difficulty, though the gitz player has many more Galetian Champs to handle battle tactics. The battle comes real close in favor of the Ogors.

Result

Boulderhead Victory - 24 - 17

Zach Pfeifer - Boulderhead - 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Big men riding big mounts.

Thoughts

This is a list with all gas no brakes. With nothing but mounted units (and 1 Hunter) this list moves fast and will charge into your front line faster than you can blink. The Frostlord with Flaming Weapon will do an ungodly amount of damage while the Huskard can deal a lot of Mortal wounds to keep up the pressure. A lone hunter with tunnel master makes a pretty solid Galetian Champion who can ping pong between points as needed for objectives, but for the most part you're hoping to table your opponent fast with your mounts.

Joshua Glenn - Feast Day - 2nd Place

The List

Archetype

FEC goodstuff and also, Crypt Horrors

Thoughts

Squeezing every drop out of the aging FEC book and this battle pack, this is a great twist on the classic FEC dragons + friends list. Feast Day keeps the CP economy rolling with free uses of feeding frenzy to fight twice, with the Zombie Dragon variant keeping up with the power of the Terrorgheist via flaming weapon. Galetian Champions keep those squishy Flesh-eater foot heroes alive to get the regeneration going.

FEC can be a total glass cannon but here Joshua has added a little twist with the Crypt Haunter general unlocking battleline Horrors. Horrors have a number of serious problems: they're squishy, not that fast, don't have that many attacks, don't have any rend and have a 1" reach on a 50mm base. What they are is dirt cheap, those 330 point units are double reinforced. This somewhat solves the squishiness problem, the Galentian Veterans battalion will get them all in the fight to maximise those attacks and double dipping on Deranged Transformation gives them the speed. This gives the army some serious beef to clog up the mid board whilst the dragons do their thing.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd - Dalton Kahle - Gloomspite Gitz: See showdown.

• 4th - Jeremy Lefebvre - Cities of Sigmar: Phoenicium: Two anointed on Frostheart Phoenixes, living up to the army name.
• 5th - Matt Kahle - Slaves to Darkness: Cabalists: Archaeon the big boy plus an Incarnate of Ghur!
• 6th - Colin O’Brien - Gloomspite Gitz: Jaws of Mork: 2 reinforced squig units plus two mangler squigs and a Loonboss on a Giant Cave Squig.
• 7th - James Chase - Fyreslayers: Greyfyrd: One unit of HG Berzerkers twice reinforced and one once reinforced - lots of points in Berzerkers well spent.
• 8th - Thomas Burgett - Disciples of Tzeentch: Hosts Arcanum: Lost to 3rd place finisher Dalton K. in the first round then swept the next four.
• 9th - James Fryer - Ogor Mawtribes: Underguts: three units of Leadbelchers as battleline and three Ironblasters - lots of lead going downrange.

Sparkle Party Death Match VIII

52-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Seattle, WA US on March 11 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

We don't currently have an army image for Cities of Sigmar. Mega apologies to Louis-Philippe.

Matchup & Mission -

Jeremy Veysseire - Soulblight Gravelords:

vs.

Louis-Philippe Surprenant - Hallowheart:

Thoughts

The Freeguild have an interesting advantage here, in that they can try and avoid combat with the beefier parts of the Soulblight as long as possible with a flurry of ranged attacks and spells.

The downside is it lacks anything to hold the line once they get in there, and boy does that soulblight list have a lot of melee that hurts. It ultimately ends in a crushing defeat for the Cities of Sigmar.

Result

Soulblight Gravelords Victory - 517 - 3

Jeremy Veysseire - Soulblight Gravelords - 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Legion of Blood wizardry

Thoughts

It's nice to see Neferata not playing second fiddle Mortarch for once, but the real star here is the tooled up Vampire Lord. Standing near the corpse cart and it's looking at a +3 to cast with a reroll for very reliable Horrorghasting and Levitate, a spell that's usually too hard to cast to bother with - but Blood Knights do love to fly. It's a great use of Galletian Command too, and opens up more scoring possibilities.

Lauka is another interesting choice here over the generic Vengorian Lord. You often see Veng Lords as the enhancement caddy in SBGL lists, so not being that opens up Lauka. She's marginally tougher and has some mild utility in giving herself and Neferata +1 to hit for a single CP but the spice here is her spell that halves charge distances. It's a punt on an 8, but the Corpse Cart brings it into the realm of reliability, but anyone who has played against the old Khorne Deamon Prince can attest to the power of this ability.

Stark Pister - Hammers of Sigmar - 2nd Place

The List

Archetype

Stormcast combined arms.

Thoughts

Well this is an interesting one. The Lord-Relictor, Fulminators and Vanguard-Raptors are generally accepted staples but it starts going a bit off course from there. With the Vanguard Raptors the Judicators are all in Sharpshooters to pin point and juicy targets that might try and hide behind their troops.

The Protectors help hold the line while the Stormstrike Chariot, Drakespawn Knights and Fulminators offer a lot of Charging threats (aided by the Battlemage of Ghur giving a +2 to that charge).

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd - Ricky Manz - Slaves to Darkness: Knights of the Empty Throne: Be'lakor + Sorc Lord on Manticore + Vanarnguard + two units of Chaos Knights makes a really elite, hitty, fast army.
• 4th - Dale Johnson - Gloomspite Gits: Jaws of Mork: two twice-reinforced units of squigs rampaging all over the battlefield.
• 5th - Robbie "Bear" Steinbring - Gloomspite Gitz: King's Gitz: A little different in the squig department here - there is still a reinforced unit of Squigs, but then there is a twice-reinforced unit of Squig Hoppers and another unit of Squig Hoppers.
• 6th - Louis-Philippe Suprenant - Cities of Sigmar: Hallowheart: See showdown.
• 7th - Jeremy Cooper - Ironjaws: Bloodtoofs: Lots of IJ love here with a bunch of Gore-gruntas, but also 15 brutes, a footboss and two warchanters, and then the Megaboss on Maw-Krusha set up in 4 drops. Not a lot of models but a ton of elite tough wounds.
• 8th - Benjamin Schimmoller - Slaves to Darkness: Hosts of the Everchosen: An interesting list here - not any huge models, but lots of spellcasting with two Sorc Lords, plus a sprinkling of different units all in one drop.
• 9th - Cody Quigley - Maggotkin of Nurgle: Befouling Host: Nine Beasts of Nurgle. That's the tweet. Hell of a job.

Guts & Glory AoS Club Tournament

48-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Springfield, MO US on March 11 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission -

Mrigank Jha - Petrifex Elite:

vs.

Sean Kehoe - Gloomspite Gitz:

Thoughts

In a vacuum I'd say the gitz had this. The Petrifix elite can handle a lot of high rend attacks, but not mortal wound spam. However, if the Ossiarchs get get their talkers in to combat at the right time, they can slice and dice before it becomes a serious problem, which appears to be what happened with a very close fight.

Result

Petrifex Elite Victory - 523 - 15

Mrigank Jha - Petrifex Elite - 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Stalker Spam

Thoughts

It's nice to see an Ossiarch list winning, we haven't seen that in a while.

While Mortek Guard work as capable bodies to hold the line, and the Deathriders as Outriders to grab stray objectives or screen, the stars of this show are the two units of 6  stalkers. In precision stance they can hit with 20 Rend -2 Damage 2 attacks from the primary weapon, and 6 Rend -3 Damage 3 attacks from the special Dread Falchions. While fully buffed from the Soulmason they can reroll 1s and get a bonus attack per model from the Liege. Few things can face a fully buffed unit of these alive and live to tell the tale.

LaRon Roberts - Lurid Haze Invaders Host - 2nd Place

The List

Archetype

Slaanesh good stuff with Glutos and allied Cockatrice.

Thoughts

Possibly the last list we'll see here before the new book? It's a pretty interesting one. Glutos hasn't seen basically any play since he came out, but he can be a pretty formidable support piece that is hard to kill.

This list mostly relies on the Blissbarb Archers, using their Galletian Sharpshooters to pick out key targets and remove them from the board early. The cockatrice offer some mortal wound output the army badly needs, and reduce incoming damage, which helps protect those fragile boys.

As usual, Sigvald exists basically to kill whatever he might want to get into combat with and the Contored Epitome is a support piece that can let their allies reroll 1s against a target and reroll charge rolls with their command ability.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 5-0 or 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd - Carl Stokes - Kharadron Overlords (5-0): Gotrek is 25% of the list plus three 90 point Arakanaut Company units, a bunch of characters, and an Ironclad that is another 25% of the list.
• 4th - Joe Krier - Disciples of Tzeentch: Hosts Arcanum: Kairos and a ton of Kairic Acolytes with a surprise appearance from Ungors and a Cockatrice. Love the Kairic Acolyte minis, glad to see them make the field!
• 5th - Alex Cotter - Lumineth Realm-Lords: Zaitrec: Alex had the bad luck to draw the overall winner Mrigank in the first round then swept the rest of the tourney.
• 6th - Keegan Graves - Skaven: Thanquol + Verminlord + tons of Clanrats + three Warp Lightning Cannons. Interesting to see three endless spells as well, 200 points worth.
• 7th - Jessie Brant - Stormcast Eternals: Hammers of Sigmar: Almost 900 points of heroes + endless spells, and a reinforced unit of Vanguard-Raptors to destroy stuff.
• 8th - Paul Wright - Idoneth Deepkin: Mor'phann: Interesting to see an allied in Celestant-Prime here. Lots of shooting from two big units of Nemarti Reavers and a Leviadon.
• 9th - Ryan Cavin - Flesh Eater Courts: Blisterkin Grand Court: Another interesting hero-heavy list - the heroes in this list come out to 1,250 points. The other points are a twice-reinforced Crypt Flayers unit and 20 Crypt Ghouls. Would love to see this on the field.

War In The North 3

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Cairns City, Queensland AU on March 10 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission -

Zenith Mills-Shorter - Boulderhead:

vs.

Josh Carol - Petrifex Elite:

Thoughts

Interesting to see an OBR list in the finals, especially one that eschew's all heroes except for Katakros,who really hasn't seen much play in a while. So props to Josh for even making it that far.

The advantage already feels in play for the Mawtribes. The lines of Mortek guard are quite thin and won't weather charges very well. The Harbingers do offer a lot of maneuverability and fly to avoid direct combat, but the damage may not be enough. Ultimately, it does end up going to Boulderhead, and pretty brutally.

Result

Boulderhead Victory - 16 - 4

Zenith Mills-Shorter - Boulderhead - 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Mounted and Ironblaster combined arms

Thoughts

Despite the points increase, Ironblasters still rock. Both shots can put out some decent damage to soften up the enemy before they charge in, and there is a lot of charges here. Lots of Mournfang and two Frostlords on Stonehorns put out a lot of damage, and can soak it up pretty good in return.

The list is pretty straightforward, not aggressively technical, it just seeks to pummel the opponent before they can get in there.

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd - Tristan Smith - Ironjawz: Ironsunz: Three megabosses in total, two on foot one on Maw-Krusha, plus a Warchanter, Weirdnob, and Kragnos. Lots of big hitty characters to romp around the battlefield.
• 3rd - Quinn Gorlick - Slaves to Darkness: Knights of the Empty Throne: This list is big Chaos guy energy - with Archaon, a Gaunt Summoner, and nine Varanguard. 11 total models - if Archaon wasn't so huge this would be an easily transported list.
• 4th - Josh Carol - Ossiarch Bonereapers: Petrifex Elite: Another Incarnate of Ghur spotted.
• 5th - Jarrah Booth - Maggotkin of Nurgle: Drowned Men: To me, this is what I think about when I think about mortal Nurgle - a few heroes, Blightkings, Blightlords, and some Drones. Interestingly enough there are also two units of Rotmire Creed, the Warcry unit.
• 6th - Matthew Tait - Slaves to Darkness: Cabalists: Five! Chaos Lords! Two of them are of the Sorceror varieties, but the hero is strong with this list.

Southampton GT

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England United Kingdom on March 11 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission -

Darren Watson - Beasts of Chaos: Quakefray -

vs.

Simon W - Beasts of Chaos: Gavespawn-

Thoughts

Three Beasts of Chaos in the top four! Great job, goats. I'm not sure why the Quakefray is being used in Darren's list because there are no Cygors in the list - unless I'm just reading it wrong from Best Coast. Darren went all in on Ungor Raider shooting, bringing 70 of them. It's an interesting idea - they get to shoot once in the movement phase from the board edge (12" range) then move on from ambush, then shoot again in the shooting phase. If your enemy has any dudes near the edge they're gonna take 280 shots in one turn if you do it perfectly. I've seen a lot of talk about the Krondspine in BOC - it seems like a solid choice to hold the field while your ambush goats do their work.

The matchup itself is really interesting - two skew lists going up against each other. It feels like the Ungors would have enough shooting to take out Spawns left and right, but they are low range so they're not going to get more than one shot in before being charged.

Result

Gavespawn Victory - 13 - 7

Simon W - Gavespawn - 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Aura of Insanity

Thoughts

Huge props to Simon for using Morghurite Spawn, 21 of them to be specific. I can't imagine buying and painting 21 spawn myself but Simon's obviously all in on Morghur. Props again for naming every goat in the list as well.

Gonna be honest - I'm not totally sure what the plan is here. Morghurite Spawn are really interesting, with D6 shooting attacks at 8" range, 2 damage, and 8 attacks in melee, but they're soft - 5 wounds with 5+ save. I love their defensive special rule that subtracts 1 from the attack characteristic of weapons used by enemies (ranged and melee). They're super mobile with 10" movement, so they can grab objectives and outmaneuver a ton of foes.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Dominic Stonebridge - Gloomspite Gitz: Jaws of Mork: This list has the requisite Squigs but I think really leans into the Troggoths more- it has 12 Rockguts, 3 Fellwater, and a Dankhold Troggboss. Props for naming the characters, too. Trev the Trogboss sounds like a dude I wouldn't want to meet in an alley.
• 3rd - Daniil Osudin - Beasts of Chaos: Quakefray: Not gonna lie, I love the idea of the Quakefray and two Cygors here, I'm just concerned that for myself I'd never be able to pilot it right. There is a lot of shooting in this list - three Bray Shamans plus two Cygors plus three units of Ungor Raiders. The Shamans can throw out mortal wounds with Rituals and spells so I imagine that's what they're going for here.
• 4th - Darren Watson - Beasts of Chaos: Quakefray: See showdown.
• 5th - Matthew Gouldesbrough - Nighthaunt: Quicksilver Dead: Nagash sighting!

Wrap Up

That was a lot to cover this week and we're glad to see Age of Sigmar back in full swing. There is a notable diversity in lists here and it's looking like the meta game might be a bit healthier than we thought. Though we shouldn't rest on our laurels yet, a lot of events this week were smaller and can distort the numbers. In 2 weeks is the looming spector of Adepticon, which will really show where we're at with the midseason of AOS. See you next week!