Highground December GT – AOS 3.0 Tournament Report

Display board compliments of Kyle Blasky and his 30 blood knights

Take the Highground!
Interested in joining Highground Gaming for our next Age of Sigmar tournament? Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks. We will be announcing a new team format for our next event featuring three-player teams, each with their own 2,000 point army!!

 

The Highground December GT was a smashing success! Thirty players were signed up, but ten had to drop at the last moment due to the holiday season. Of our twenty competitors, every person that attended not only played competitive games but, more importantly, had a great time. Our team was incredibly excited about how our event turned out, the venue was great, and the players were terrific people. We strive to create a competitive environment that encourages players to interact with each other positively. Warhammer is, first and foremost, a social game that we all play as an outlet for our creativity and, hopefully, tactical genius. The social aspect is key to enjoying games that allow everyone to go home afterwards feeling good whether they win or lose. 

 

Visiting each table throughout the round was a ton of fun as the tournament organizer. I witnessed some very close games and only a couple of blowouts. I noticed that most games in Age of Sigmar 3.0 tend to be very competitive. The Beasts of Chaos player took 55 mortal wounds to his various units in round one. The Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage out of the Legion of the First Prince is a mortal wound bomb! There was no doubt how that game would end. If you could design a unit to counter Beasts of Chaos, it’s that Bloodthirster!! The best part was the players laughing about the ridiculousness of the moment and the rest of the tournament players talking about it throughout the weekend. 

Michael Rausch and his father

The winner of our December Age of Sigmar GT was Michael Rausch!! He came up from Toledo, OH, to take the GT by storm with his Ossiarch Bonereapers Petrifex Elite list that looks eerily similar to many of the lists we saw in AOS 2.0. He was packing a unit of 30 Mortek Guard backed up by a Gothizzar Harvester and another 20 block of Mortek. He went undefeated over the two-day event against tough opponents and army matchups. 

Check out his list:

View List

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

Leaders
Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (360)**
Liege-Kavalos (185)**
 General
 Command Trait: Mighty Archaeossian
 Artefact: Helm of the Ordained
Mortisan Boneshaper (135)**
 Artefact: Godbone Armour
 Lore of Mortisans: Empower Nadirite Weapons

Battleline
30 x Mortek Guard (420)*
 Nadirite Blade and Shield
 Reinforced x 2
20 x Mortek Guard (280)*
 Nadirite Blade and Shield
 Reinforced x 1
5 x Kavalos Deathriders (190)*
 Nadirite Blade and Shield

Behemoths
Gothizzar Harvester (215)
 Weapon: Soulcrusher Bludgeons

Artillery
Mortek Crawler (215)

Core Battalions
*Hunters of the Heartlands
**Command Entourage – Magnificent

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 110
Drops: 8

Round 1 saw him defeating Gaby Hartman, who ended in sixth place, with a Disciples of Tzeentch Eternal Conflaguration list. She was sporting Kairos, 20 pink horrors, six flamers, and two exalted flamers. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough flames in a challenging game to melt all bones off the table.

Gaby’s list:

View List

Allegiance: Tzeentch
– Change Coven: Eternal Conflaguration
– Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Kairos Fateweaver (435)*
 General
 Lore of Change: Unchecked Mutation
Fatemaster (135)*
Ogroid Thaumaturge (165)**
 Artefact: Shroud of Warpflame
 Lore of Fate: Infusion Arcanum
Changecaster, Herald of Tzeentch (135)*
 Artefact: Aura of Mutability
 Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch

Battleline
10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (215)**
10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (215)**
3 x Flamers of Tzeentch (175)**
3 x Flamers of Tzeentch (175)*

Units
2 x Exalted Flamers of Tzeentch (280)*
 Reinforced x 1

Endless Spells & Invocations
Umbral Spellportal (70)

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Vanguard

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 73
Drops: 9

Round 2, he played against our September GT champion, Michael Caldwell, and his Kastelai Dynasty Soulblight Gravelords. This game created Michael Rausch’s favourite moment of the tournament when 1800 points of Blood Knights, Prince Vhordrai, Vengorian Lord, and Mannfred were unable to chew through the unit of 20 Mortek Guard, causing Caldwell to fail his battle tactic!! The Mortek Crawler shined in this game due to some poor savings throws on a couple of Soulblight heroes. Caldwell ended up taking 4th overall. 

Caldwell’s list:

View List

Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords
– Lineage: Kastelai Dynasty
– Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380)*
 Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour
Prince Vhordrai (455)*
 Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
Vengorian Lord (280)*
 General
 Command Trait: Rousing Commander
 Artefact: Fragment of the Keep
 Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon

Battleline
5 x Blood Knights (195)*
5 x Blood Knights (195)*
5 x Blood Knights (195)*
10 x Dire Wolves (135)

Units
3 x Fell Bats (75)*
3 x Fell Bats (75)*

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 119
Drops: 2

Round 3 Michael found himself against one of the Hedonites of Slaanesh players in Jack Cawood. Jack’s Godseekers army had an interesting piece of tech in the list in the form of Rotigus!! Deluge of Nurgle from Rotigus can spike and do D3 mortal wounds to up to 7 units for a huge depravity turn but still tends to net 3-4 depravity each turn making him a reliable way to gain summoning points. I think I will have to try him out in my own Slaanesh builds. However, in this game, that didn’t seem to be enough to allow the Hedonites to defeat the undying legions of Mortek Guard. 

View List

Allegiance: Slaanesh
– Host: Godseekers Host
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Sigvald, Prince of Slaanesh (265)*
Keeper of Secrets (420)
 General
 Ritual Knife
 Command Trait: Speed-chaser
 Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact)
 Spell: Progeny of Damnation
Rotigus (345)
 Allies

Battleline
11 x Blissbarb Archers (180)*
11 x Blissbarb Archers (180)*
5 x Hellstriders with Hellscourges (135)*

Units
5 x Slickblade Seekers (230)*
5 x Myrmidesh Painbringers (160)*

Endless Spells & Invocations
The Burning Head (20)
Emerald Lifeswarm (60)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 345 / 400
Wounds: 98
Drops: 3

Round 4 found the only two remaining undefeated players in the room against each other. Joshua Ahlborn ultimately placed 2nd and won the Best Painted award with his incredible Seraphon Thunder Lizard army. The Slann led army created a real nail-biter of a game through the first couple turns. Mid-game things started to snowball for Arkhan the Black and the seemingly invulnerable Mortek blocks in the middle of the table. Even the Celestant Prime striking from the heavens couldn’t turn the tide. The cold-blooded star lizards could not overcome the undying legion and suffered defeat.

View List

Allegiance: Seraphon
– Constellation: Thunder Lizard
– Grand Strategy: Beast Master
– Triumphs:

Leaders
Slann Starmaster (265)**
 General
 Command Trait: Arcane Might
 Artefact: Fusil of Conflaguration
 Spell: Stellar Tempest
Skink Priest (80)**
 Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal
Engine of the Gods (265)**
 Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact)
 Weapon: Skystreak Bow
 Mount Trait: Beastmaster
 Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse
Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar (325)
 Allies

Battleline
5 x Saurus Knights (110)***
 Lances
5 x Saurus Knights (110)***
 Lances
5 x Saurus Guard (115)**

Units
1 x Salamander Hunting Pack (120)***
5 x Chameleon Skinks (115)

Behemoths
Bastiladon with Solar Engine (235)*
Bastiladon with Solar Engine (235)*

Endless Spells & Invocations
The Burning Head (20)

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

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 325 / 400
Wounds: 92
Drops: 11

Best Painted Award

Into round 5, Michael remained the only undefeated player meaning a victory here would clinch 1st place, but a loss would put him down into the 4-1 bracket where he might miss 1st if someone else scored a higher point total. He handled an immense amount of pressure from Jarrad Barrick and his Stormcast Eternals Hammers of Sigmar list. Jarrad had a few tough games and was in the middle of the pack pointwise going into round 5 at 3-1. He knew that to try and take 1st or place in the top 3, he would have to score a win by a landslide. He played this game aggressively with his Dracothian Guard Concussors and Evocators on Dracolines. The never-ending ranks of Mortek Guard thwarted the aggressive play of the Stormcast, leading to the end of the Stormcast and the ultimate victory for Death!!

View List

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
– Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Stormkeep)
– Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Astreia Solbright (195)**
 Spell: Chain Lightning
Knight-Incantor (125)**
 Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact)
 Spell: Lightning Blast
Knight-Arcanum (135)**
 General
 Command Trait: Master of Magic
 Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
 Spell: Celestial Blades

Battleline
4 x Dracothian Guard Concussors (440)*
 Reinforced x 1
10 x Judicators with Skybolt Bows (400)**
 Reinforced x 1
5 x Sequitors (145)**
 Stormsmite Mauls and Soulshields
 2x Stormsmite Greatmaces

Units
3 x Evocators on Celestial Dracolines (280)*
3 x Evocators on Celestial Dracolines (280)*

Core Battalions
*Hunters of the Heartlands
**Warlord

Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Holy Command: Thunderbolt Volley

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 103
Drops: 8

Cool under pressure

Congratulations to Michael!! He played a heck of a tournament, and his dad was there rooting him on the entire time, which was cool to see.

Thank you to all of the players that came out!! We are excited about the team tournament coming early next year. Stay tuned and follow our Facebook page to announce our Team event!!

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