Forming a Shining Shieldwall - a 40k tournament veteran tries AoS at LGT

 
Journey to taking Lumineth to LGT had a few factors. When I wanted to get a dedicated AoS army rather than happening to my 40k Demons in a new setting it was a real toss-up between Lumineth and Deepkin. In the end it was the extra-long spears of the Wardens that was the tipping point (although the Leviadon really put in a great counter argument) and took plenty of walking between the two in a local GW shop unsure of which to get. AoS ended up being a game I played very rarely during 9th, I had a couple of games when Custodes/GSC books came out and I need a break from 40k and wanted a game with a different feel but until Julyish I hadn't played a full 2k game of AoS - it was a nice small scale distraction and something I could enjoy doing some painting for on a much slower timescale than 40k (I'm by no means a good painter but I'm very happy with how the army ended up looking which is rare.) Also, fun fact - if you have a self-imposed rule to not start any more 40k armies you can get around it by starting a AoS army. 

That rather changed with 10th edition 40k - plenty of discussion about its various flaws and genuine merits but to summarise my thoughts sentence- there's a lot of mechanics that are fun and thematic for your army, but these are often horrible to play against. It was harder to get regular AoS games in (thanks to Jamie in particular for helping me getting the ball rolling) but I was having more fun trying AoS then getting reps of 10th in. I wasn't sure I was going to go to LGT (I wanted to go to the event to see people and had got a very good record over the past 3 events) but when one of my brothers committed to going to play some Blood Bowl at LGT I finally brought my ticket for AoS to give it a try. Then the Blood Bowl tournament was cancelled literally an hour after my brother brought his ticket, which was either a random co-incidence or an impressive commitment to only have one of us at the event.

Typical battle plan in action - early screens slowly advancing with Spears and Casters in close support with Ballista's in the back to wrack up damage. 

 
 

Anyway, so Lumineth - unlike a lot of my 40k armies were there was greater familiarity both my general book and the general meta the driving principle was - how do I make the Wardens work and adjust the army around that. Wardens had been an excellent unit in their own right in local games but as the competitive less ramped up (more AoS games became easier thanks to a landlord 'inspired' change of location) they certainly started to dimmish in quality. Whilst Syar had felt good, and I liked the idea of Alumnia - Zaitrec with its bonus to cast quickly became the early forerunner for which Great Nation to run - as must for the ability to shut down opponent's spells as its own buffs. I wanted some ranged output and Sentinels initially filled that role - but the they felt a bit lacking (my understanding is that the change to look out sir in new GHB really hurt the unit) and regardless the army in general had an issue that with Wardens and Sentinels did the same type of damage and if an army was resilient to mortals all the damage became rather ineffectual. Ballista's not only had a vastly different profile but fixed 3 damage against monsters gave me an answer to opposing big threats which had proved troublesome especially with a ward. I messed around with various numbers of Dawnriders/Bladelords with both dropping in/out of lists at various numbers - I liked 10 Bladelords with Hoarfrost but the Dawnrider speed and casting won out. Eltharion went in the list early and was MVIP in almost all early games, would take as many as possible if they weren't unique A Calligrave/Cathallar backed up the rest of the army with some more aggressive and utility speels whilst the twins Ellania/Ellathor (a late add) gave me some extra more defensive casting protection and the ability to get stuck in - the idea being they could act as a caster in early turns, then later in the game with Ethereal  Blessing could act as second mini Eltharion. 

 

 

If you're looking at all the spells and it didn't melt your mind - Solar Flare was meant to be Total Eclipse and I picked the wrong option on the app which was a real shame. I only worked out how the Command Entourage and Magnificent extra spell worked out the day before list submission (thanks Luke) which required a huge re-write of the spells compared to the Andtorian Acolytes which I had been running prior. For my first AoS tournament I was hoping for a 3-2 result, anything more would be great, but I had to be realistic in expectations and lower them from what I'd have hoped for at a 40k event. Basic gameplay - castle up, use Ballista's to apply pressure from range and pick up threats, keep level on score for a few turns and try and use Lumineth double activation to punish combat armies and take the lead in mid/late game.

 
 

Game 1 - Every Step is Forward v Peter Twigg's Blades of Khorne 

 
 

 
 

Pregame thoughts: Oh no. Oh no no no. I don't know what my good/bad match ups are, but I'm sure there can't be a worse won that this. Oh, and it's the player that won the AoS Invitational as well and a member of teams Wales.  

Fair to say it wasn't the start I was after! If there was a worse 'unit' to see against my "just about everything is a wizard" army that the Hexgorger Skulls with the ability to cause D6 mortals to just about every unit in my army and no way to interact with it, I dread to think what it is.  

Panic aside - Khorne was the army that after Lumineth I was most familiar with - an entire one game against and one with. So at least I was aware of most of the tricks, even if I was much less sure of how to play around it. I tried to think what my advantages where I came up with one - damage. Perhaps it should be damage?  as I wasn't totally sure of this (Skarbrand certainly wouldn't agree) but I felt if I could take out the Skarbrand and/or the Bloodthirster with the Ballista's early then I might be able to outfight Khorne with my double activations. Plan was simple then - screen up, buy time for Ballista's try and counter punch middle turns and break out to score highly late on. 

 

Lumineth deployment - general idea was ok but two mistakes - Bladelords and right Dawnrider squad should be swapped and I'm not sure what the back right Ballista is hiding from.

Khorne deployment Skarbrand hiding behind the building with the rest ready to push up.

Out dropped to Lumieth are given first turn. Hexgorgers weren't yet on the field so I took my chance to get Blind the Enemey (cast with 4 different Wizards.) Pouch of Nulldust meant I cast exactly 4 spells before stopping (and trying to only cast were re-roll is available via Shrine/Quartz). Otherwise army moved up to screen.

Minor mistake I made repeatedly - not casting the Twinstones first, a lot of admin with Lumineth and it was often 2nd/3rd spell. Not major mistake but a easy one to avoid. Ballista's fail to do much damage of note early on.

Khorne turn 1 - Skarbrand rolls a 6, does 16 mortal wounds and we don't have to roll any more attacks.

Flesh hounds and Dawnriders clash without much damage either way.

Lumineth turn 2 - The Bloodletters had charged and destroyed my Bladelords screening ending up 3.001 away from my Spears. In my turn I go for Conserve Atherquartz (destroy the Bloodletters with my Wardens and don't use the 'quartz.) The Bloodletters murderlust into both Warden squads with a single model in each. My Warden squad activates in combat, struggles to pile in does 2 damage to kill the Bloodletter in range of the other squad and leave it useless.

Skarbrand finest hour and All of defences but the Ballista's still wrack up some damage on him as I focus my shots on him now he's exposed.

Eltharion fails his charge into the Crushers and my second turn results in no points and minimal damage outside of Skarbrand.

Bloodletters take their pound of flesh. One "upside" of Hexgougers is it meant I felt free to use Calligrave Realmscribe ability to ignore battleshock/add another casting bonus to somewhat mitigate its impact.

Skarbrand moves in as the Bloodthirster looms ominously close behind directing troops.

A mixed bag in combat - the top Warden squad is destroyed by the Bloodletters whilst the other impales the charging Skarbrand on their spears.

Up top right the Dawnriders get taken out by Crushers and Flesh Hounds get just outside of 3 of Eltharion whilst the Wrath-Axe gets summoned in and starts to chip away at Eltharion

I win priority for turn 3 but I'm very much still pinned in my deployment zone.

Another turn for Lumineth were Khorne shenigans cause havoc. In response to into the Malestrom the Bloodletters murderlust back 6, then redeploy a further 6. I try to mitigate this by getting as close to the Hounds/Bloodthirster as possible but fail the Wardens charge even with a re-roll as does the Twins trying to make it in.

Minor success on the right - Hounds Murderlust into Eltharion to tie him up, I free him up with the Ballista's shots and he charges into the Crushers so I can at least retake the objective. 

Skulls keep prowling around my wizards as Hounds move up

Eltharion gets prioritised as the Bloodletters move up supported by the Thirster and take him out.

Khorne get the double turn and move in to end Lumineth

Another Bloodletter squad spawns in seeking Blood and murders the Twins the existing squad takes out a Ballista. Wardens take a little longer to take out and the Cathallar melodramatically falls over to signal the end.

 

Final score - 24 - 12 Loss 

Postgame thoughts - So the gameplan was about right, some mistakes on my end in a tough match and some excellent micro from the opponent that I couldn't deal with. The good - well I was happy about how I played around the Khorne dispelling shenanigans only casting when I had to for key buffs and only when I either had a re-roll from the Shrine/Aetherquartz available - combined this some decent rolls and I only suffered one miscast which still hurt but it could have been much, much worse. On a micro level - I'm not sure I made mistakes as much was just outplayed. Swapping the Bladelords and right unit of Dawnriders around would have allowed much better screening and stopped the infuriating pinning in of both Warden units which decided the game. Combined with some admittedly tough charges failed, it was a really, really tough match in which I was outplayed and couldn't break out - in the end I was happy to end up scoring 4 points on the 20/0 differential having feared it could end up much worse.  

 
 

Game 2 - Limited Resources v Carston James's Big Waaagh 

 

 

Pregame thoughts - Well it's not Khorne so hurrah! First time against Big Waaagh! but as least I had played Iron Jawz before so not entirely in the dark. Limited Resources was a concern - I'd only played it once before and the objectives turning off wasn't something I'd figured out much other than realising I needed to be more aggressive with the castle than I had been in that game.  Otherwise, this was a bit of vague' push into the middle, try and soften up the Maw-Krusha with ballista and make sure it can't charge/stomp on Eltharion plan.  

 

Lumineth deployment - typical castle build. Both of us had 6 drops, but I lost the roll of and was given first turn.

Big Waagh deployment - hiding the Mawcrusher behind the terrain at the back.

Lumineth start moving up - avoiding the left objectives so I don't start extract the resources too quickly.

Dawnriders use Speed of Hysh to move up and take out the Hobgrotz and try and split Orc attention. 

Ballista's get some pot shots into the Mawcruser around the side but do almost no damage, a lucky roll from the one that couldn't see takes out a Gore-Hacka at least.

Orcs getting charging - the Mawcrusher takes out the Dawnriders but its in the open for Ballista's at least. The Gore-Gruntas take out most of the Bladelords but the Gutrippaz move up too far from terrain to stop their battle tactic. 

Lumineth win the roll off for the turn, with battle lines this close I decide to take the turn and go in for a hopefully big turn.

It promises a lot but turn ends up mixed. I need to kill the Gore-Grunta for my battle tactic, but they redeploy 6 and the Wardens just manage to make a long charge into them for the points. However both Eltharion and the other wardens fail their charge into the Gutrippaz although Darkness of Soul means they take no damage back.

Going into Big Waagh turn 2 - Lumineth up on Score and damage at this stage.

Big Waagh need to respond and the Mawcrusha and Brutes move up and start to charge in. Eltharion gets his ghostly brain melted by the Prophet. 

Gore-Gruntas come from behind the battlement to threaten my Ballista's , the Warden redeploy back towards them to cover it and dissuade the Orcs from charging in.

The Orc combat is horrid as the Mawcrusher takes out most of the Wardens despite Ethereal Blessing and the Brutz murder my Dawnriders. I win the roll off for next turn and the Wardens who redeployed back move into the Brutaz and take out 6 and take very little damage on the swingback.

Blurry shot - the Ballista's move up to screen easy landing areas for the Mawcrusher and so they can start to threaten the far right objective. I shoot the Gore-gruntas that came around the corner to try and secure the backfield.

Big Waagh turn and the Prophet melts both of the Twins brains

Combat in the middle ends up close but Wardens are slowly chewing through the orc bodies.

Mawcrusher rolls hot on its charge and gets into the Ballistas and the Cathallar, the Cathaller is horribly killed but Ballistas manage to survive pretty well to give Lumineth a glimmer of light.

However Big Waagh get the double turn, the Prophet melts all bar 3 of Wardens and Mawcrusher destroys the Ballistas as the game ends in a sudden crescendo of violence.

 Result - Loss 24-18 

Aaaaagh! Felt like one that got away and a real missed chance to get that first win on the board. The round 4 priority role forming a Orc double turn was probably game deciding, (or at least squashed out any chance I had remaining) but the Wurrgog Prophet was the MVP killing Eltharion, the Twins (both through 5+ Ward) and 18 Wardens via its 'Stare at me and take mortals' ability as it just couldn't seem to stop rolling 3+ over and over and over. Eltharions loss was particularly galling - failing a charge, and I think I could have him half an inch back to be out of stare range without impacting the charge roll and his loss was the turning of the tide after a pretty strong Lumineth start. Learning experience for sure and I'd hope if I played the game again, I could take a narrow win but there we are.  

 
 

Game 3 - Lines of Communication v Richard Corner's Sons of Bahamut 

Pregame thoughts - I actually swore aloud seeing the list after first two games. My last game prior to LGT had also been against Sons of Bahamut and had gone so badly I offered to concede after turn 1 on I think the same mission as well. Still, I had some take aways - I had spread too thinly in that game, I had to screen better (mortals on charge destroying my screens I had used and piling in around had allowed the Giants to get into units I didn't think they could touch.) My other take away was patience, my tactics felt much more achievable than the sons did and meant I could fall behind a bit on the primary and hope battle tactics would keep me level - trying to contest multiple objectives in the middle against the mountain of control the giants provided wasn't worthwhile. I wanted to take out the Warstomper as highest priority - its bonus attacks v large numbers meant my Warden bricks were in real danger so made sure my Ballistas had range to threaten it turn 1 if I went first. 

 

Dawnriders and Bladelords screen with rest of Lumineth cowering back.

One Dawnrider squad on the far side by themselves - they don't want to engage but threaten to take the point if the SoB don't take it or move away.

SoB take first turn and move up aggressively.

Mountains of flesh move up in the middle (Twinstones not summoned)

The Gatebreaker runs and charges into the Dawnriders, it really, really low rolls its attacks and largely bounces.

Lumineth turn 2 just before the punching starts. The 4 remaining Dawnriders fall back and try and take up space. Eltharion and Bladelords move up to take out a Mancrusher whilst the Gatebreaker takes a blizzard to the face followed by several Ballista's to soften it up before the Wardens charge in buffed up. 

Both giants are taken out without difficulty as a bravery debuffed Warstomper looks on with Darkness of soul on it.

Won the roll of for turn 2, with the Warstomper feeling sad due to the Darkness spell gave the turn away.

The Warstomper is too sad to move, but does manage to charge in and fight, but only manages to kill 3 Dawnriders. Another Gargant charges Eltharion but the ghostly warrior destroys it.

SoB are up on scoring but have taken several heavy blows already. Lumineth line up another Blizzard and Ballista barrage into a Gargant (presumably with the attack on titan theme playing loudly.)

Brodd was at half movement due to overwhelming heat and another Gargant (hidden behind the large ruin) guard the objective from Dawnriders

I elect not to move anything within 9 of the Gargant so it can't redeploy as my various magics/bolts soften it up.

Eltharion and the Wardens combine to take out the Warstomper as Lumineth continue to dominate attrition war.

I'm technically pinned back and behind on score slightly- but with 3 objectives in the middle and Gargants running out of models its not a concern.

Brodd again has half movement on him as the Dawnriders make a pain of themselves from a distance.

Lumineth go in for the kill, no Blizzard this time but another Ballista barrage and Eltharion going nuts take out the King

One Gargant eyes up pretty much the entire Lumineth army. You can guess how it goes from here.

 

Result - Lumineth win 26 - 13 

Postgame thoughts - A win on the board and a plan achieved, hurrah! It was one of those nice games were everything just worked - all the spells went off; units had a lovely habit of high rolling a key save and the Sons always slightly low rolled. Two big Blizzards in turn 1/2 to soften giants up meaning I could take out both a Mancrusher Gargant and big Gatebreaker/Warstomper early meant I was so far on attrition so quickly and snowballed in my favour decisively - Sons of Bahamut felt like they low rolled for sure which always helps (it felt like Timber mortals upon death did more damage than most of their swings/rocks) but that said the likes of Darkness of Soul/Searing Heat really took the a toll on the giants ability to engage on their terms and felt like Lumineth still had another wave even if they struggled. Confidence boosting win to end the day (even if a morale sapping drive home getting redirected into seemingly every London traffic jam by a confused sat nav somewhat evened out the relief of getting off the mark!) 

 
 

Round 4 - Nexus Collapse v Syd Razavi's Fyreslaers 

 
 

Always appreciate annotations explaining what the various traits do.

Pregame thoughts - So first game against Fyreslayers. Quick sleepy research showed lots of fight on death/fight again and opponent explains they had a lot of fight first if I charged which meant it was going to be really tough to engage into. Thankfully, at least I had a plan for this one - clear range advantage, but with equal drops I had a chance to go second, score one point less and use the mission rule to collapse the Slayers home objective and hope they didn't have enough time for their short dwarf legs to hop across. I lost the roll of for drops, but scared of the Ballista Fyreslayers took first turn which was a huge relief as otherwise all hint of a plan would go out the window and I'd be back to trying to work out a plan turn to turn.  

Lumineth deployment - pretty central but mirrored with a intent to go hard after flanks.

Fyreslayer deployment - Magmadroth and one of the hero's in deep strike reserve. 

Fyreslayers took first turn and moved up little whilst a couple of units ran back into the terrain at the back (Wlydewood if you couldn't tell.)

Bladelords move up to block the central passage as Lumineth start their turn.

Very cagey start - I make sure to only sit on 2 objectives to get one less point so I can control the collapsing objective. I move a Dawnrider squad behind my lines to screen against the deepstrike.

I win the priority roll and give Fyreslayers the turn as both there home field objectives collapse.

Lumineth turns is again very passive. Some spellcasting a few Ballista shots of little note and screening. I attempt a charge with Wardens (Dawnriders busy with surround and destroy) but fail.

Ballistas given up trying to take any shots really, spread out to deny Magmadroth enough space to land in backfield.

Berzerkers hide under the dice tray, this time Fyreslayers win the roll off and give me the turn.

I'm running out of 'passive' battle tactics having used Surround and Destroy/Blind them so go for Conserve Aetherquartz and kill the Aetherwings.

I um and eer about this charge for awhile, eventually with buffs on I elect to take it award Fyreslayers will fight first but elected to keep them busy (Eltharion is behind and wants to avoid their mortals.)

Left flank is secure as Lumineth take a lead on scoring.

Wardens take the edge in the battle for the top flank.

Bladelords come back so Fyreslayers can't slingshot upfield as Lumineth backfield keeps taking up space to screen out.

Fyreslayers try to take bottom right objective but Wardens hold firm

Needing to commit up top the Magmadroth comes down (out of shot) but Lumineth have lots of bodies on the objective.

I win priority and give Fyreslayers the double, they charge another hero and summon the Molten inferno but can't get either infantry units in.

The wardens took a battering last turn but get some luck - I'd cast overwhelming heat on the Fyreslayer hero on a wound to right of shot (forgot name) meaning it only had 2 movement. This meant it couldn't retreat, and with battle tactics limited the Magramdroth fell back to score Bait and Switch - the result was that Lumineth held the objective at end of turn again.

Lumineth turn and I start moving the Calligrave/Cathalar towards the middle to Control the Nexus at end of game. Both objectives in my zone have now collapsed.

Wardens and Riders hold the objective. I elect not to move the Wardens so the Fyreslayers can't redeploy onto the objective and cast Darkness of Soul on them.

Eltharion and the Twins make short works of Fyreslayers up top to keep the points ticking over for Lumineth

Dwarfs last turn and the Darkness of the soul keeps the Dwarfs unable to move to deny them more points.

Magmadroth charges into Lumineth lines and kills the Dawnriders to take the objective before double fighting to kill the Twins.

Overview of battle going into Lumineth turn 5.

Calligrave and Cathallar take the middle for my grand strategy

Left flank is secured so doesn't move as everything left on the right flank pours into the Magmadrone, Balista's finally get a chance to shoot their preferred target and soften it up before Eltharion and the Bladelords finish it off.

Result - 27-15 win for Lumineth 

Postgame thoughts - Its wonderful when a plan comes together, and nice to actually have a clear one beforehand. Two things really struck me this game - firstly Syd really over played around the Ballista, they ended up having minimal affect in terms of scoring/mission beyond screening backfield and didn't do any great deal of damage but how they impacted Syd's movement keeping the Fyreslayers cautious (probably overly so.) The second thing and a direct result of this was how little fighting there was turns 1/2 had almost none with only a marginal engagement on my side turn 3 when battle tactics started to become an issue as we both tried to give away the turn to the opponent over and again. Really interesting game as a result and glad I could keep my 'let's charge at them head on' playstyle I normally run away. Fighting only for battle tactics/slow up movement and not for attrition? Madness clearly. 

 
  

 

Round 5 - Geomatic Pulse v Peter Vajnar's Kharadron Overlords. 

 
 

Pregame thoughts - I had played KO twice before, albeit a very different style in more of a gun line variant. The big advantage of those games was working out how the ships operated – genuinely blew my 40k mind when I was told I could shoot inside the transports. Having no idea how to approach the match up I went and had a chat with Jack Armstrong who told me it was a melee alpha strike list and to screen well and counterattack after KO commit and take the game long so that was the plan, albeit you'll see how quickly this plan changed! 

 

Lumineth deployment - Horses either side to contest the objective that turns into Pulse whilst main bulk is central to head there turns 2/3 and follow Pulse movements. Can you spot the error with the screening?

Right KO flank

Left KO flank, lots of Baloons in the boat to play Russian dolls with.

So the errors over here - The Wardens on the right were a bit exposed but capable of potentially taking a charge and the counter punch would be very hard on KO. I initally wanted this flank to be the side I didn't choose so didn't spread out the horses prefering Shining Company to be active. There is just enough space for KO to drop 9 away and pile in around/drop off troops to hit the Ballista. This would normally be a good enough screen in 40k and KO take first turn to take advantage after some careful measuring.

Careful measuring in action. One Ballista blow apart by shooting, the other passed a hilarious amount of saves to somehow survive the barrage sent its way from the KO Frigates.

On the middle/right flank KO Arkanaut Companies move up to objectives.

KO take a heavy initial blow, taking out a second Ballista and my Dawnrider squad.

So that gameplay of playing it slow and the long game? Out the window turn one. Speed of Hysh on the Dawnriders and full on aggression. 

Its awkward to get over to the Frigate, I start moving a Warden and most of my hero's over towards it whilst the other Wardens and move up on the other Arkanaut Company. 

Lots of careful positioning despite a rather aggressive turn - staying 6 away from the Frigate after the charge and keeping 3 away after Pile in as I take out the first 3 Skywardens.

Turn 2 and I win Priority. Either flank seems ok for the Pulse so I take the double turn and continue with the novel plan B idea of "hit the dwarf in the face with a large pointy stick"

Double allows me to charge into the first Frigate - it redeploys to put Eltharion/Twins further away who fail a long charge to get. The Bladelords get in to tank the Unleash Hell (which they do well) and the Wardens get in. I decide to keep them within 9 of the Cathalar with Protection up to give them a ward, although my opponent pointed out after I could have piled it to surround the Frigate and if I destroyed it they contents would have died having nowhere to go (a 40k trick I've pulled lots of times but didn't think about it in AoS.) Instead I send the spears inside to kill Endinriggers and manage to impale them despite them hiding in the ship.

Arkanaut Company and the Navigator take out my Dawnriders but the company is destroyed and the Navigator left on a single wound. I've done some good damage but its come at the cost of objective control and battle tactic failed.

KO turn - I'd given up potential points and they move in aggressive to take Eltharion out.

Warden, buffed with Protection of Hysh/Etheral take a blast from the retreating Frigate well and KO launch an Assault on Eltharion.

Overview of the battlefield - the Dawnriders at the bottom are dead.

Huge combat swing - the disembarking Skywardens take out my Caligrave and take my ward out. Eltharion takes 3 mortals from the Frigates impact hit but a horrific amount of 1's from the 6 Endrinriggers leaves a manageable amount of saves and Eltharion survives. In return the Twins take out the Skywardens and Eltharion unleashes his wrath (his 4 Fangsword attacks hit 7 times) and killed 5 Endriggers in the boat and leaving the last on a single wound.

Lumineth slightly up on attrition, down on points. Both sides in a position to deal a decisive blow going into turn 3

Lumineth win a huge priority role. Eltharion blasts the last Edrinrigger and cleaves the Frigate apart before the Wardens introduce Brokk hiding in the remaining Frigate to lots of pointy spears to leave KO with just a Frigate and single wound Navigator. 

KO move the frigate up and take out my Cathalar but a redeploy stops their battle tactic working as Lumineth take the lead

Lumineth keep priority - Warden on left Speed of Hysh and run to keep up with the moving pulse.

Blurry final pic - Eltharion heals up having narrowly survived a blast of wind from the Navigator. The Twins charge into the Frigate and there down damage 4 attacks chew through the vessel to leave Lumineth unopposed. 

 

Result - Lumineth win 26 - 12 

Postgame - If the last game had felt like a plan coming together this felt like some sort of mad sugar high rush on a rollercoaster which was admittedly probably not the worst place to be after 5 long games of AoS.  The good from my side was on the micro level, making sure key units in the right place turn to turn and both communicating and measuring to ensure I was/wasn't tagging something/allowing a redeploy. The bad - well my initial gameplan went in the bin turn 1 - retrospectively getting KO to commit a barge early and leave my combat units worked well but it wasn't some big brained next level play to bait them in and it was certainly something that I should have played better. I certainly got my share of luck this game - a lost priority roll and a single bad save/ward from Eltharion probably would have resulted in a loss as the combat swing from him in round 2/3 was huge. If I bemoaned some bad luck in round 2, this felt like it more than evened it out here.  

 
 

So ended up with a respectable 3 and 2 and finished 24th out of 81 players which felt pretty good for my first AoS tournament. I really enjoyed the list - if I was purely looking to build an optimised list, I'd switch to Ymetrica and run the Spirits of the Mountain but that's a very different list. I felt like the list was pretty close to optimal for what I wanted to achieve out of it, not a perfect competitive list, but for the style I wanted to play. The big change would probably be what to do with the Ballista - they didn't feel like they had quite enough critical mass for an attrition piece - I'd probably either swap the Bladelords for another Ballista (it felt weird some of the AoS players making fun of me for being a 40k players as I had shooting phase of 3 units with 'guns') or drop them for 15 Bladelords - the endless spell wasn't particularly impactful either, and if I made the change for extra Bladelords I'd want a Lord Regent to help buff them - either upgrading the Cathallar and the Twinstones to pay for it or possibly downgrading the Twins to Regent and getting another cheap endless spell for the battle tactic. I'd try both, but the extra Bladelords and Cathallar/Regent switch feels like what I'd try first.  

 
 

I mentioned the Ballista above, they were good, rarely great and had a greater impact on some matches, especially opponents choosing to go first/second than their damage output suggested a solid average grade for them as a result. Also getting a passing grade in a different role - Dawnriders. As screens and mobile casters, they were great - speed was a constant issue when they died, and something needed to fill that role. I just wish it felt like they ever did some damage and felt like something that if I ever wanted to replicate the role with allies something else might be able to do better - then again if I had actually taken Solar Eclipse, they might have been a great harassment unit without ever touching an enemy model.  

 
 

Getting a failing grade - Bladelords, more due to lack of a clear role and Wardens hogging the buffs and they ended up being the odd ones out. Need either more or a different style of unit. 

 
 

In the above average grade - Wardens and support casters (Caligrave/Cathallar.) The twins probably sneak into this category too, although I'd at least want to try switching them for an Enlightener to try and double cast Speed of Hysh - the Twins were always useful, but outside of the KO game at the end where they did great both casting and some crucial damage, they felt more solid than essential. Support casters did their job, Caligrave ability I even remembered to do v Khorne which was low key great in that match up and the Darkness of Soul spell has ability to just end games, even if it didn't have a match changing role - mostly limited to some extra vp's against Fyreslayers and slowing down a giant. Wardens I loved just about everything - except moving them around (as a FYI movement trays technically broke Shining company with models occasionally separated by a 0.05mm bit of wood, did check with every opponent if they were fine with this.) Are they a great unit? Eh they took a lot of resource up, both in points and support and had a habit of either taking no damage with stacked buffs and -1 to hit or just folding and there output was largely dependent on getting power of Hysh off which was often countered at a key time with opponents primal dice (rarely prioritised this over say protection of Hysh, normally worked better with less primal dice) but they had strong moment in all the games I won and certainly can spike the mortals hard enough to deal with just about anything. 

 
 

Eltharion is the lone unit in the great category. MVIP in game v KO, probably in SoB and took a dedicated effort to deal with throughout from every opponent. Need to get better at using him in harder match ups and when to just chuck forward rather than keep back and screen to heavily but always awesome. 

 
 

Overall was a really fun event - LGT since its move to Lee Valley Alethics centre has been really great and it was wonderful catching up with friends and former opponents and the AoS players were all a blast. Big shout out to team mate of mine Byron Sidhu who went undefeated in first 5 rounds of 40k tournament with Deamons and possibly ended up as top Daemon player of the UKTC season as a result.