by Stephanie Berry

Hello, everyone,

After a good, long rest post-VTC, I’m back! Once again, the event was a massive success, pitting 140 players against each other in the largest online WARMACHINE & HORDES event in the world, ending with a classic underdog win for Four Men and a Baby against the returning champions, All Gas No Brakes! Today, I’m going to be looking at some of the lists we loved at the event (here’s the full roster). There are so many to go through that we should dive right in!

The first list that I would like to call out is the one many of you will have seen winning the final game on the KnightsMachine stream by Four Men and a Baby, piloted by the titular Baby, Michael Stone.

• [Krueger 2] Krueger the Stormlord
  • Woldwarden
  • Woldwarden
  • Woldwarden
• Malvin and Mayhem
• Blackclad Stoneshaper
• Blackclad Stoneshaper
• Blackclad Wayfarer
• Chuck Dogwood
• Death Archon
• Death Archon
• Gobber Tinker
• Hermit of Henge Hold
• Kogan the Exile
• Scythe
• Swamp Gobber River Raider
• Swamp Gobber River Raider
• Thamarite Advocate
• Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron
• Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Krueger the Stormlord with a pair of Death Archons in Secret Masters is a build that’s really popular in the competitive metagame* right now, and Michael’s list is an example of an interesting development. The Well of Orboros that’s usually omnipresent in such lists is absent here, and the extra points have paid for neat niche options for key matchups. Meanwhile, the core of the list synergises with Krueger the Stormlord’s kit extremely well, presenting a combination of high threat ranges, high damage potential, and the ability to deliver it through shooting. The sheer array of options available can lead to some truly impressive turns from a master of the Faction (pun absolutely intended), and it’s definitely a contender to watch out for.

Next on my agenda is another rising star in the tournament scene, Falcir the Merciless.

• Falcir the Merciless
  • Manticore
  • Manticore
• Sylys Wyshnalyrr The Seeker
• Arcanist Mechanik
• Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber
  • Gorgon
  • Gorgon
• House Shyeel Artificer
• Hermit of Henge Hold
• House Shyeel Arcanists
• Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max)
  • Soulless Escort
• Dawnguard Trident
• Dawnguard Trident

All the early indications are that she’s shaped up to be a really strong pick, and the list I’m going to talk about here is one I’m not at all biased towards; from Handforth Parish Council (it makes sense if you’re British), we have Paul Sheard’s Forges of War variant. There’s such a wide array of tools here, and yet it’s not skewing hard anywhere. Falcir the Merciless loves the protection she gets from the Myrmidons in her list, gaining Shield Guard, while Cylena and her buddies really get a lot out of Force Barrier from the House Shyeel Magister, and the combination of Snare and the Gorgons to drop a model’s SPD by 4… honestly, if I sit here listing combos, I’ll be here all day. But I really like this list, I really like Forges of War, and it’s definitely an archetype to respect.

Okay, next up is a list I simply adore. In every large event, there is a team that decides “our victory will come from utterly confusing you with our choices,” and Ukrainian Boars did not disappoint.

• [Jakes 2] Captain Allison Jakes
  •  Avenger
  •  Buccaneer
  •  Freebooter
  •  Freebooter
  •  Freebooter
  •  Freebooter
  •  Freebooter
  •  Freebooter
• Morrowan Archon
• Thamarite Archon
• Field Mechaniks (min)
  •  Morrowan Battle Priest (3)
• Field Mechaniks (min)
  •  Morrowan Battle Priest (3)
• Field Mechaniks (min)
  •  Morrowan Battle Priest (3)

Mykhailo is absolutely my hero for running this beautiful absurdity: a huge quantity of piratical robots sprinting at you is a terrifying prospect and a surprisingly resilient one, given the mass of Morrowans apparently ready and willing to hurl themselves in front of shots so they make it to melee, which is a cause I can decidedly get behind. I’m filing this one under “lethal joke”—you’ll see it in your pre-event read-through, think “ha, that’s funny,” and then, when it’s halfway up the board on Turn 1, you very quickly re-evaluate your life choices. 5 out of 7, perfect score.

Now for an out-of-left-field choice: Avery Alder’s Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight list, from The Highly Irregulars. This is notably reflective of my personal love of low model count, speedy, shooty lists, but hear me out…

• [Lylyth 3] Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight
  •  Archangel
  •  Golab
  •  Harrier
  •  Nephilim Bolt Thrower
• Blight Archon
  •  Harrier
  •  Mekanoshredder
  •  Naga Nightlurker
• Craelix, Fang of Everblight
• Strider Deathstalker
• The Forsaken
• The Wastelander
• Hellmouth
• Hellmouth

Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight is, in my opinion, quite a nifty “meta call”—basically, when you look at what you expect to see at the event and select a list to try to counter those things. Sometimes they pay off, sometimes they don’t (as, speaking from experience, trying to next-level read the intentions of so many players is hard), but in this case, I quite like the outcome. In such an Archon and solo-heavy field, having a Feat that applies Stationary is a really good choice, and I guarantee that some teams will have been terrified of the melee threat range that Archangel can get to.

Continuing with some more Stationary, we have John Henry of All Gas No Brakes (how could I not feature them? They’re iconic) and his Kolgrima list.

• [Kolgrima 1] Kolgrima Stonetruth, Winter Witch
  • Dire Troll Brawler
  • Pyre Troll
  • Storm Troll
  • Trollkin Runebearer
• Boomhowler, the Destroyer
• Bumbles
• Death Archon
• Valka Curseborn, Chieftain of the North
• Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron
• Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min)
  • Northkin Elder
• Northkin Bear Handler & Battle Bears
• Northkin Bear Handler & Battle Bears
• Trollkin Champions (max)
  • Skaldi Bonehammer

There are a couple of things I really like about this list. First, the sheer volume of models using Ambush makes this list a terror to anything that goes wide, and in the VTC scenario packet, where Anarchy has made what could be its final showing, this was definitely a big consideration for the players. Some tables were specifically designed to allow for some interesting plays to be made with the rule. Second, Kolgrima’s toolkit has aged really well—not only are her sprays really good, but a boostable Hunter’s Mark and Freezing Mist really help deliver her army, including the Death Archon, which itself really helps by stacking Mortal Fear with the Krielstone’s aura.

Strange Bedfellows is a really popular theme at the moment, and Marc-André Leblanc has my favourite example from the tournament.

• [Aurora 2] Archnumen Aurora
  • Corollary
  • Tesselator
  • Tesselator
  • Tesselator
  • Tesselator
  • Tesselator
  • Toro
• Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex
• Frustum Locus
• Prefect Hypatia
• Void Archon
• Void Archon
• Asphyxious the Sanctified
  • Scavenger
• Negation Angels
• Negation Angels
• Negation Angels

This represents a development I really like for Aurora2 – moving away from Angel-heavy variants, which are somewhat vulnerable to being countered by common anti-infantry tools, and instead presenting a more balanced variant with some very frightening ranged output. It’s really nice to see a list that leverages the deceptively powerful Hand of Destruction to its fullest extent and punishes the opponent for choosing to try and stay back out of the very long melee threat ranges.

I could go through every list here, but these are just a few of the ones that stuck out to me—let us know which ones you liked the most and why! If reading through this has inspired you to get some team event games in, remember that the fine people at Fishcord are running a smash hit team tournament next month, which is filling up really fast, so head over there to get involved!

*metagame: basically stuff that happens outside of the game; in this case, deciding what lists to play for the best chance of success.