Why Bother?

Why piss around with smaller games, when you could be playing a proper 2000 point battle? The latter will be more relevant for tournament practice, it opens up more combos and it’s generally where the game is at.

I hear ya. But even though 2000 points games are at the heart of the hobby, I’ll always have time for smaller battles. There’s a few reasons why it will forever remain relevant:

• New players building up their collection don’t just jump straight into 2000 points. Some of my best memories of AOS are those early days when we were building up our armies and putting everything we owned on the tables. Then going out and buying more units to solve last week’s problems; that localized arms race was a good time. Hopefully this article can help garage gamers and new players with some ideas for strengthening their armies and where to go next with their collection.
• List building challenge. There is no established meta at 1000 points, and no netlists, so it’s really starting with a blank sheet of paper and figuring out what works. The meta is moving so, so quickly in AOS currently that there’s no danger of the grass growing under your feet, but if things do slow down, playing some games at 1000 points can really freshen it up.
• Using the “other half” of your book. We’re not playing for sheep stations here, so it’s a perfect opportunity to dust off the stuff that doesn’t quite cut muster in your competitive 2000 point build. As one example, 1000 point games were the only time I got my Megaboss off the shelf for a long time, until he got a new lease of life as a Brutish Cunning Battery in my competitive Big Waaagh list.
• Esoteric situations. Because you’re using different builds and the game plays a little differently, you’ll find yourself with unique challenges to overcome. This keeps you sharp, keeps your problem-solving on point and can only help you to react instinctively when something comes up in a competitive match that is outside your normal playbook.
• Doubles, baby. I still play 1000 point games on the regular with my local group, so we can have 4 of us playing socially on one table. We could play two separate games of 2000 points in parallel – and we sometimes do – but as a group we all really enjoy these smashups, and I’d encourage anyone to build them into their own rotation.
• You can (and should) play 1000 Points Doubles tournaments. Events where players can make their own pairings have to be managed carefully, because it’s not that hard to break the game by doubling up on Allegiances and pooling abilities, but with appropriate restrictions it can be great creative fun. For example I remember hearing on Heelanhammer a while back about them taking Stormcast and Sylvaneth together, so one player puts terrain right where you want it, and the other one blows it up with his Heraldor. Spicy!
• Random Doubles tournaments are even more fun. I will never forget the Measured Gaming random doubles event a couple of years ago where we had to rock up on the day and find out who our partner was. I got paired up with Corey Ford and it was without a doubt the loudest day of Warhammer I have ever enjoyed. There was a huge crowd of people, loads of whom I’ve never seen before or since, and we played through a curated selection of Realmgate Wars Battleplans. Good times.

We actually used to have our own 1000 point meta in Victoria, with regular events in Bendigo that pulled in people from around the state. It was great fun, and you could crack through 5 games in one day; my Maw Krusha took a lot of scalps in Mixed Destruction, charging in the Hero Phase then retreating back out to charge with the old Fungoid Cave Shaman Command Ability. Uncontainable, un-bog-downable, unstoppable!

When the Rankings rules changed to allow only 2000 point events to be submitted, that was the death of 1000 point singles as a competitive format in Australia, but it lives on in doubles events and garage games the world over. In celebration of the shorter format, I’ve invited some accomplished competitive gamers to offer lists from each Grand Alliance.

I’ve asked our contributors to cover a few different angles here, with some cool garage gaming lists, and some stronger stuff to help new players smash their mates off the table, so let’s get the party started!

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Ogor Mawtribes: Peter Atkinson

Yep, it’s my blog, and I want to write a Destruction army, so you’re just going to have to fucking deal with it.

The List

Leaders
Frostlord on Stonehorn (400)
– General
– Command Trait: Frostfell Aura
– Artefact: Ethereal Amulet
– Mount Trait: Metalcruncher

Battleline
Stonehorn Beastriders (300)
Stonehorn Beastriders (300)

Total: 1000 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 37

The Plan

This list asks a lot of questions of your opponent. Questions like: since we’ve finished an hour early, do you want a beer? With 3 bodies and only 37 wounds of pure brutality, you’ll force an outcome one way or another pretty rapidly.

The main idea behind going no Tribe is to unlock Ethereal, which is close to essential for a Frostlord if you want him to last more than a turn. Lethality in the game these days is off the charts, even at 1000 points, so he really needs that survivability.

We’re teaming that up with Metal Cruncher and Frostfell Aura to create a perfect shitstorm for your opponents. A popular list archetype at this points level is “Ethereal Big Thing with some chaff”. This loadout is an absolute nightmare for those armies. You get into their key piece and splash some Mortal Wounds on the charge, grind out some more Mortals at the start of every Combat Phase with Metalcruncher, and then they are locked in combat and can’t retreat (thanks to your Command Trait) until one of you dies – most likely them.

A single Stonehorn can be almost impossible for some armies to contain at this level, so three of the fuckers will run riot. And if your opponent has geared up to eliminate or contain one big threat, good luck to them. This list is simultaneously meta, anti-meta and anti-anti- meta. It’s also fragile as fuck to shooting, but we’re not going worry about that right now – Tonight, we ride!

Dollar wise, you can easily pick up three Stonehorns, but I’d suggest buying three Start Collecting boxes which are a stone-cold bargain. That puts you well on the way to a 2000 point army, with the Mournfang being a useful part of Eurlbad and Jorlbad Battalions.

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Cities of Sigmar: Joel McGrath

Joel is one of Australia’s leading competitive players, a regular at Masters and host on the Bush Radio podcast. Joel’s specialism is writing unique competitive lists, and he has most recently shaken up the Australian top tables with his anti-meta Beasts of Chaos.

The List

Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar
– City: Hammerhal

Leaders
Freeguild General on Griffon (320)
– General
– Lance
– Command Trait: Acadamae Prodigy
– Artefact: Saint’s Blade
Battlemage (90)
– Lore of Cinder: Wings of Fire
– Mortal Realm: Ghur

Battleline
10 x Freeguild Guard (80)
– Halberds and Shields
10 x Freeguild Guard (80)
– Halberds and Shields
10 x Freeguild Handgunners (100)
10 x Freeguild Handgunners (100)
3 x Demigryph Knights (180)
– Lance and Sword

Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs
Extra Command Point (50)

Total: 1000 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 70

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The Plan

When Peter asked me to write up a 1,000pt list, I’d be lying if I said that it was going to be an easy task. I haven’t thought about or written an army list for anything smaller than a 2k game or tournament since the first GHB came out. So after scratching the insides of my brain for a solid time, I cooked this list up. The idea is ‘For Fun’, ‘For Beginners’ and “Viable” – Fuck I hate it when people say that word in regards to lists and armies. If you want to trigger me, use that word excessively in a conversation and see how far my foot can go up your arse. Any who, I digress.

With all that in mind on a fun, expandable and an overall good starting point I chose Cities of Sigmar as the allegiance. CoS is an amazing faction to sink your teeth into, limitless warscrolls, combos and sub allegiances (cities) to work with. Nearly every sane person can look at CoS and find something they like. Don’t even deny it, you pessimistic fuck stain disagreeing with me while reading this article.

Now, onto the list. I chose Hammerhal for this particular army as it is the poster child city and is an easy one for newer player to wrap their head around, giving you a nice Command Ability to get the most out of your combat units that allows you to pile in twice and wreck face even harder. Who doesn’t like that! I also chose to go all human in the army, as they are relatable to *most* of Peter’s readers. The beautiful thing with Cities as well is that you could quite literally sub all of these units for equivalent Duardin or various flavour of Aelves; you can even change up the City if you want to get a tad wild with your choices. Whatever tickles your fancy!

Freeguild General on griffon – What a boss! A centrepiece for your army, who is fast, tanky and reliably killy. Shield and Greathammer is the only choice IMO. The Command Trait gives you an extra attack on his hammer and also nets you 1 extra CP at the start of the battle. Both solid benefits. His artefact turns his hammer into a blade apparently, and gives it an extra point of rend.

Plus, if he’s fighting near an objective (which he should be), you add +1 to the damage on his hammer. His Command Ability is +1 to charge AND hit rolls for friendly Freeguild units wholly within 12”in the combat phase. Now let’s compress this down: 15”move, 3+ save, fly, 13 wounds. 4 attacks on his hammer, 2s and 3s to hit and wound, -3 rend and d3+1dmg. Not to mention the mount attacks. Max damage (which is unlikely as fuck), he can do 36dmg total in ONE activation. Now pile in and attack twice: a Freeguild General on Flying Donkey does more max damage than a Mawkrusha!

Battlemage is a simple wizard, added in for ‘fun’. He gives you some playing space in the Hero Phase and I have chosen Ghur as his realm of origin. Wildform is a great warscroll spell, giving +2 to run and charge on a friendly unit. Nice! Wings of Fire is a spell from the Hammerhal spell lore that gives +1 to run and charge, while also making the friendly unit you pick able to fly. If this utility doesn’t tickle your pickle, you can change him up to whatever you want him to have to suit your playstyle, whether that be in a more damaging role or as a debuff piece.

Now we move into the Battleline. I went with two units of Freeguild Guard and two units of Freeguild Handgunners. Neither of these units are amazing, and you’re probably asking why I have 4 units of dudes, when I only need two in a 1k army. And that answer is two parts.

Firstly, Hammerhal has another ability where you get to generate extra CP, and running MSU really helps with that. For every unit with a banner you roll a dice, and on a 6 you get a CP in your Hero Phase. Nice and simple, every 6 you roll is going to be an extra pile in at the end of the Combat Phase, rerolling hits or saves of 1, or using the General’s Command Ability. The second reason is bodies win games, and while 40 bodies isn’t game winning, they are holding objectives while the rest of your army is doing other shit. The Handgunners are also pushing wounds through at range, so it’s not all wasted points.

The last unit in the army is Demigryph Knights. These lads are pretty cooked IMO and synergize really well with the General. They are fast, punchy and are decently resilient. I’d always make sure they’re rocking into battle with lances, and go to town on the charge with a double pile in and +1 to hit. All while flying from the Battlemage’s Wings of Fire spell.

Lastly, I went with an extra CP as this army simply can’t have enough. In your turn 1 you will have 3 of them to play with. One for the turn, the one you brought and the one from the Freeguild General. Not to mention 5 dice to roll a 6 on, and get even more CP. You might think this is an excessive amount, but you have to remember that this is a 1,000pt game. The board’s small, the action’s going to happen fast and you want to be utilizing your combat units as much as possible, piling in twice during both yours and your opponent’s combat phases.

This army isn’t godly powerful by any stretch of the imagination, but you get to play in all phases of the game. It has the output to deal with anything (especially in smaller games) and is a great starting force to expand into a 2,000pt Hammerhal list: more Demigryphs and the accompanying Battalion as an example.

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Nighthaunt: Michael Thomson

Michael is the founder of The Savage Northmen, a gaming group based in and around Cairns, Queensland. A specialist in Death armies, Michael went 6-0 at Cancon 2019 with his Nagash list, securing a podium at the world’s largest Age of Sigmar event, and followed it up with a 5-1 at Cancon 2020. I asked Michael to contribute an interesting list that people would give people engaging games, and boy did he deliver .

The List

Allegiance: Nighthaunt

Leaders
Guardian of Souls with Nightmare Lantern (140)
– General
– Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts
– Lore of the Underworlds: Spectral Tether
– Infernal Lantern (Artefact): Beacon of Nagashizzar
Knight of Shrouds (100)
Kurdoss Valentian, the Craven King (180)

Battleline
20 x Grimghast Reapers (320)
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
10 x Chainrasp Horde (80)

Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs
Extra Command Point (50)

Total: 990 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 56

The Plan

Mr. Atkinson asked me to write 1000pt  list that was a change of pace from the constant 2K scene: this list is aimed at being semi-competitive, while being a good starting point for beginners who wish to build up to 2000pts.

So the list contains 3 Heroes and 3 Battleline units, aiming to have a Hero for each unit. Our General is the Guardian of Souls, intended to stay with the Reapers. By bringing the Command Trait “Ruler of Spirit Hosts” and the Beacon of Nagashizzar, you have potential to bring back 9 Reapers; we’ll also be rerolling all hits and enjoying +1 to wound for units over 5 models.

Kurdoss will accompany the Spirit Hosts, and hopefully get you a sneaky CP or two from you opponent. This can stop their combos in their tracks and completely change the momentum of a game, and it also gives you an exciting little mini-game every round as you try to crack off that 5. Kurdoss can be also be a low-key ass-kicker in combat, so hopefully your opponent underestimates him!

Our Knight of Shrouds provides +1 to hit which the Chainrasps in particular (along with our dedicated combat units) can really benefit from. While this is quite CP-hungry, we do have 2 CP in our first turn and hopefully Kurdoss steals you one along the way.

I believe this list has a lot of tools that both beginners and competitive players could sharpen their skills on. One thing that gives you a bit of game is the Battle Trait “From the Underworld They Come”; this lets us set units in deepstrike, protecting our key pieces from early shooting or alpha strikes such as KO and FEC. Don’t forget to start Kurdoss on the board wherever possible though, to start nicking those CPs early and often.

Our other Battle Trait “Deathless Spirits” is one that takes practice. Having to be wholly within 12″ of a Hero to get an aftersave can be tricky, especially when chasing the “Wave of Terror” ability, since charging into combat can take you out of this range.

So this list has resurrecting models, a splash of magic, combat, resilience and “wholly within” mechanics; all in all, a good little start at 1000pts.

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Slaves to Darkness: Joel Graham

Joel has made a huge impact on the Australian competitive scene. In under 12 months, Joel has achieved a 5-1 result at Cancon, won Summer Smash in Geelong, and achieved 5-0 and a podium at SAGT in Adelaide. When he talks, you listen!

The List

Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness
– Damned Legion: Despoilers
Mortal Realm: Ulgu

Leaders
Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210)
– General
– Sword
– Command Trait: Paragon of Ruin
– Artefact: Sword of Judgement
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
Be’Lakor (240)
– Spell: Whispers of Chaos

Battleline
20 x Chaos Marauders (150)
– Axes & Shields
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
20 x Chaos Marauders (150)
– Axes & Shields
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne

Units
9 x Untamed Beasts (70)

Behemoths
Chaos Warshrine (170)
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne

Total: 990 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 77

The Plan

How many ways can you fuck with your opponent’s plans during the game? Who cares! You need to think bigger, and start fucking with them before the game even begins. Your Daemon Prince has the Command Trait that allows you to move D3 units 5″ each before the game starts, and likewise the Untamed Beasts get their own pregame move.

Once you see what the Pitch-black Battle Trait does, you might want to use that CT to move Be’lakor and / or your DP within 6″ of a terrain piece, because that will trigger turning the terrain into Overgrown…except that it also works on flying units. That completely takes most magic and shooting out of the equation straight away. The really funny part is that although they can’t be seen or targeted within it, they can see and target out of it, because the rule doesn’t affect them. Lol.

Plan on hitting them in melee instead? Yeah good luck with that, the Khorne Deamon Prince comes with a CA that makes all enemy units within 18″ halve their run and charge rolls. That 4″ charge is suddenly odds against happening at all.

Be’lakor is taking a spell that lets you roll a dice for every model in an enemy unit, then each 6 you pop delivers a Mortal Wound. Better still, if any models are slain by those Mortal Wounds, that unit cannot move at all until your next Hero phase. So any opponents who have loaded up a Deathstar horde unit will be stopped right in their tracks and howling with frustration.

All of that is without mentioning the standard Be’lakor fuckery with his Dark Master warscroll ability. If you don’t know what that does, look it up in Azyr, and pray you never have to play against it. At the 1000 point level, where most opponents will have one key unit that they build around, this will be utterly, utterly crippling.

The army has insane board control, and provides some punch through the Marauders and Khorne DP with his Sword upgraded to the Sword of Justice, so you are really banging out those mortal wounds. This list will be an absolute nightmare to play against from start to finish, and highly, highly competitive.

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Bonesplitterz Bonus Spectacular

Bonesplitterz are a really interesting army to build lists with in general, but especially so at 1000 points, where the competing dynamics of squeezing in the required support Heroes and the surreal quantity of cheap wounds you can field meet head on.

We’re going to explore each of the three Bonesplitterz Warclans, because that’s the kind of fun you can have with 1000 point armies. If something doesn’t work, you bin it and you move on. You can crack through 2 or 3 games on a weeknight, so let’s fling some shit at the board and see what sticks!

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Icebone: Peter Atkinson

Bonesplitterz are my Boyz, and I’ve playing them competitively since the first book dropped. I’ll kick us off by looking at Icebone Warclan, which is a great all-rounder focusing on pigs and movement jank.

The List

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz
– Warclan: Icebone

Leaders
Savage Big Boss (100)
– General
– Command Trait: Great Hunter
– Artefact: Kattanak Pelt
Wardokk (80)
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Kunnin’ Beast Spirits
Wardokk (80)
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Breath of Gorkamorka

Battleline
30 x Savage Orruks (300)
– Stikkas
5 x Savage Boarboys (130)
– Chompas
5 x Savage Boarboys (130)
– Chompas
5 x Savage Boarboys (130)
– Chompas

Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs
Extra Command Point (50)

Total: 1000 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 121

What’s the deal?

The great thing about Icebone is that the Command Trait is only locked in if you make a Maniak Weirdnob as your General.  So…don’t.  Give that honour to a Wurggog Prophet or Savage Big Boss instead, and reap Mork’s bounty.

You’re still locked into the shitty artefact, but the whole Command Trait playbook is opened up to you.  Take Great Hunter, so your 5” pregame move becomes an 8” pregame move, and if you don’t think that extra 3” matters, ask your wife and see what she says.

The heartbeat of your army is the 30 Stikka Boyz.  They can move, they can fight, and boy can they hold Objectives.  You’ve got three opportunities to double-pump their armour save (2x Wardokk dances and the Kunnin Beast Spirits spell), with the dances bypassing any unbinds your opponent may have.

The playbook will be stepping up onto the centre objectives, digging in your heels and challenging your opponent to chew through 60 wounds of Green Delight.  Meanwhile your pigs are zoning out deepstrikes, going after lone Heroes and stealing objectives.  They can also stack up the save buffs if needed, and step up early onto Objectives to set up your Boyz for the counter attack.

The Icebone unique Command Ability allows you to retreat a unit of Pigs at the end of the Combat Phase, and given that they can have a 24″ or even 36″ flying move with the spell on them, that’s a real power play in an Objectives game. On the small board and with that pregame move, a strong case could be made for Brutal Beast Spirits over Breath of Gorkamorka, but I love the idea of clinging onto those Objectives by your fingernails while you zip all around the edges and put pigs in places they won’t believe.

Sheer weight of dice (especially when you call your Waaagh!) should give you plenty of mileage from the Icebone rend ability, and you’ll have a great time and plenty of memorable matches by leaning into the Objectives and movement game.

As a purchase, two kits of Boyz gets you 40 models, which makes a perfect unit of 30 with 10 left over.  I’d suggest modelling up all the Big Stabbas, which uses 8 torsos and gives you a headstart on your 2000 point build, leaving 2 bodies spare. 

Now what will we do with those…How about we convert ourselves up a couple of Wardokks, hey?

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Bonegrinz: Dalton Copeland

Dalton is one of Australia’s top Destruction players, regularly repping the Boys in Green at major events. We also have an ongoing personal rivalry, since we are both usually contenders for Best In GA Destruction at any tournament we both attend. Dalton’s recent achievements include 4th Overall and Best Destruction at Cancon 2020, and 2nd Overall at Summer Smash 2020.

The List

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz
– Warclan: Bonegrinz

Leaders
Savage Big Boss (100)
– General
Wardokk (80)
– Artefact: Mork’s Boney Bitz
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Breath of Gorkamorka
Wardokk (80)
– Artefact: Mystic Waaagh! Paint
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Kunnin’ Beast Spirits

Battleline
30 x Savage Orruks (300)
– Stikkas
10 x Savage Orruk Morboys (120)
10 x Savage Orruk Morboys (120)

Battalions
Kop Rukk (140)

Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs
Extra Command Point (50)

Total: 990 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 116

How it works

So Pete has me on the blog again, Gorkamorka knows why he keeps coming back to pick my brain for lists, but I decided to put aside my cave wall painting of what life was like before the Great Pestilence and share what I feel is a filthy 1000pt Bonegrinz list.

Now firstly we are at 4 drops, this is about as low as I reckon you’d find in 1k. There simply isn’t room to shoehorn in battalions for the most part, but the Kop Rukk houses enough of the army to be worthwhile, especially the Wardokks that you were going to bring anyways.

Second, you’ll likely notice a lack of rend in the list, unfortunately this is a compromise I’ve found when trying to hit the sweet spot between number of drops, bodies and output. This list has a TON of attacks and coupled with the Bonegrinz Command Ability, the Savage Big Boss Command Ability and the Bonesplittaz Battle Traits, you should be able to pull down monsters fairly easily and still be able to brawl against other infatry mobs. It is however all at zero rend, so don’t expect to crush every enemy unit without throwing the kitchen sink at it.

Third and finally this is a list to grind with: you exploit your low drops to take board control, pin the enemy where you want them and laugh while they cant run away / around you because of Bongrinez forcing charges and preventing retreats.

Now I’m gonna go back to my painting, I’m halfway through painting my memories of what a pub looks like.

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Drakkfoot: Frank DeLoach

Frank is co-founder of the We Slay Dragons wargaming club in California, USA: WSD are regulars on the top tables of the ITC competitive scene. Frank’s videos are legendary in the Gloomspite Gits WhatsApp group, and also kinda NSFW.

The List

Oi! Ya Gitz! Warboss Frank here… showing youz why dis 1000 points Savage list is workin’

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz
– Warclan: Drakkfoot

Leaders
Savage Big Boss (100)
– General
– Artefact: Burnin’ Tattooz
Maniak Weirdnob (120)
– Artefact: Mork’s Boney Bitz
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Breath of Gorkamorka
Wardokk (80)
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Brutal Beast Spirits

Battleline
20 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (240)
10 x Savage Orruks (120)
– Chompas
10 x Savage Orruks (120)
– Chompas

Battalions
Kunnin’ Rukk (140)

Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs
Quicksilver Swords (30)
Extra Command Point (50)

Total: 1000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 97

Why do I like this list?

So, it’s Drakkfoot… the simple act of turning off Ethereal & Feel No Pain helps with tackling some larger troublesome units in lower point games.

Having 97 wounds in 1000 points is very helpful, especially with the ability to keep stuff at arms reach with the Arrowboyz. Giving your wizards the extra Fireball spell can help with a pop of damage here or there, and Quicksilver Swords coming off the Maniak will mean that you’re well-positioned to chip away support characters nice and early – that’s clutch when there’s no room for redundancy.

Also, getting your drops down to 3 is useful if you’re worried about having to dictate the first turn.

Kunnin Rukk, I’ll be honest… I don’t love this Battalion normally. But, at 1000 points it helps your drops, and allows for a little more speed or dakka on the table. Both Wizards can buff any of your units, including the Arrow Boys, so you’re getting every drop of juice out of every round of attacks.

I’d happily put this list on the table for an event or simply for some 1000 point games. It’s affordable to purchase as it’s 2 boxes of Boyz and a few characters. So it’s a great place to start Bonesplittaz!

Waagghh Ladz!

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Thanks for everyone’s contributions, and hopefully that’s given people some food for thought. AOS is a game that scales down really well and 1000 points deserves to be part of your roster.

I know that TTD in Geelong have been looking at hosting 1000 point doubles events, so I’d love to see some of these armies on the table later this year.

Until then: May Gork bring you strength, may Mork bring you wisdom.