by Pat Nevan

“Battle Tactics? I can’t be worrying about that shit. Life goes on man.”

348 players at the Las Vegas Open this weekend battling it out for one of the biggest prizes in Age of Sigmar, so what better time could there be to finish my series of hype articles for Cancon? I will be following the fortunes of a couple of players over the course of the event. 

You can read the interviews with The Veteran – Joel McGrath and the First-Timer Justin Clark in earlier articles. For the final interview I’ll be talking to The Filthy Casual – Stephen Binek and giving a brief review of my own filth-mongering efforts for the big event, because you’ll be hearing about it later.

The Filthy Casual – Stephen Binek

Another stalwart of the Measured Gaming Club, Binek,² to my mind, epitomizes the best kind of a casual gamer.  For a start he’s not really casual in the sense that he doesn’t know the rules. Binek is casual in the sense that he doesn’t live and breathe the tournament circuit. He has a very active social, family and sporting life but still manages to be a presence in all things group related and keeps abreast of the game. When he isn’t around he never seems far away, and he’s a great guy to have around when he is. Anyways over to Binek.

PC: You’ve been on the AOS scene for a while. What was your background in the hobby?

SB: I started over in the 40k side after a mate from work told me about the tabletop version of the PC game Dawn of War. After watching a few games, I decided I wanted in. That was over 10 years ago. I dabbled in Fantasy before it became Age of Sigmar and made the jump to the new system. I have since been playing exclusively Age of Sigmar when I can carve out a few hours in my life

PC: You’ve been to a few Cancons over the years. What is the main attraction for a guy that doesn’t get a lot of hobby time?

SB: Cancon is seen as the Mecca of Age of Sigmar. And for a member of Measured Gaming, it’s the distribution of that year’s Hawaiian shirt. It’s the best time to catch up with everyone and enjoy the weekend for what it is. I liken it to a Footy Trip³ but for Warhammer. Drinks, games, great company. Worth it every time.

PC: True that, plus it doesn’t interfere with the football season.

SB: 100%. Although I reckon I’d miss a weekend of footy to go to Cancon if it came down to it

Cancon 2023, Binek 2nd row, left

PC: What’s your best ever Cancon performance?

SB: 2020 i went 3-3. Which I was quite happy with overall. Good old Frostlord with mass Ironguts. Here’s hoping I can better that in 2024.

PC: Yeah I think I crapped out with 4 Ironblasters in 2020. What are you bringing this year?

Allegiance: Ossiarch Bonereapers
– Legion: Petrifex Elite
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (380)*
Mortisan Ossifector (120)*
– General
– Command Trait: Show of Superiority
– Artefact: Gothizzard Cartouche
– Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost
Liege-Kavalos (180)*
4 x Morghast Harbingers (440)*
– Spirit Swords
– Reinforced x 1
4 x Morghast Harbingers (440)*
– Spirit Halberds
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Kavalos Deathriders (190)*
– Nadirite Blade and Shield
3 x Immortis Guard (220)*
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1970 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 104
Drops: 1

PC: Not quite as many Harbingers as the last list I saw you run. (Nagash and 10 Harbingers). How does it win games?

SB: Win? You’ll have to ask a better player than me haha. So the list morphed from Nagash and 10 Morghasts into this. The main reason being trying to have battle tactics available through the whole game. Which is something I really struggled with when I used Nagash. I suppose the game plan is to buff the Morghasts as much as possible and hit the front lines hard while I collect battle tactics behind. It works in theory, but so do most lists I make.

PC: Nagash and 10 Morghasts worked better in practice than theory. This one seems a bit more viable. How about the rest of the pack? I know you have been doing a bit of work for paint scores.

SB: Paint scores seem to be on track for something mid table. Nothing extravagant as the “slapchop” method has come in handy for me as I’m not too fond of painting. Although it does always feel good to finish a model. Might look into adding some additions to bases as they do look a bit plain.

Still on track to have my OBR collection fully painted by Cancon. Have 5 small characters and Katakros to paint, then a bunch of basing to be done

PC: Yeah seems like there will be a few people adding stuff to bases.⁴ How are you hoping to perform in the singles?

SB: I’m hoping to equal my 3-3 from Cancon 2020 at a minimum. My goal every tournament is to go positive so I’d be very happy to push for 4+ wins if I can. Failing that, I just wanna be the best opponent I can be. 

PC: Fair enough. You and NC Dave⁵ are down for the doubles event on Sunday, have you done much prep work?

SB: None actually. Will probably wing it on the day. Closest we’ve come is working out what grand strategy we have to take.

PC: You are well ahead of me, I had to put up a lonely hearts ad on the event page looking for a partner. What’s your list?

SB: So the list is about half of what I’m taking in the main event (1000 points. Go figure ha), mainly to minimize the amount of minis to take with me while still playing a list with models I love…

Allegiance: Ossiarch Bonereapers
– Legion: Petrifex Elite
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (380)*
Mortisan Ossifector (120)*
– General
– Command Trait: Show of Superiority
– Artefact: Gothizzard Cartouche
– Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost
2 x Morghast Archai (220)*
– Spirit Swords
2 x Morghast Harbingers (220)*
– Spirit Swords
Soulstealer Carrion (40)
*Ossiarch Cohort

Total: 980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 43
Drops: 1

I didn’t notice it during the interview but the sly dog has slipped an all–new endless spell and one of those fancy battletome battalions into his list. No preparation my ass, it‘s the quiet ones you have to watch.

PC: Between that and Dave’s Ogors you should have a pretty good day of it. That should about wrap it up, any shout outs or tips for first-time Cancon attendees?

SB: Really keen to play alongside Dave especially with his list. Can’t wait to see 12 Gluttons take to the field alongside Arkhan. 

For first timers, really enjoy the weekend. The guys running the event have put a lot of time and effort into it. If you find yourself against a bloke in a Hawaiian shirt, know you’re in for a great fun game. Stay hydrated. Either by water or something alcoholic. Both work. That shed gets quite warm with minimal air flow. Lotta people around.

Thanks for having me Pat. Good luck to everyone playing at Cancon. Hope to meet a few new people.

PC: Cheers mate, best of luck at the event.

So there it is for our Filthy Casual Stephen Binek, what a Mensch. I’ll be checking his progress over the course of the event. The current plan is to run a Cancon diary so I will be doing a running commentary on my own games, which means it’s time to introduce my own list.

The Filthmonger – Pat Nevan

“Great to see so many new players at Cancon this year.”

While I am as maniacally competitive as the next adult who throws tantrums when they lose games with their toy soldiers, I have typically mixed the more straight competitive lists with creative projects, like a Hollywood actor trying to maintain artistic credibility by swinging between Superhero crap and Oscar-bait biopics.⁶ Anyways Cancon has traditionally been arthouse time so I’ve had some piss poor results with novelty lists or straight up misfires in the meta. For my first Cancon, I took old-fashioned Wrathmongers into the fabled 60 Grimghast A List AOS 1 window. 

Still its the first time we have had a major tournament with an elimination round, and I want a piece of it, so in a break with tradition, this time I’m bringing the Filth. Not like Order Shooting filth, or Seraphon, I didn’t have time to get the models painted. There’s no prize worth taking my beloved Khorne of the shelf. I’d quit the hobby before I’d lower myself to running the Big Snore. That left me with Nurgle or the SBGL. Fuck what anyone says I think Nurgle are the stronger faction after the Vamps caught two solid nerfs but Cancon is no place for grinding out your games with 40 plaguebearers. You score bonus points for denying your opponents secondaries and it’s traditionally hotter than hells ass crack. You need to win quickly so that leaves us with.

Generic Gore Pilgrms 28: Year of the Dragon

Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords
– Subfaction: Legion of Blood
– Grand Strategy: Lust for Domination
– Triumphs:
Neferata, Mortarch of Blood (410)*
– Lore of the Deathmages: Waste Away
Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (480)**
– General
– Deathlance
– Command Trait: Doomed Minions
– Artefact: Cloak of Mists and Shadows
– Lore of the Vampires: Vile Transference
Wight King on Skeletal Steed (170)*
– Artefact: Amulet of Screams
Necromancer (100)*
– Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard
10 x Black Knights (260)**
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Black Knights (260)**
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Black Knights (130)**
3 x Fell Bats (90)**
7 x The Sepulchral Guard (100)**
*Command Entourage – Magnificent
**Battle Regiment
Artefact

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 108
Drops: 4

Once I made the decision to roll with a super aggressive SBGL list it basically wrote itself. 20 odd Black Knights and a White King for the charge mortals. Black Knights are Battleline line in Legion of Blood. If you’re running LOB, you take an ethereal VLZOD and Neferata because you like to win games. That’s 1500 odd points. You need an Andtorian Locus, and I refuse to spend 150 on a Vamp Lord in anything but Legion of Night, so a Necromancer it is. There’s no way I’m leaving an Amulet of Screams on the shelf, so Command Entourage plus a Battle Reg for the drops.

That core of the list took longer to type than it did to think of.⁷ I did spend a lot of time dicking around with the unit make up, trialing a 15 blob of Black Knights before wheeling out the Sepulchural Guard to give me about the max of horsies and bodies. They have been the real find in my practice games so far, 15 wounds for 100 points that can pull off Dire Wolf pile in shenanigans, bargain.

How will it go? Well I’ve nailed my colors to the mast here so anything less than the elimination round has to be considered a failure. Honestly it’s going to be a tough one. The list is strong but super aggressive alpha striking monsters are not my preferred playstyle. Plus there are a lot of soft scores on the table in this one. Soft scores for painting, soft scores for sports and soft scores for being a pleasure to play against. I can’t help but feel that being an intensely competitive, indifferent painter with a short fuse and the sunny outlook of a man waiting for a bill from his mechanic could cost me a little here.

I guess we will find out soon in the Cancon diaries.

1. In hobby circles Binek is only ever referred to as Binek although he goes by Steve in his daily life. Pronounced either Byne-ick or Bin-ick if you asked for Steve at a gaming event even Binek would assume you were referring to someone else. ↩︎
2. A footy trip in the Australian sense is the end of season week or weekend away party trip for the football team and hangers on. It occurs at amateur and professional level and the term is generic. Eg; Basketball teams go on footy trips. I’m assuming there are UK and American equivalents. ↩︎
3. Come to think of it I know I’ve got one of those GW packets of skulls lying around somewhere, might be worth a point on the paint rubric. ↩︎
4. NC or Non-Cunty Dave is yet another Measured Gaming Stalwart among other things ↩︎
5. Which are equally garbage to my mind, you want artistic integrity go watch J-Law in No Hard Feelings ↩︎
6. And I still say its not a netlist by virtue of it’s lack of creativity. Anyone could have opened the book and come up with this without ever seeing another LOB list the choices are that obvious. The guy who came up with the four Screaming Bell list is somebody worth ripping off/paying homage to. ↩︎

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