By Pat Nevan

Reluctantly dragging my wrestling references into this Millennium

So here it is, the promised follow up to last week’s article about the formation of Team Vengeance. For the small handful of people who aren’t intimately familiar with the details of regional Australian AOS 3 teams tournaments, Fatal 4 Play is Australia’s longest-running teams event. Last year the Measured Gaming club (which sort of runs the event) entered a team; this year the club ‘Leader’ Joel McGrath went his own way. Thus Team Vengeance was formed, captained by yours truly, to extract a pound of flesh from the treacherous egg-sucking dog.

This week I will be giving a brief run down of the Remorseless Stone Cold Killers who came together to seek revenge on their faithless leader. And a brief rundown on the lists we are taking, because what could be a better time than this to talk 3rd Ed AOS lists? The first finger on the Mighty Hand of Vengeance is none other than….

Stephen Binek: Blades of Khorne – Bloodlords

Regular readers of the Craichouse may be familiar with Binek as one of the gamers I covered in my Road to Cancon series at the beginning of the year. For that event, Binek was my Filthy Casual running a Morghast spam OBR list out to have some fun, make five new friends and maybe get a few wins. Well that fun, casual Binek was yet another casualty of Joel’s thoughtless abandonment of his brothers. Think I’m laying it on a bit thick, take a look at what the Filthy Casual is bringing to teams:

Army Faction: Blades of Khorne
– Subfaction: Bloodlords
– Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery
LEADERS
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (350)*
– General
– Command Traits: Embodiment of Wrath
– Artefacts of Power: Ar’gath, the King of Blades
Bloodmaster (120)*
– Artefacts of Power: Halo of Blood
– Prayers: Bloodbind, Killer Instinct
Bloodmaster (120)*
– Prayers: Bloodbind, Killer Instinct
– Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust
Slaughterpriest (120)**
– Bloodbathed Axe
– Prayers: Blood Sacrifice, Unholy Flames
Slaughterpriest (120)**
– Bloodbathed Axe
– Prayers: Bronzed Flesh, Killer Instinct
Skarr Bloodwrath (110)**
BATTLELINE
Bloodreavers (90)
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Blood Chieftain
– Meatripper Axe
Bloodreavers (90)
– Blood Chieftain
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Meatripper Axe
Bloodletters (360)
– Bloodreaper
– 2 x Hornblower
– 2 x Icon Bearer
Bloodletters (360)
– Bloodreaper
– 2 x Icon Bearer
– 2 x Hornblower
Chaos Chariot (80)*
– Chaos Greatblade and Lashing Whip
Chaos Chariot (80)**
– Chaos War-flail and Lashing Whip
CORE BATTALIONS
*Warlord
**Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

From the Filthy Casual to just Plain FIlthy, thanks Joel

According to the goofy tournament rules we were obliged to have an army from each Grand Alliance, and we settled on Binek for Khorne during development. He hadn’t played them before and it’s worth reviewing the creative process that went into his list. I offered to help with models and list building and tried to come up with something a little bit interesting and fun, but found that Binek had been replaced by a man driven only by the impulse to destroy in the simplest way possible. Due to confidentiality agreements I can’t post the actual chat logs but our list development went something like this:

PN: A lot of people like to run Skarbrand, he’s a bit of a Glass Hammer but you can always spike mortals.

SB: More Bloodletters!

PN: Some of the Americans have been getting great results with Skullreapers, a 2 x 10 list podiumed at Cousincon, Nebraska.

SB: Bloodletters!!!

PN: We could ally in a …..

SB: Letters motherfucker! Or do I need to drive up there and carve them in your ass!

So we settled on a list that would probably go alright with someone who had never run the army before. Not too many bells and whistles. Lots of redundancy and identical load outs. Chariots for that all important 1st turn battle tactic, Blood Tithe sacrifice and a bit of fun as well. Ditto for Skarr. I’ll be interested to see how it goes and I’ve got a lot of faith in Binek to deliver here. At the end of the day he’s a club man, a loyalist who will always find a bit extra for the blokes beside him.

Jason Brown: FEC – Hollowmourne

Of all the members of Team Vengeance, Brownie is easily the guy that I am the least worried about, myself included. Brownie has a lot of tournament experience but really, we all do. Is he the best player? Nope, he’s good but he doesn’t play nearly enough AOS as he’s spread across competitive Star Wars Legion and Shatterpoint. Does he have the best list? No, unit choice isn’t there. Is he the biggest hater? On a team with me in it? Be serious.

No, Brownie is the bedrock of Team Vengeance because he just plain and simple hates to lose. Hates it worse than me, and I hate losing worse than I hate hipsters on electric scooters. Brownie hates losing so much that he refuses to give it the satisfaction of walking away when he is beaten and will scrap for every last miserable victory point there is to be had. Every victory point, every time. It’s not a habit that wins you a lot of sports votes in singles, but teams events are different.

In a four-game teams round, a lot of teams will tie 2-2 and the winner’s points go to whoever gets the VP differential. And that will come down to whoever wants to fight for it more. I might want it, you might want it but I can guarantee neither of us will fight as hard as Jason Brown. It might not be everyone’s idea of fun, but if you have an axe to grind you bring a grindstone, not a pocket pussy. Let’s have a look a what Brownie’s bringing.

Army Faction: Flesh-eater Courts
– Army Subfaction: Hollowmourne
– Grand Strategy: Expand the Kingdom
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER
1 x Ushoran (460)*
– Spells: Deranged Transformation
1 x Abhorrant Archregent (170)*
– General
– Command Traits: Feverish Scholar
– Spells: Hoarfrost
1 x Marrowscroll Herald (100)*
– Artefacts: Charnel Vestments
– Prayers: Charnel Conviction
BATTLELINE
9 x Crypt Horrors (130)*
6 x Crypt Horrors (130)*
20 x Crypt Ghouls (160)*
TERRAIN
1 x Charnel Throne (0)
OTHER
6 x Morbheg Knights (150)*
3 x Crypt Flayers (160)*
CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

As a wholly legitimate AOS content creator I still don’t know a whole hell of a lot about what the new FEC does. Complaining about the 4th Ed Ogor preview takes up most of my hobby time these days. This list in Hollowmourne gives the Knight units plus one damage on the charge, which makes it the equivalent of pointing a woodchipper with a very wide mouth at the enemy and hoping a spray of bone mist and crap comes out the other end, just like it did in Fargo. For the FEC it’s a bit light on heroes and casting but it’s one drop, its got Big Daddy Ush, it’s got recursion and it’s got Brownie who is guaranteed to fight to the last drop of blood. Come get some.

Pretty much that, with a 6 up ward and recursion on the woodchipper

“Spooky” Luke Ingram: Gloomspite Gitz – Jaws of Mork

A long time member of the Measured Gaming Club and one of the nicest guys you will ever meet in the hobby, Luke is much better known as a hobbyist than a gamer. In a club with more than enough loud mouths, big personalities and far-too-frequently-expressed opinions, Spooky can sort of slide into the background. I’ll be honest, when he signed up to play Gloomspite Gitz I kind of figured he’d suggest some goofy narrative crap and I’d have to badger him into running what I figured was a competitive list. I should have remembered that Luke mastered about 15 types of deadly martial art before he was 30 and was one of those people who don’t talk all the time because they have nothing to prove.

When we were workshopping lists he came up with a surprisingly vicious Squig option. I made some suggestions which he politely declined with solid reasoning:

• Actually not good
• I’m not painting that
• Doesn’t work the way you think it does
• Garbage in the latest FAQ

We workshopped some more ideas, discussed a few more lists, tried a few more things but circled back around a few weeks later and came up with an option that was both effective and playable for Luke given that, like most of us, he has had fuck all practice.

I was actually very happy with the way we had worked together until I sat down to look at the list and realized it was about 98% Luke. The sly dog had handled me in the way that quiet, unassuming team members have finessed their loud-mouthed supposed leaders since the advent of know-it-all douche-baggery. Looking at it now I think my only surviving piece of brilliance is the Gobbapalooza, and that’s only there because Spooky ran out of time to paint Squig Herd and went with 2 units of Bounderz instead.

Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz
– Subfaction: Jaws of Mork
– Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon
– Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS
Squigboss (110)*
– General
– Command Traits: The Clammy Hand
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
Webspinner Shaman (70)*
– Spells: Hoarfrost
Squigboss (110)**
Skragrott, the Loonking (230)*
BATTLELINE
Squig Herd (420)
Boingrot Bounderz (320)*
Boingrot Bounderz (320)*
Moonclan Stabbas (120)*
OTHER
Gobbapalooza (180)***
– Spells: The Hand of Gork
CORE BATTALIONS
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Wizard-finders of Andtor
***Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000

Like all incompetent leaders I’m prepared to take credit for anything that works, and I have a feeling Fatal 4Play is going to be Luke’s best ever result. Spooky is one of those unknowable top-of-a-mountain, take this pebble from my hand type of Zen masters but I have a feeling he is one of those guys who will pull harder for a team than he ever would for his own glory. I’m tipping big things.

Binek (Top L), Brownie (Bottom L), Spooky (Top M). Happier Times for Measured Gaming

Patrick Nevan: Stormcast Eternals – Astral Templars

So that brings us to the Captain of Team Vengeance, the man of the hour, a humble man with much to be humble about: Me. We needed an Order Army to meet Dave’s stupid tournament rules and none of the boys had one (a sure indicator of a solid friend group). I own a Stormcast army I grudgingly add to with every new edition starter box so, like many a great leader before me, I gritted my teeth and took personal responsibility for the shittiest part of the assignment.

In actual fact I was pretty happy to get the Stormcast on the table. I hadn’t played them since the start of 3rd, they’d had a bunch of points drops and they are a solid no-brainer army to play when you haven’t had any match practice. The idea was to come up with a list with enough power to put down an Ironclad off an Alpha strike. Even if the KO have fallen off a bit, smashing one of the big boats is still a decent measure of power.

I ended up workshopping ideas with a good friend who is a Stormcast expert and we settled on an Astral Templars one drop. Largely because I like Palladors and they were able to lend me a Kharybdis so I would have something to paint and give the list that super special snowflake appeal. Is the Kharybdis better than more Stormcast? No, but its a bit of fun and a shout out to my old friend Clint Mallet, godfather of Australian AOS and Lord of the Kharybdis. Hope you come back to 4th brother.

Generic Gore Pilgrims 31: Hatred is All I Know! (Shoutout to Clint Mallet)

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
– Stormhost: Astral Templars (Scions of the Storm)
– Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery
– Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders
Lord-Imperatant (140)*
– Artefact: Luckstone
Lord-Aquilor (150)*
– General
– Command Trait: Shock and Awe
– Mount Trait: Envoy of Lightning
Knight-Zephyros (100)*
– Nullstone Adornment: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon
Battleline
6 x Vanguard-Palladors (360)*
– Boltstorm Pistols and Shock Handaxes
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Vanguard-Hunters (100)*
– Boltstorm Pistols and Shock Handaxes
5 x Vindictors (110)*
Units
4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (480)*
– Reinforced x 1
6 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (400)*
– Reinforced x 1
Behemoths
Kharibdyss (160)*
– Allies
Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
Additional Enhancements
Holy Command: Call for Aid
Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 160 / 400
Wounds: 123
Drops: 1

Wrapping up

So there you have it. The Mighty Hand of Vengeance, sent from hell to strike down the un(road)worthy. Hyperbole aside I’m damn impressed with the way the guys have pulled together and embraced the mission ahead of us. Not a faint heart to be seen or a bullshit self deprecatory speech about not being in it to win it to be heard, and I’m here for it.

I don’t know who will win the grudge match or how we will go in the event. Kickass lists and a killer attitude are no substitute for experience and match practice, but I know that the enemy is scared. Team Joel were not expecting Team Vengeance to be bringing absolute filth and their “You guys are the B Group of Measured” brand of trash talk has gradually been replaced by what can only be described as bitch-ass gaslighting. The way bullies behave when they realize someone they thought was a pushover is about to push them back.

“I didn’t know we were taking it all so seriously?”

“We’re just here to have a bit of fun”

“We’re all friends here?”

Yeah, bitch-ass gaslighting about covers it, mixed with the shrill whining sound of people road testing their excuses for failure. I’ll be back next week for a proper wrap up on what should be fun and normal event, for the other teams that are attending.

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