by Peter Atkinson

Well that was quite the rollercoaster, wasn’t it? Since the last update we’ve had paywalled Warscrolls in the app (boo!) and a balance update (yay!). Hot takes are all over the place on whether the top armies got nerfed enough (LRL, NH) or were even directionally correct (Tzeentch), but I think most people agree that the game is in a better spot than it was this time last week, so that’s got to be worth something.

Anyway. Welcome to our monthly catch-up on what we’ve been publishing recently here on Plastic Craic, along with a look ahead to what’s coming up in October. We’ve got a bunch of articles to look forward to, a video I want to mention and best of all, a new member of the writing team to announce!

Let’s get into it.

A big welcome to Zak Rockman

Let’s give a big Craic House welcome to the latest member of our writing team, Zak Rockman! Zak is a top competitive player with a deep understanding of the evolving meta. A newly-minted member of Team Australia AOS, Zak has won a shitload of trophies including an excellent 5-0 at Cancon earlier this year. Welcome aboard mate – over to you.

Hello all! I’m Zak, and I’ve been playing Age of Sigmar competitively for a few years now. My main armies are Tzeentch, Ironjawz, Sylvaneth and Nighthaunt.

I’ve had some solid success on the tournament circuit, racking up numerous trophies on the fireplace right next to my sister’s law degree (we still don’t know who my parents are more proud of). I competed at Masters earlier this year and finished top of the ladder for gaming scores at Cancon. I have also just had the call up to be in Team Australia 2025. 

I am super keen to be a part of the writing team at Plastic Craic as I have actually been SLANDERED in an article. At Masters I was paired up against Joel McGrath and the site ran an article covering the first-round matchups with their opinion on who would win each one. Most of the verdicts had it close either way, with one player having an edge here or there, and I was fucking LIVID when I saw that I was apparently going to get smoked! Anyways I took it personally and managed to get the win. 

So there you go! He’s bitter, he swears a lot and he’s eager to talk smack. Zak’s gonna fit right in here.

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Indexhammer: September ’24

We’ve been rebalancing to publish a little more often on the Patreon, which means we’ve published six Age of Sigmar articles on the main site in September, plus a further nine over on our Patreon site.

AOS4

Calvin was smashing his keyboard long into the night when the Battlescroll dropped, to deliver his verdict on the Winners and Losers – as well as his nominations for GW’s trademark “WTF were they thinking” moments.

Pete kicked off a discussion around which armies you’d like to see added to Age of Sigmar with a couple of his own picks – one of them seems like a good bet, the other is a longshot, but both would be sure to get a huge pop.

Team Austraia delivered an excellent 5-1 at this year’s Worlds so we caught up with incoming Captain Jordy Rees to discuss that achievement and the future of the team, and over the Patreon site, Pete kicked off a discussion around the state of modern Battletomes.

Faction Coverage

Pete took a long look at Sons of Behemat this month, including a detailed review of the Brodd’s Stomp AOR (again voted for by our Patrons) as well as a competitive Sons list using the Braggit’s Bottle-Snatchaz ROR. The latter may well be the most competitive way to run Sons currently.

The last of our Patreon-voted Faction reviews was Tzeentch, which author Calvin has been playing competitively himself.

Finally, Pat delved deep into his beloved Khorne – an army he’s been playing to great success, through thick and thin, since 1st Edition.

Around the Craichouse

Our Spearhead Hobby Challenge has just wrapped up, so thanks to all members who participated and keep an eye out for the results and Hobby showcase.

We’ve finished up the draft Ironjawz Spearhead custom rules that we’ve all been working on together in the Discord, for use in your local friendly games – we’ll post that up on the Patreon as a pdf, including some levers we can pull up and down if it proves to be over- or under-tuned. But it looks workable as a starting point, and has plenty of fan-service rules in there. It’s also likely to be a very different unit composition than the (eventual) official Spearhead, so it should complement that rather than becoming instantly obsolete.

The Book Club became Comic Club for September – a bunch of us read The Nice House by DC Black Label, and are now discussing it together in the Discord. Any Patrons wanting to make suggestions for the next book (or comic) we read together can make a suggestion in there and we’ll pick something for November.

Other articles you can look forward to in October include:

• Power Picks and Coolest Lists for Saggy T. Our list review for one of Australia’s most beloved events: short format, all killer and no filler. Zak will be making his debut here, and look out for a special guest reviewer too.
• Zak is also working on a Sylvaneth feature showcasing a selection of list paradigms that this army can field
• We’ve got a Hobby Showcase on Craig Boyle’s award-winning Gloomspite army. Wait till you see this thing – it pops.
• Half the writing team will be at Bush Bash this month, so keep an eye out for coverage there – Pete’s taking his Bonesplitterz, Joel’s got the Fyreslayers and Pat’s still umm-ing and ahh-ing. I’m tipping Khorne.

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Craicheads

We’re rapt to welcome our new Patrons since the last update:

Thank you so much to everyone for getting involved.

We’re committed to giving our members good value by publishing an average of two AOS articles every week on the main site, in addition to the Patron-only posts on that platform too. Our Discord is members and writers only (No Dickheads Policy) so if you want to join us, you know what to do.

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The Final Word

Pete and Joel wheeled out the squatted armies for a batrep on the Measured Gaming YouTube channel:

Pete’s been running his Splitterz with Kragnos – the list came down 100 points since this batrep, which gets him another unit at Bush Bash. Joel was very keen on the BOC playstyle in his review so let’s see what happened when they went head to head!

Wishing you all a safe and successful October – and thanks again for all your support, it’s what keeps us going.

If you’d like to help us continue our work, we’d love to have your support. All Patreon Tiers include Discord access, exclusive articles and regular contests. Our Tiers are priced to be within everyone’s reach, so please click here to join us today!