Welcome to Part Two of our Helsmiths focus. In Part One we looked at the AOR that’s been doing consistently well:

What’s Winning: Helsmiths of Hashut

But how about classic smooth Helsmiths allegiance, if you want to use the full range of models? Well the good news is there’s currently a decent spread of Battle Formations represented on the podium, but the bad news is that 2 out of the 3 are disappearing with Soggy tech cycling out. So Daemonsmith Cabal is the one you need to know about.

Daemonsmith Cabal

I really like Daemonsmith Cabal – this one boosts your Wizards and Priests, so it’s good for basically any list style. It would definitely be right at the top of my own shortlist for playing the army, especially with the anti-shooting Soggy subfaction gone.

In Colombia, Alejandro Hoyos took the Cabal to a win in the 32-player “Hashut’s Birthday” event in March:

Alongside a lot of the competitive staples we covered in Part One (notably Urak Taar and the Deathshrieker), we see double reinforced Bull Centaurs and double Immolation Cannons, and this list is very light on the foot troops as a result.

Meanwhile Mark Paddon used the Cabal to pick up a great 4-1 at the 41-player Realmshift Series in the UK in May:

What’s cool here is the reinforced Sentinels, a classy and underrated unit that we haven’t seen taken in many winning lists. Their main sin is probably being squeezed out by the Bull Centaurs – of course you’d want the Crit Mortal when it’s on offer – but I did notice one nice combo with these guys when I was cooking up Helsmiths lists myself, namely they get bonuses to charge on both players’ turns from having DPPs, and they strike first on the charge. So you can use Urak Taar to shift 3 DPPs their way in your opponent’s turn, nail your countercharge with +3″ to the charge (making that 2 CP outlay low- or zero-risk) and strike first to smash something they weren’t counting on losing. An expensive combo for sure, but potentially a game-winning one.

Industrial Polluters

Next up, Industrial Polluters: the one that makes you Neg 1 to hit from shooting. The bad news is, this is a Soggy Formation that’s disappeared in the new Handbook:

It’s still worth covering the lists that have done well and reviewing the blend of units they used, and I’d certainly keep an eye out for any future anti-shooting tech that Helsmiths may gain access to, but it is a worry that they’ll be losing a popular and effective subfaction choice that was set to shine in the new Handbook.

Austin Thimesch won this 46 player event in the USA at the end of January with his Polluters:

Who’s that asshole in 3rd place?

The spread of units taken is actually very similar to the ones we usually see in the AOR, but with a reinforced Bull Centaur hammer. Austin took Intercept and Recover and you’re going to see that a lot in these lists, because you’re primarily a kill-stuff army with decent reach. What’s cool is that Austin has gone Double Bulls: a rarely-seen Taurus alongside the near-essential Urak Taar. It does make sense and the generic Bull is probably the best caddy for your Enhancements: he jumps straight to 3 DPPs (enhanced 5++ ward) and scores +1 to wound for all your units against a chosen target. Brilliantly, he’s also a Warmachine, so he can even take the Greed Pistons for best-2-from-3 charge dice if you like.

He also stops your Cav getting bogged down:

And you might even get the “Achievement Unlocked” goal of finishing off a unit that was left on 1 wound, to score Intercept, with this ability:

Bear in mind the new GHB has a Battle Tactic that rewards you for doing damage in multiple phases, it’s nice to have access to damage in the End of Turn Phase without spending a CP. Honestly, I love this pick. I can see why the generic Bull is rarely seen because you basically have to bring the named version and you get squeezed on points pretty quickly, but Austin has showed you how to make it work.

Here in sunny Australia, AOS Coach picked up a 4-1 at Cancon, also with Industrial Polluters:

Good to see some Hobgrots in there, and why not? Cheap as chips, pregame move, they are exactly what you need them to be. The Scroll of Petrification puts Anthony’s Priest on a 2+ ward for a turn and keeps him on the table, which is important in this army: there is a general trend amongst Helsmiths units for high-damage attacks limited by low rend, and you have a prayer to fix that, so you’d want to keep access to it. We see the compulsory Urak Taar and Deathshriekers, and with multiple blocks of reinforced foot troops, Coach has invested in a War Despot to get them an extra attack.

Domination Force

This is a quirky battle formation, and another one that’s in danger as a Scourge of Ghyran addition. This one helps you Power Through (you double the health characteristic when checking whether you can do so):

Power Through is quite often the best CP you’ll spend in any given turn, so don’t sleep on how impactful this can be. It’ll also help you do damage in the End of Turn phase, which contributes to Blazing Onslaught battle tactic.

Loic Gosselin-Delort has been taking names with his Chorfs in Canada, including 4-1 at the 120-player Grand Tournoi and an impeccable 5-0 at the 32-player CTC AOS Championship Open:

And over in the Philippines, the mighty Wartilyo’s event also saw Jack Jacobsen‘s Domination Force hit the podium:

Extra opportunities to Power Through wouldn’t have been the most obvious place I’d go looking for a podium, but fair fucks to Loic and Jack, they’ve consistently made it work. Jack’s is the first and only list we’ve seen without an Ashen Elder, but given the list name, I wouldn’t read too much into that. He’s still a great pick.

In Conclusion

Is that a bit of a worry? Other than Daemonsmith Cabal (and the AOR), most of the success in Helsmiths has come from two Soggy formations that are on the chopping block. Well it’s clearly not ideal, but Daemonsmith Cabal is such a generalist and solid all-round formation that you’ll always have a good option for pretty much any build. If you are going to be tied to a single subfaction, this is what you’d want it to look like: just making your heroes better at doing stuff that helps your army.

So that’s how Helsmiths are winning games currently, and there are some staple inclusions for sure. Urak Taar and an Ashen Elder cover off your spells and prayers with a Deathshriek Rocket Battery to rain down hell upon your enemies. There’s a lot of flexibility about which troop types you take but Spears just got a handy points drop that might nudge them ahead, and one unit of reinforced Bull Centaurs generally seems to be enough – no need to spam them.

So that’s our Helsmiths coverage wrapped up for the time being – I’ve really enjoyed looking at them in detail. I’ve personally never played or owned any army outside of Destro, but if I did, I reckon this would be the one – I’m honestly kinda tempted. Never say never.

Have a good weekend, nerds. See you on the other side.

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Appendix: Industrial Polluters