Alamo GT Top Finishers

By Nickolas Mikelonis

Editor: This is a guest article submitted by Nickolas Mikelonis, if you also have content you wish to be featured on the site, email editor@dash28.org. Thanks to Nickolas for creating this awesome content!

I’ve decided to write a short article on the state of competitive Kings of War. This should provide a meta-game “snap shot” for players to analyze. The end of the year is when you get to see how the meta-game has “settled” into certain list varieties and the end is when Alamo GT takes place.

Alamo GT takes place down in San Antonio every November and is a great time for everyone who shows up. There has been over 30 players the past few years with many being/has been on the South Masters Team, along with a decent number from out of state, so there is a decent variety of lists/players to vindicate this piece. This article should add some ‘historical’ perspective for future strategy. While some of these lists won’t work with the new book; the basic ideas will. That’s the idea for this; hopefully readers will take away something, and use that something to crush your opponents. I would like to do more write-ups like this in the future if this goes well.

I’ve taken a selection of top lists and have interviewed the players on their thoughts. I’ve added my own as well for perspective. Alamo GT used a 2 list system, with a 2000 point list for the first day, and a 2500 list built upon the previous for the second. I will be posting the final 2500 point list for the sake of brevity and making analyzing them easier for all of us.

“I haven’t looked at any metrics, but it felt like this year a lot of people really stepped up their paint jobs. The entire field was solid.”

-Ryan Smith, Tournament Organizer and Paint Judge

Everyone please thank Ryan for running the event and helping provide me with info for this.

Jeff Swann (1st overall)

Forces of Nature:

• Earth Elemental Horde
• Earth Elemental Horde
• Fire Elemental Horde- Brew of Courage
• Forest Shambler Horde- Diadem of Dragon Kind
• Druid
  – Mounted
  – Surge
  – Drain Life
  – Boots of Levitation
• Keris
• Unicorn- Shroud of the Saint
• Beast of Nature
  – Breath Attack
  – Fly
  – Vicious and A7
  – Weakness
• Beast of Nature
  – Breath Attack
  – Fly
  – Vicious and A7
• Greater Earth Elemental
• Greater Fire Elemental

The Boulderguard Formation

Allies:

• Guardian Brute Regiment
• Beast Pack Troop
• Guardian Champion

(1) What is the overall strategy your list aims to accomplish?

Occupy parts of the board needed for the scenario and wait for the other player to commit, then react to punish the commitment .

(2) What are its strengths & weaknesses?

Almost everything shambles. Almost everything shambles hah.

(3) What type of lists did you face? Which were good or bad match-ups?

Ogres 2 times, Varangur, Ratkin, Herd, all of them were bad matchups for me, except rats are pretty even, maybe slight advantage to me. The massive amount of CS i faced was exactly what i didn’t want to face.

(4) Which scenarios helped or hurt your list?

Scenarios is what the list does, so they are always in favor of my list. The list i brought doesn’t kill a ton of stuff, but it’s hard to kill. Usually it lets me control the board.

(5) Could you have played the list any better than you did?

Not really, the plan was to set up where i wanted, and just chill there until I had a reason to move. With lots of shamble and surge you always have to be looking 2 turns ahead when you plan.

(6) What changes might improve your list?

Drop the herd allies in favor of more FoN units, but I like the models I had, so that was not an option. Theme is more important than maximizing efficiency for me. A regiment of centaurs, and a hydra would have been much better than the guardian brute regiment and guardian champion.

Our Thoughts: Designing your lists to win popular scenarios will always be a good choice. You don’t need to kill every last unit if you are sitting right where you need to be and they can’t make you move. Surge in this list brings an element (pun intended) of danger to unaware opponents as well. An unseen flank or rear can turn a game around in short order. The Boulderguard formation is perfect for this role. The tournament rules for placing terrain also favored Forces of Nature’s pathfinder, making sure that there are at least a couple advantageous forests/swamps. The allies are an interesting choice, but don’t drag down the battle plan. Jeff is also at the top, because of his amazing paint score. Getting one of the highest in the tournament making up for his battle easily.

Brad McKay (2nd overall)

Twilight Sparkle Kin

• Gargoyle Troop
• Darkscythe Chariot Horde- Pathfinder
• Darkscythe Chariot Horde- Fire Oil
• Darkscythe Chariot Horde- Headstrong
• Darkscythe Chariot Horde
• Lord on Black Dragon- Blade of Slashing
• Lord on Black Dragon- Brew of Haste
• Lord on Black Dragon- Staying Stone
•  Archfiend
  • -Wings
  • – Lightning Bolt
  • – Brew of Courage

*You’ll find if you build this list that it is at 2250 points, not 2500. This is intentional as practice for another tournament. Brad brought this anyway and still did this well.*

(1) What is the overall strategy your list aims to accomplish?

Board control is the main goal. The list mixes speed and shooting to force the opponent to come to me, while threatening the enemy with combat ability when they do.

(2) What are its strengths & weaknesses?

The biggest strengths are combat ability, alpha strike and maneuverability. The biggest weakness is low unit strength and any losses can snowball

(3) What type of lists did you face? Which were good or bad match-ups?

I faced a few horded, wall type lists and some mixed lists. Screened armies are the hardest because I cannot afford to get hit first and need to be able to remove the threats before taking damage. Screening chaff screws this plan up.

(4) Which scenarios helped or hurt your list?

Scenarios were neutral, the sixth scenario using points–not US–was helpful as this weighted high point monsters more heavily. The fourth scenario was problematic only because the opponent was able to designate a unit I placed as a sacrifice as a high point bounty when it was too late to do anything to counter due to the mid-game change.

(5) Could you have played the list any better than you did?

Of course, in the last game, I should have played slightly more conservatively.

(6) What changes might improve your list?

Not sure of any yet.

Our Thoughts: Once again, we see an emphasis on board control and scenario play. This time there is a powerful shooting element added making use of the (at the time) buffed Kin chariots with dragons to back them up. High unit strength combines with this and the results speak for themselves. I find it hard to think up a more competitive balanced-style list. This list is why Kin chariots are now taking a hit in the newest Clash of Kings book. The only weakness of shooting lists (low defense and mediocre nerve) is mitigated by the (4!) dragons, potential counter charge, and the only counter to gunlines is slow attrition oriented armies. This time Brad also took a heavily converted army making use of KoWs modelling rules, giving him a couple more points than last years score. Taking the  most point efficient units in the army, in multitude of ways, will always be a popular strategy for competitive players in wargames. This time it just so worked that those same units bring exactly what you need to win objective games – good unit strength and mobility. Going undefeated helps as well.

John Green (3rd overall)

Varangur

• Warband Horde- Dragonshard Shield
• Warband Horde- Hammer of Measured Force
• Thrall Regiment
• Reaver Troop
• Reaver Troop
• Cave Troll Horde- Headstrong
• Cave Troll Horde- Fury
• Fallen Horde- Pathfinder
• Devourer- Breath Attack
• Devourer- Breath Attack
• Magus Conclave- Elite
• Skald
  – Mounted
  – Diadem of Dragon Kind
• Skald
  – Mounted
  – Lute of Bane Chant
• Troll King
• Snaaer Clan Poachers

(1) What is the overall strategy your list aims to accomplish?

Board control, with over 20 unit strength I had built in redundancy, if I lost one of my warband hordes the Fallen, and two devourers covered the parts of the board with the most terrain, and usually held off more than their points in standoff’s at woods, etc.,

(2) What are its strengths & weaknesses?

Strengths, high unit strength, lots of crushing strength and enough shooting to keep my opponent honest, the Troll King is a BEAST, I NEVER LOST HIM ALL TOURNAMENT!
Weaknesses, the trolls, and warbands are slow. I couldn’t afford a backfield hero, so flyers were a chore.

(3) What type of lists did you face? Which were good or bad match-ups?

I faced Varangur, a pretty easy matchup that I outfought. Basileans, all Elohi and chariots, my rout rolls sucked and his didn’t, my only minor loss on the tournament. The match-up was exactly what I wanted, as he was vastly outnumbered, but the dice failed me. Goblins, supershooty, I struggled a bit against this list. I made the mistake of stacking my units deep, rather than wide, and he was able to focus on shooting a smaller frontage, still a minor win. Forces of Nature, a good match-up for me, my high unit strength meant I was able to outfight him. There was a huge grind in the middle of the board and I was just more durable, major victory. Varangur, this was a tougher match-up and he had fast movers and hard hitters, a real alpha strike list. Deployment determined this game. His cav, Fallen, and chimera posted up opposite of my Fallen and devourers; and I was able to use a woods to delay him, until the rest of my army ate his, major victory.

(4) Which scenarios helped or hurt your list?

Scenarios, which required me to get across the board to my opponents side were tough, as were those that required me to get to a center token first. Token protection, capture terrain, table quarters, pretty much every scenario which relied upon unit strength was good for me.

(5) Could you have played the list any better than you did?

This was the first time playing this list. I think I did very well considering. I definitely could have been more aggressive, which is necessary when playing slower lists.

(6) What changes might improve your list?

I could upgrade the warbands to bloodsworn, but they are meant to be soak up wounds, then allow my trolls to mop up, so I am not sure. The reavers will probably be left off next time, although I might include a regiment; otherwise I love the list.

Our Thoughts: Twenty unit strength is a lot for a Varangur list, and that much weight provided the momentum to push through a lot of less-fighty or non-grindy armies. Another army with board control as a central theme. Playing for taking the middle of the board, and pushing out from there makes for a good strategy with grinding armies. The trolls provided a tough center with a fallen counter punch. I’ve never been a fan of devourers, but if they worked out with an attrition list, like this one, I can’t really complain after seeing how well this did.

One point I would like to emphasize is the importance of deployment. Lots of unit strength means lots of deployment zone space filled, meaning lots of planning on-the-fly with how boards are set up. While terrain rules of the tournament adding to your overall strategy, as well there are many decisions that need to be made quickly. Practice is key when it comes to this step of the game (even though no dice have been rolled or a single unit has been placed yet). John himself admits that much, with a couple games that could have had swung further in his favor with sounder planning. Building a list that does one thing very well, like grinding down the opponent, will beat out a list that does many things mediocre. I believe that making your advantages even greater is a better idea than trying to shore up every weakness. One more point, is that the army has a great theme and paint job to go with it. John typically picks up a few player’s choice votes at every tournament he goes to. The extra points captured this way (about 6 above average) forced a path to a top finish.

Kevin Von Feldt (4th overall)

Undead

• Skeleton Warrior Horde
• Soul Reaver Troop
• Soul Reaver Troop
• Soul Reaver Regiment
• Wraith Troop
• Wraith Troop
• Wight Horde- Brew of Shapness
• Revenant Cavalry Troop
• Revenant King on Wyrm- Wings
• Cursed Pharoah- Wings
• Necromancer
  – Heal
  – Mount
  – Inspiring
• Mortibris
• Barrow Wights
  Ilona’s Coven Formation

(1) What is the overall strategy your list aims to accomplish?

The list I took to Alamo GT 2018 was built mainly around showcasing my newly painted units, the Wights and Barrow Wights, as well as the Soul Reaver Infantry formation. Those units are all very hard-hitting hammers, and I knew they would need protection to hopefully be delivered to combat. Mortibris the Necromancer’s “Chill Mist” aura providing Stealthy helped with that aim. As did the Wraith, and Revenant Cavalry troops, working as chaff and long-distance lock-downs.

(2) What are its strengths & weaknesses?

I think the list would be strong against grinding lists, as well as high-defense lists, but would probably suffer most from fast alpha-striking armies. And, despite having Mortibris, highly concentrated shooting, like Brad’s list, were able to whittle me down before closing in and taking me out.

(3) What type of lists did you face? Which were good or bad match-ups?

Round 1 vs. John Hogge: I faced a high-body-count Goblin list with 2 Rock Lobbers & the Great Rock Lobber, which took out my Barrow Wights on turn one. I misplayed my deployment, but was still able to pull back a 15-5 Win.

Round 2 vs. Scot Prebeg: Played against a nasty Abyssal list, but my opponent was in it for the drinks and his dice did him no extra favors.

Round 3 vs. Aaron: I was getting a little tipsy and tired, which led to my misunderstanding a couple of rules, but Aaron was generous and we worked it out. Ended up a slight win; 12-8 or 13-7. Would love to replay that one, it was a very tight match.

Round 4 vs. Brad: Our game was contentious, but close to the finish. I had a couple flubbed dice rolls and one mis-play that let him bring an Archfiend into the flank of my Revenant King on Wyrm which I thought was a front, but didn’t double check. In a game against a top-level general like Brad, small mistakes like that will cost the game and I payed for it!

Round 5 vs. Lex Simon: First time ever playing Lex and it was a lot of fun. The scenario let extra units Vanguard which enabled some first turn charges. Unfortunately, Lex’s first turn charges did not pan out, and he lost a few units in the counter charge. He also had trouble with his nerve checks, almost nothing went above a 5. I hope to play him again sometime, and get a more accurate assessment; because we had a lot of fun during the game, despite the dice.

(4) Which scenarios helped or hurt your list?

I think Eliminate would be good for my list, but that game was against Brad, and I had trouble catching his high-cost units. Dominate and Invade also work well for my army, since it generally plays pretty close together.

(5) Could you have played the list any better than you did?

Absolutely; I made mistakes every game. Fortunately, not all of them cost me as bad as in Round 4, and I hope to learn from my mistakes! Not just tactical mistakes, though, because I think there are always things I can work on to enhance sportsmanship and clean game-play. For example, in my game against Brad, there was a disagreement on a Surge, and so for the future, I plan to only move forward a blank base and leave the original unit in place until the surge is completed.

(6) What changes might improve your list?

I would like to bring in a second troop of Revenant Cavalry, though it’s hard to decide what to drop. The Soul Reaver Infantry formation is good, but they are somewhat fragile and expensive, and I would like to have more Unit Strength. Always working on improving the list, though, so if you have any ideas, I’m always open!

Our Thoughts: Having amazing board control is a running theme once again. Kevin brings the toughest list I’ve seen this year (outside my group) and paints it to a high standard. Undead are one of the armies that can bring the most grind, with their healing and the big man Mortibris keeping everyone safe as possible from shooting (the other tournament winning strat). The vampire formation is an interesting choice, but the high crushing, with that many attacks, forces attention to them; letting the wights bring the pain. I’ve tried a few similar lists with good results (and with my opponents you know that’s worth something).

The idea of setting up a mobile box of death fits perfectly with many tournament scenarios. This is where the barrow/regular wights shine. Against surging armies you have to play an extra half turn ahead, and many players (even experienced ones) will miss flanks turning up. Even when there are multiple objectives, you get to place half, letting you stack them wherever you feel you can defend the hardest. I believe that many tournaments will see more undead lists closer to this one. The more shooting that shows up the greater need for stealth and healing. Even if your opponent never fires a shot, Mortibris brings a whole magical toolbox with him. His model isn’t too bad looking either.  Just make sure to take your time painting and basing them, it really does count for a lot. Having an interesting matching theme with a display board elevates this just a bit more also. With rumors currently stating that nothing brought here will be taken away so far, don’t be surprised if you see something remarkably similar next to my name in the future.

Aaron Chapman

Abyssal Dwarfs

• Decimator Horde- Heart-seeking
• Decimator Horde
• Decimator Horde
• Slave Orc Horde
• Slave Orc Horde
• Slave Orc Horde
• Gargoyle Troop
• Gargoyle Troop
• Dragonfire Team
• Dragonfire Team
• Slave Driver- Diadem of Dragonkind
• Halfbreed Champion- Brew of Courage
• Basusu
• Mounted Sons of Korgaan- Fury
• Mounted Sons of Korgaan- Fury

(1) What is the overall strategy your list aims to accomplish?

Lots of US to control, or contest as many objectives as possible. Numerous breath attacks from Decimators and Dragon-Fire Teams, most with piercing, to seriously injure or destroy the enemy’s best units. Cheap Slave Orcs that can hurt most enemies well enough to force the enemy to slowly grind, or dedicate 2-3 times the Orcs’ points value to killing them fast. Some Varangur allied knights, protected by Gargoyles, as a heavy combat threat that can reach out and hurt significant enemies, before they hit my Slave Orcs. And finally a couple combat heroes that can support the battle line with 360° charges and high CS attacks.

(2) What are its strengths & weaknesses?

The Slave Orcs and Decimators work great together, and the extra breath weapons teams compliment these fellas great. The knights were a new addition, in hopes that they would fill a weakness of an all infantry that I usually take. However the Knights, while being a great combat unit, also become a huge penalty to the army, if the enemy can hit them with faster units and remove their TC bonus; essentially the knights are a huge boost in killing power or just easy points to the enemy.

(3) What type of lists did you face? Which were good or bad match-ups?

I faced an Undead Mortibris army, heavy on Wraiths, Wights, and Vampire Infantry.

A Twilight Kin with mostly combat infantry, and supporting shooting.

An all Chariot and Monster Empire of Dust.

An balanced Undead.

A min-maxed Twilight Kin with 4 chariot hordes and 3 Dragons + 1 Arch Fiend.

The Mortibris Undead were the hardest counter for me, due to high defense, high heal, and stealthy bubble.

(4) Which scenarios helped or hurt your list?

Scenarios were quite odd and changed up the rules of the game quite a bit.

One scenario limited the board to a 48″×48″ playing area. I fought the Chariot Empire of Dust army and he had no rooms to move. My army just walked forward and engaged quickly for an easy victory since he couldn’t use his speed to avoid me at all.

The final game against Chariot/Dragon Twilight Kin was fairly evenly balanced as far as combat ability, but the scenario required we get the most points value close to the enemy deployment zone (very hard for speed 4 dwarfs). The expensive dragons were able to get more points into my deployment with ease, without having to move at the double constantly, and ignore most of the fighting. All the points I was able to get across the board failed to interact with the battle much at all, making it very difficult to gain points and still fight effectively.

(5) Could you have played the list any better than you did?

I played the army fairly well, but had never tried using Knights allies before, so may not have used them effectively in all situations.

(6) What changes might improve your list?

I’m fairly convinced that the cost of the knights is too much compared to the benefit of having 2 slave orc hordes, so probobly won’t use the knights again. Though, I might try using some grotesques in the future.

Our Thoughts: Unit Strength, it really is that important! Another army that fights from the middle of the board outward. Aaron has been playing this army; slaves and their gun-toting backline, for quite a while and with amazing results. Even with slave orcs taking a bit of a hit from the Clash of Kings book, the armies effectiveness hasn’t been decreased overall. The play style is simple, but leaves very few measures the opponent can take to mitigate it once both armies are on the field. A couple of scenarios did favor this army well, and Aaron took advantage of that. The number of hordes counts a lot. This army list is far enough off what most people would consider, that it’s hard to plan for. At the same time, it still has what makes a list great. The fire teams and gargoyles can slow down combat block, while still doing a bit of damage, with Basusu to clean up. The allied knights are an interesting choice, but don’t define what the army does. They aren’t cheap, but bring hitting power without support, which is something that makes for a (much of the time) efficient allied unit.

With the current rumors I can’t see a reason to stop playing it either. Unlike other lists in this article, this one is hard to netlist. How many people own that many decimaters and basic orcs? Balance doesn’t factor into the army design, but why should it? If you just shoot off the other player before they can get through all that chaff your units don’t need to move fast, or worry about anything over 16 inches. Aaron doing as well as he is, fighting against other top tier players, is a testament to how strong this list is, and how much he has played it. Even if it looks ridiculous.

Dustin Howard

The Herd

• Guardian Brute Horde- Pathfinder
• Guardian Brute Horde- Sharpness
• Great Totem
• Avatar of the Father
• Shaman- Heal
• Shaman
  – Heal
  – Mounted
  – Shroud of the Saint
• Chariot Regiment
• Brutox
• Chimera- Wings
• Lycan Alpha- Onyx
• Beast Pack Troop
• Spirit Walkers Horde- Strength

(1) What is the overall strategy your list aims to accomplish?

It was an attempt to gauge the paint judges standard

(2) What are its strengths & weaknesses?

It was good at layering speed, but didn’t have the grind aspect that I prefer

(3) What type of lists did you face? Which were good or bad match-ups?

I played rats, salamanders, dwarves, elves, and forces of nature, all games could of went either way. The only list obstacle was the bulwarkers in the dwarves.

(4) Which scenarios helped or hurt your list?

None of the scenarios really affected my list in either way

(5) Could you have played the list any better than you did?

Of course! There is always room for improvement. More reps would of mitigated small errors.

(6) What changes might improve your list?

None of my lists are ever the same. There is always a slight change that takes place.

Our Thoughts: This last list is the one deviation from the rest. While it still contains a unit strength of 16, this army is much more offensive focused. The monsters provide a lot of power in a small space. I didn’t have much time to observe Dustin’s games during the tournament unfortunately. As per many of Dustin’s lists, there is a strong center and a flanking section. The Avatar of the Father not having wings is a bold choice, but the chimera plays his usual role of dragon well. When I’ve played Herd I usually find points to put the lycan hero in, and has always done well for me.

Herd has to speed forward which is why the totem is also a controversial choice. Despite this Dustin would be the first to tell you that this army revolves around being the prettiest. A great paint score will make up for one or two losses, if you know what you are doing. That mentality did pay off at Alamo. What also paid off is just how much practice Dustin puts into his armies. While the construction here may seem odd, it gets played with dozens of practice games behind to smooth out any wrinkles, that less experienced players would get caught up on. I’ve found that having plenty of practice greatly helps out with nerves and adds a comfortable amount of time to lunch.

Conclusions:
What wins games? Being a great player, with a great army, following a great plan (but not being constrained by it).

What wins tournaments right now? Unit strength and excellent painting. The lowest unit strength score was a 16 point tie between Dustin and Brad. Both very elite lists, that hit as hard as they can. Usually the problem with elite lists is that you feel the loss of every unit, no matter how cheap, at the end of the game when just being alive is enough to push to victory. That’s one of the reasons that the majority of these lists are as tough as they are. If you dampen the first incoming punch and hit back harder, that’s all it usually takes for the game to be decided.

The battle plan seemed to be close to each other too. Create a square of tough units, with chaff and strong flanking units to herd the enemy army towards it. The most objectives I’ve seen in a game is 7, and most lists would have trouble capturing those even with a 20% attrition rate. But what would be worse is a 20% drop in your paint score compared to what other people come with. Out of these lists Brad had the lowest score of a 62/80, still above average. While you can’t choose your match-ups during a tournament, you can choose how much time and skill gets put into making your army look great beforehand. Buying your opponent a beer/coke doesn’t hurt as well.

I would say that list building strategy has changed over the past year. I remember many lists were much closer to small, hyper mobile, elite armies back in the beginning of the year. Pure gunlines (at least in our region) have become much less popular as well. If I had an extra 7-8 hours, I could better analyze every tournament for general changes in list identity in the South, but unfortunately I do have other plans.

One list that hasn’t changed much is Aaron’s Abyssal Dwarfs, as mentioned earlier. Chariots have become much more popular since Lone Wolf GT when the seeds of these lists you see here were planted. I look forward to seeing how the US Masters tournament turns out (in person if things go well. Wish me luck!). Perhaps I can do a write-up after action report for that as well, and we all can have a look at the highest tables in the land. Please let me know what you think. It’s taken many hours to organize, format and evaluate everything but I think it will have value to players that enjoy such thoughts into competition.

Editor: Wow, that was great, thank you again Nickolas Mikelonis, i’m glad we could find a permanent home for this great analysis here of Dash28.