Warhammer U.S. Masters 2016: Results and Winning Army List

The 2016 U.S. Masters Warhammer Fantasy Tournament is over and done with and after a weekend in Las Vegas only one man stood undefeated and in victory: my friend, Josh "Bad for the Hobby" Stuart. Josh took down the 1st Place trophy in a field of over 50 invited players from across the United States with his mid-comp Dark Elf army. His list surprised many of his opponents with its careful conservation of points and amazing amount of punishing damage that he could throw out every turn and with his ridiculous amount of dice re-rolling even the laws of averages could not tame him. Congratulations, asshole!

I, however, did not win the tournament. Although I did not end up doing as poorly as I did last year, two solid loses (including one ZERO) kept me out of the running (though I single play in Round 5 kept me out of the top 10). In the end, I ended up 27th overall with a final score of 53 battle points, 2 sportsmanship points, and 8 paint points for a final total of 63 (79 if I didn't screw up the last game). Next week I am going to delve into my games and where I made mistakes that could have saved or gained me a few additional points, but for now, I present to you the winning army list.



Dark Elves - 2498 pts - 9.2

Lords: (592 pts)

• Dreadlord (272 pts) (General, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Ogre Blade, Luckstone, Cloak of Twilight, Dark Steed) (So this guy has a 1+ armor save in combat that he gets to re-roll and a 3++ ward save against magic and shooting while being super fast and killy and able to ride in any of the mounted units Josh brought. I heard from many people that this guy did serious work 4 strength 6 d3 wound attacks.)
• Supreme Sorceress (320 pts) (Level 4, Lore of Dark Magic, Book of Ashur, Talisman of Endurance) (A solid 4++ and a +2 to cast and a +1 to dispel with a guaranteed Doombolt and Power of Darkness (the key to Josh's list) on a standard 2-dice cast that goes into the foot unit that is nigh-unkillable, not bad.)

Heroes: (832 pts)

• Death Hag (355 pts) (Witchbrew, Obsidian Blade, Cauldron of Blood) (So this chick makes the foot unit Frenzied and grants them a 6++ with MR(1), re-rolling ALL failed to wound rolls and additional attacks in a bound spell. That makes the spear unit (when combined with the +1 or +2 strength from Power of Darkness) an absolute power-house in his match-ups. Nothing is surviving 36 strength 5 attacks that re-roll to hit and wound, and that's without counting any of the character attacks from all the foot characters that go in the unit.)
• Master (157 pts) (Battle Standard Bearer, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Ring of Hotek) (2+ armor save and MR(3) for the unit, plus causing enemy wizards to miscast on double "1s", sounds amazing for 157 points that is hard to kill)
• Master (180 pts) (Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Sword of Might, Charmed Shield, Dawnstone, Dark Pegasus) (This model kills fast cavalry and warmachines like it's going out of style)
• Sorceress (140 pts) (Level 2, Lore of Dark Magic, Dispel Scroll) (Another Power of Darkness and a good chance at a second Doombolt, sign me up!)

Core: (629 pts)

• Dark Riders (130 pts) (Unit of 5, full command, with repeater crossbows and shields)
• Dark Riders (130 pts) (Unit of 5, full command, with repeater crossbows and shields)
• Dreadspears (369 pts) (Unit of 36, full command, and Banner of Swiftness) (This is the powerhouse unit with a 12" march move!)

Special: (285 pts)

• Harpies (75 pts) (Unit of 5)
• Repeater Bolt Thrower (70 pts)
• Repeater Bolt Thrower (70 pts)
• Repeater Bolt Thrower (70 pts)

Rare: (160 pts)

• Doomfire Warlocks (Unit of 6)

This first thing that really gets noticed in this list is that Josh has the possibility for 3 Doombolts a turn and the dice to throw all three of them a turn. Being on the receiving end of that is just plain nasty. Next up is the high number of maneuverable screening chaff units that can end up holding their points if only 2 models survive (and they can as they can move across the board if needs be). Then there are the 3, count them 3, RBTs. That is a lot of shooting damage to monsters and other small units that could hold up the spearmen block. And then we have the spearmen themselves. This is where the points of the army really are, but to get them one has to weather a tremendous amount of damage that most single units can't hope to survive, let alone wear down over several turns.

Looking at this list I just have to say congratulations. Josh, you found a fantastic list in the mid-range comp bracket that allowed you to put serious pressure on your opponents. And from all of us here on the West Coast who play with you constantly, I can surely say, you suck!