The UK Age of Sigmar Masters are fast approaching, with the title of the best Warhammer Age of Sigmar player in the UK up for grabs on 26 – 27 January 2019].* Today I’ll have an introduction to the Masters event, the attendees, the tournament pack and all the top Age of Sigmar army lists from the event.
The Masters are hosted by Ben Curry and the wider Bad Dice team at Boards and Swords in Derby. You can check out all Ben’s coverage on Instagram, on The Grand Alliance Community, and on Twitter.
*Jack Armstrong, two-time Warhammer Master and the current UK #1, is missing the Masters this year.
The UK Age of Sigmar Rankings
The UK Age of Sigmar Rankings operate from December to December each year.
Points are awarded to players based on (1) their final placing at Age of Sigmar events in the UK and (2) the number of players at those events (i.e. points awarded are a sliding scale, with bigger events worth more points, recognising the depth of competition).
Each player’s standing in the ranking is based on the total of their 4 highest-scoring events. For reference, the 2018 Masters attendees averaged 7.3 events each in this season.
The previous winners of the UK Age of Sigmar Masters are Russ Veal (with Tomb Kings for 2016) and Jack Armstrong (with Vanguard Wing Stormcast for 2017).
You can find the UK Age of Sigmar rankings here.
UK Age of Sigmar Masters Players
On 8 December 2018, invites were sent to the top 15 players in the UK Age of Sigmar Rankings and the current champion, Jack Armstrong. Depending on responses, additional invites were then issued to the following players based on their final rankings. A further 4 players were offered reserve spots and asked to submit army lists.
The current UK Age of Sigmar Masters 2018 attendees are:
- Benjamin Savva (2nd) – @theerstwood
- Dan Ford (3rd) – @victorvictor136
- Craig Namvar (4th) – @ravman2
- Darren Watson (6th) – @PositiveVictim
- Gary Percival (7th) – @goddamitgary
- Dan Bradshaw (9th) – @CheekyBNOC
- Will Barton (10th) – @Beardyface21
- Terry Pike (12th) – @TerryPike84
- Russ Veal (14th) – @Russ_Veal
- Laurie Hugget-Wilde (15th) – @lhwaos
- Byron Orde (16th) – @ElementGames_
- Steve Curtis (17th) – @firebornminis
- Andy Hughes (18th) – @Dobies101
- Ritchie McAlley (19th) – @JustPlay_Ritchie
- Ian Spink (20th) – @Kanamorf
- Michael Wilson (21st) – @tzeentchmike
Below you’ll find player profiles for each of the players, plus the lists they are bringing to the event. I’ve also created a Twitter list of all the players if you want to follow along some of the coverage from home.
UK Age of Sigmar Masters Rules
The key points of the UK Age of Sigmar Masters pack are:
- six games
- realm rules are in play:
- all games are in the Realm of Aqshy (Fire)
- all wizards know the Fireball spell and the Firestarter command ability from the Core Book
- the realmscape features and realm spells have been pre-selected for each of the battleplans (see below)
- the Games Workshop Hidden Agendas
- terrain warscrolls will be used for any Games Workshop terrain on the tables.
You can download the full pack here.
UK AoS Masters battleplans
- Relocation Orb
- Geysers of Boiling Blood
- Spell: Stoke Rage
- Star Strike
- Burning Skies
- Spell: Incandescent Form
- Better Part of Valour
- Every Step a League
- Spell: Parch
- Total Commitment
- Clouds of Smoke and Steam
- Spell: Infernal Blades
- Places of Arcane Power
- Flaming Missiles
- Spell: Fiery Blast
- Focal Points
- Scorched Landscape
- Spell: Glare of Vulcatrix
UK AoS Masters Scoring system
The UK Age of Sigmar Masters has a combination of gaming and “soft” scores to determine the winner.
- Gaming scores
- Major Win – 30
- Minor Win – 25
- Draw – 15
- Minor Loss – 5
- Major Loss – 0
- Lists on time – 30
- Sports – 300
- 5 points per turn completed at the event
- 25 points per game for gentlemanly conduct. Issued or removed at TO’s discretion (i.e. not player scored)
- Painting – 60 points
- fully painted, based on rounds or ovals and cohesive.
Masters players are expected to get full scores in painting and sports.
The UK Age of Sigmar Master 2018 will be the person with the most points overall.
Ties will be separated as follows:
- Head to Head
- Hidden Agendas Scored
- Soft Scores
- Total Units killed
The awards are:
- The Master
- Second Overall
- Third Overall
- Most Sporting
- Best Painted
UK Age of Sigmar Masters Lists
The UK Age of Sigmar Masters Pack has brought a real interesting mix of army lists to the event. In a tournament year dominated by Daughters of Khaine and Legion of Sacrament, neither appear in the Masters field. You can find a full set of the army lists here.
Benjamin Savva – Nighthaunt
Benjamin Savva, #sohotrightnow, Games Workshop Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament Champion and proud member of the South London Legion. Second in the rankings and Best in Race: Daughters of Khaine, Benjamin has been playing a mixture of Bonesplitterz and Daughters of Khaine this year, but has switched it up with a Nighthaunt list for the Masters. Check out Benjamin’s Masterclass podcast for the site on Daughters of Khaine.
[Bad Dice Player Spotlight Coming]
Dan Ford – Legion of Night
Dan Ford, Master of Murderhost and Dabbler with Maggotkin, had another strong tournament season in 2018 with a third place finish and Best in Race: Khorne. Strong results at the Bravery One British Open, the London GT and GW Heat 3 set him up for the Masters.
[Bad Dice Player Spotlight Coming]
Craig Namvar – Stormcast Eternals
Craig Namvar, 4th in the rankings, had qualifying results from 4 different armies (Stormcast Eternals, Disciples of Tzeentch, Chaos and Khorne) showing just how well-rounded a player he is. Big results at Blood Tithe (team), South Coast GT, London GT and Blood and Glory qualified him for Masters.
[Bad Dice Player Spotlight Coming]
Darren Watson – Seraphon
Darren! Darren! Darren! everyone’s favourite member of the Bruces,
UK AoS tournament dancing champion, ferocious list-writer, owner of the world’s best postal-themed army, and all-round nice guy. Darren had a great 2018 season, finishing 6th in the rankings running mainly Chaos (Blades of Khorne, Nurgle, Maggotkin of Nurgle etc), and earning himself a debut place in the Team England ETC team. If you are interested in more from Darren, you can check out his AoS 1 Archaon Masterclass he wrote for the site. Over 4,000 words of list-tech goodness.
[Bad Dice Player Spotlight Coming]
Gary Percival – Stormcast Eternals
Gary had another strong tournament year in 2018 finishing 7th with a mixture of order armies and Best in Race: Deepkin. Gary has been pushing around the Sequitor Surecharge lists lately with great success at both Crimbobo (his first overall title) and the Games Workshop Grand Tournament Final. Gary gave a Masterclass show back in AoS 1 that, while focussed on Kharadron Overlords, also gave his overall thoughts on improving as a tournament player.
Dan Bradshaw – Beasts of Chaos
Dan Bradshaw, camera guru extraordinaire and hirsute master of social media. Dan’s an excellent hobbyist as well as player and took a variety of lists in the 2018 season, finishing 8th (Idoneth Deepkin, Disciples of Tzeentch, Order and Flesh Eater Courts).
[Bad Dice Player Spotlight Coming]
Will Barton – Stormcast Eternals
To be honest, I don’t know much about Will (sorry, Will). Will holds the Best in Race: Stormcast Eternals icon for 2018 with solid results at BLACKOUT, BOBO, Blood Tithe and the Sheffield Slaughter. Will switched to Deepkin for an all important qualifying result at Blood and Glory.
[Bad Dice Player Spotlight Coming]
Terry Pike – Maggotkin of Nurgle
Terry Pike, amazing White Dwarf featured painter, Facehammer podcast member, a fan of a pink tentacle or two and Best in Race: Maggotkin of Nurgle. Seriously, check out Terry’s Instagram. Terry qualified with great results at the Games Workshop Grand Tournament (Heat 1, Heat 2 and Final) as well as the Element Games Grand Slam.
Russ Veal – Legion of Blood
Russ Veal, past Age of Sigmar Master, Team England ETC member, Facehammer podcaster, official AoS playtester and simply “the Face”. Russ took Best in Race honours for both Legion of Sacrament and Nighthaunt in 2018 (one of the few attendees to hold dual-race honours).
[Bad Dice Player Spotlight Coming]
Laurie Hugget-Wilde – Sylvaneth
Laurie Hugget-Wilde, self-styled most sporting and narrative man in the UK. Laurie attended 9 events this season and qualified for Masters with a mixture of results from Daughters of Khaine and Sylvaneth (holding the Best in Race icon for the Trees). He has bravely kept up the defence of the Sylvaneth with consistently losing a game most tournaments. Laurie qualified via Blood and Glory, Facehammer GT, Heat 3 and the London GT and earned a spot on the Team England 6 Nations team for 2019.
Byron Orde – Order
Byron is the face of Element Games, a pro-painter, lover of grey, and has shocked the world with fantastic results from seemingly a bundle of Order models just picked off a shelf. Byron took 1st at the Games Workshop GT final in 2017 and has only built from there with consistent GT performances, earning himself a Team England ETC spot.
[Bad Dice Player Spotlight Coming]
Steve Curtis – Legion of Blood
Steve Curtis, another great painter in the ranks, took home Best in Race Legions of Nagash and Grand Host of Nagash after the 2018 season. His best results were from GW Heat 3, the Dorset Doggers Invitational, GT Final and Crimbobo.
[Bad Dice Player Spotlight Coming]
Andy Hughes – Fyreslayers
Andy qualified for the UK Masters with a combination of Fyreslayers, Sylvaneth and Legion of Azgorh (holding the Best in Race title for the Legion). Andy is probably most well known for his Fyreslayers run under General’s Handbook 2017 and he has returned to the army for the UK Masters.
[Bad Dice Player Spotlight Coming]
Ritchie McAlley – Sylvaneth
Ritchie McAlley has had an impressive first year on the UK Age of Sigmar tournament scene. Member of JustPlay Games and a host of the JustSaying podcast, Ritchie attended 12 events (the joint equal most of any attendee, shared with Mike Wilson). He and Laurie love to debate who came with the latest Sylvaneth list idea first.
Ian Spink – Bonesplitterz
Ian Spink, undeniable master of Bonesplitterz, impressively committed to hunting down big monsters with an army many have forgotten about. Ian qualified through the GW Heat 1, Facehammer GT, GT Final and Blood and Glory.
[Bad Dice Player Spotlight Coming]
Michael Wilson – Host of Slaanesh
Last but not least, we have Tzeentch Mike Wilson – funnily enough who has been running Slaanesh all year. Slaanesh have been an interesting sleeper choice since they picked up allegiance abilities via the General’s Handbook and Mike will be well-placed for when the Battletome drops. He attended 12 events this year, with his strongest run a purple patch in the halcyon days of summer (Dorset Doggers, BLACKOUT and EGGS).
[Bad Dice Player Spotlight Coming]
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