The road to Blackout/AoS army stocktake

I was struggling for a topic for this month's blog (technically last month's as I'm catching up for March), so I figured I'd do a quick stocktake of how I'm feeling about my AoS armies, and start thinking about what I want to take to Blackout in August, which is probably going to be my next competitive tournament. 

What should I run at Blackout?

1. Fyreslayers. 

My first army. I have over 3000 points of them, and probably have the models I'd need to make a pretty competitive list, but they're easily the worse painted of my armies and that puts me off playing with them. At some point I'll probably get round to repainting them, but for the moment they're going to carry on sitting in my attic. I do have one unpainted magmadroth, and I'd like to paint that up sometime this year as a fun painting project.

Blackout contender: no

2. Tempest's Eye

My Tempest's Eye army consists largely of old Empire models and as such is almost certainly destined to be moved to Legends once the new Cities of Sigmar range is released. Part of me wants to take it to an event before it gets squatted, but it's not remotely competitive and I think trying to play a five game tournament with it would be a recipe for sadness.

Blackout contender: no

My Tempest's Eye taking on Seraphon in a recent game

3. Kharadron Overlords

I finished my KO army during lock down and haven't used them anything like as much as I'd like to, the main problem I have with them is that they're a nightmare to transport. I foolishly built the boats using the flight stands they came with, and I've yet to find a transport solution I trust for the Ironclad. However, I played my first game with the new KO book today and had a good time, so I'm tempted to rebase them to fix the transport problem and get some practice in with them. Apart from logistical concerns, my main worry is that KO are an army with quite a high skill ceiling, and I'm not sure I have the positioning skills and target priority knowledge to play them well. They are probably the army I find most fun to play though, and I would enjoy practicing and trying to improve with them.

Blackout contender: yes if I can rebase them in time

My main lesson learned from my first game with the new KO book was not to let Kragnos charge me!

4. Living City

My Living City are a narrative army mainly built around the old Dispossessed models, and I am desperately praying that it survives the Cities of Sigmar range refresh. I'm resigned to the Tempest's Eye going, but not to losing this one. Like the Tempest's Eye, they're not competitive enough to be fun to run at a proper tournament, but I'm planning to take them to a narrative event at Bad Moon Cafe in June so they'll get a run out there.

Blackout contender: no

5. Ossiarch Bonereapers

I'm excited to play OBR with their new battletome coming out next week, but I think this might the point where I have to accept that I need to paint a few more bits for them to be able to build good competitive lists. This shouldn't be a big deal as they're generally pretty quick to paint, but I never enjoy revisiting old projects so I'm hoping I don't need to do too much. They're a decent bet for Blackout since the new book sounds like it might be quite competitive and I have a reasonable idea what I'm doing with the army. The main argument against is that I would love to get a best army nomination at Blackout and I don't think the OBR will have much chance of that (I took them last year and they didn't get one then). 

Blackout contender: yes, probably the current frontrunners

6. Sons of Behemat

I played a lot with these guys in the early days of AoS 3, so they're currently on the backburner a bit while I play other things. I doubt I'll run them again this year, unless they turn out to be amazing in the next GHB or something.

Blackout contender: probably not

7. Slaves to Darkness

My most recent army project. I don't know how I feel about these at the moment. I think they're my best painted army, but they're also definitely an army that looks less impactful on the tabletop than they do in photos. They are probably the army I would be the most hopeful might get a best army nomination at an event, but also the one that I'd be the most disappointed if they didn't so maybe that's a double edged sword! I don't find them as much fun to play with competitively as I do OBR, gargants or Kharadron. I'm taking them to a narrative event in July so I'm looking forward to that, and I do have some thoughts on things I'd like to try for my competitive list, so they're certainly an option for Blackout. 

Blackout contender: yes

The Blood Kraken Reavers having a big old scrap against some vampires

8. Kruleboyz

I don't have a 2000 point Kruleboyz list yet, but I think I only need to paint two and a half more models for it, so these are an option. However, they're not exactly at the top of the AoS competitive ladder at the moment, and I've never played a game with the army. 

Blackout contender: probably not

So where does that leave me? I guess I have a few concrete hobby goals to work towards:

1. Paint some extra bits for my OBR to let me run the best possible list for them

2. Finish the Slaves to Darkness project so that I have everything I want to run the army both competitively and narratively.

3. Rebase my Ironclad so it can actually leave the house 

Aside from that, I want to get some more practice in with the three main contenders (OBR, KO, Slaves to Darkness) and then can make a call once the new GHB comes out this summer on what I'll enjoy running the most.