Rat-A-Tat-Tat

Well, I know I promised a Chaos Warrior army in my next post, but today you'll get one of my Skaven army lists. Admittedly this army is untested, but it's equipped to deal with any enemy threat.

You'll note that this army has a wide variety of model types. It's also a fairly small (185 models) army for 2,250 points. This is because this army favors "hammer" units over "anvil" ones. In this army list you get:

Lords
-Grey Seer (Lore of Ruin & Dreaded 13th) mounted on Screaming Bell with Power Scroll, Shadow Magnet Trinket & Skalm

Heroes
-Chieftain Battle Standard Bearer with Talisman of Preservation & Charmed Shield
-Warlock Engineer (level 2 Wizard) with Warp-Energy Condenser & Ironcurse Icon
-Warlock Engineer with Doomrocket

Core
-40x Clanrats (pushing Screaming Bell, with Battle Standard & Lvl. 2 Warlock Engineer) with Shields & Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team
-40x Clanrats (with Doomrocket Warlock Engineer) with Shields & Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team
-40x Skavenslaves
-40x Skavenslaves

Special
-7x Gutter Runners with Slings & Poisoned Attacks
-7x Gutter Runners with Slings & Poisoned Attacks

Rare
-Hell Pit Abomination
-Warp-Lightning Cannon
-Doomwheel

The Grey seer is a casting powerhouse with his access to the Dreaded 13th spell or Skitterleap. Ideally you want both of these spells (roll a 1 and trade out another spell for Curse of the Horned Rat) in order to "bamph" your Doomrocked-equipped Warlock Engineer onto the flank of your enemy's army. From there you'd want to decimate whatever you can with the rocket (large Strength 5 blasts are amazing) and wait for just the right moment to burn your Power Scroll to get off Curse of the Horned Rat on some hyper-elite unit. The Screaming Bell provides the Grey Seer with a 4+ ward save and a 2+ Ward save against spells! Skalm allows the army's general to heal back up to full wounds at the beginning of any phase. Very handy. The Shadow Magnet Trinket provides protection for the unit pushing the bell, as well as the bell itself- since things like bolt throwers will be trying to whack the Screaming Bell as fast as possible.

The Chieftain Battle Standard Bearer, as with any Battle Standard Bearer, is geared for survival. In 8th edition Warhammer everything, and I mean EVERYTHING will be gunning for your army standard. Keep him alive at all costs. This model is geared for survival as much as any model can be.

The level 2 Warlock Engineer is there for the potential 2 Power Dice he can contribute. The added bonus of his Warp Lightning spell (his default) getting +2 hits is just icing on the cake. The Ironcurse Icon is there to combo with the Shadow Magnet Trinket to keep the Grey Seer's ride alive. The Clanrats pushing the Screaming Bell are almost as important as the Grey Seer riding it!

The Doomrocket equipped Warlock Engineer is a suicide character. Intended to teleport to the flank of your opponent's battle line, he should launch his rocket into the midst of whatever he is most likely to decimate. Don't bother with high Toughness or multi-wound models, just see how much of a body count he can wrack up.

The Clanrats should be pretty straight forward. The unit with the Poisoned Wind Mortar should hang back and protect the bell at all costs. Yes, the bell can be a very potent combat model, but it's of much more value alive than splattered at the hands of some Chaos Lord.
The Warpfire Thrower unit should accompany its weapon team forward before seeing what havoc the model can inflict. Believe me, Warpfire Throwers are terrifying opponents for any unit.

The Skavenslaves are tarpits. They have no use other than absorbing charges and being targets for shooting / casting spells into combat. Indeed, in a Skaven army life is cheap.

Gutter Runners- where to begin? These are war-machine hunters extraordinaire! Poisoned slings make for a hail of death for any unit, especially one with only three wounds. In melee these demi-ninjas will make short work of weapon crews, with a dozen Weapon Skill 4, Poisoned attacks. After eliminating all of your enemy's war machines, it's time to rear charge any combat you have trouble breaking up.

Speaking of breaking up combats, the Hell Pit Abomination will make short work of any unit it meets. Tons of attacks, many of which hit automatically, will turn the tide of a losing combat into a winning one in no time.

Of course, no army would be complete without its artillery, and the Skaven have a wonder-weapon in the form of a Warp-Lightning Cannon. When used correctly (and with a touch of luck) this wonder-weapon will leave heaps of bodies in its wake. Learn how to get the "bounce" of the warp-lightning to land in the middle of units and watch the enemies evaporate.

Finally, the dedicated Large Target hunter, the Doomwheel. Three lightning bolts doing D6 damage each will make short work of any big gribbly. Arachnarok Spider? Hydra? Treeman? Watch them all fry (provided they're the closest target) in short order. The model is also great at helping break up prolonged combats with its impact and "Grind" attacks.


Now don't think this is the end of my Skaven army lists. I have several others with other units included. This is just an example of what I may bring to the field.

Don't get me wrong- I would NEVER build an army based on what opponent I'm playing. This is just one of my armies-in-testing. Hopefully I'll be able to post a finalized version of my army soon.