Tournament Results, a Break, and Back in the Saddle.

Above is the army I took to the Warhammer tournament. I basically got stomped. Two things were learned- I am way out of practice, and Skaven are no longer my tournament army of choice. Ogres all the way!

After that showing I took a bit of a break. No assembly, no purchases, no painting, no wargaming save a touch of X-Wing with Demitra. On that front I did finally pull a couple out against him (I don't ever remember winning, though he assures me I have). TIE swarms for the win, baby!

After that Demitra introduced me to DreadBall. now I am hooked. I mean to the point I bought into the Kickstarter for DreadBall Xtreme. Now to pick up the Space Bugs and Space Monkey Clones. This is not a cheap game to buy into, I'm looking at over $100, but that's far better than a Warhammer army (or Warmachine). As long as there's an opportunity to play it'll be money well spent.

Finally, yesterday I finally fulfilled my vow to pick up painting my Grey Aliens where I left off. Haters be damned, I'm going to do this thing. Wish me luck.

Oh, and go buy my Cygnar stuff off of eBay. It's extremely cheap for what it is. My wife is selling it, just search "Painted Cygnar" and look for the stuff on the gaming board. Shameless plug over.

Mean Green Mini Stripping Machine

Once again Blogger rotates my photo.

Not too much to report today, other than that I've finally gotten around to stripping the paint from my old, old Skaven. As you can see there is a collection of Plague Monks, Globadiers, Stormvermin, even an original Warlock Engineer in there. I still don't have the varnish to take the shine off the minis I dipped, so no army photo/list yet. Not that it matters, as the weather on NoVA os about to go from bad to Very Bad, making it so that I have exactly a 0% chance of varnishing today any way. Curse the snow! Give me summer any day.

I've also been slacking on the painting front. I have Super Dungeon Explore minis to paint, as well as Mice & Mystics, even my Grey Aliens, not to mention the fact that I'm way behind on my podcasts, but I'm just having a hard time picking up a brush lately. Maybe something will get me into gear here, as I really hope it will, but maybe I just need to pick up a dang brush, open some paint, and go to town. Watching TV is getting really boring and all that's on is depressing stuff.

That's it! I'm going to start back up on my Greys, snide comments about my color scheme be damned. I bought them to enjoy the hobby aspect of these games, so I'm going to enjoy it weather certain people want me to or not. Besides, I've gotten more compliments than criticisms on my army, and I like the color scheme.

Time to grab my brush and go to town. Now, if you'll excuse me...

Doom, Doom, Doomwheel

Since my army list now calls for two of these suckers (rather than a pair of Abominations) as well as two Warp Lightning Cannons (suck on that multi-wound models) I had to run out and get a "modern" Doomwheel to run alongside my "classic" one. Since no two Skaven war machines should look exactly alike, this works just fine for me. Off to the right is my newest addition to my Skaven horde. Thinking I had a practice game coming up at my FNSLGS Wednesday I frantically assembled it at work, fully aware that once again, much to my chagrin, I may have to field an unpainted miniature. Turns out, that due to circumstances beyond my scheduled opponent's control, the game would be cancelled. This sparked two things in me- annoyance at the situation, and a burning desire not to run an unpainted mini in WHFB. Thusly I sat down at my painting table with purpose- invigorated by my fury at having to miss one of the very few warm-ups I would be afforded by the time crunch.

I primed. I basecoated with a purpose. I even made a new batch of "not quite the same color as Army Painter but still pretty good looking" Finish Floor Wax dip. To the left is the final product.

You may note that off to the right of the freshly assembled Doomwheel and behind the painted but unbased one there are Giant Rats. For those of you long-term GW fans out there you may even note a pair of Necromundan Giant Rats. I have been desperate to fill in my "rat dart" units, and much to my relief between the ones included in the Doomwheel kit and the ancient metal treasures returned to me by Demitra I have enough minis (even a few extras) to finish out the units. I'm on a mission here. I am going to finish painting the Skaven army, as I had a few lingering minis that had not yet been completed. I'll need to get some Army Painter Camo Green to prime the stragglers, as well as some Simple Green, a new toothbrush, and finances permitting a box of the new plastic Stormvermin (and/or a Plague Furnace should the Great Horned One smile upon me) to bulk out my remaing rat collection holes. I should likely add some Night Runners and maybe a Plagueclaw Catapult to the roster, but let's be honest- compared to the other entries in the army book those options are sub-par. Then there's Poisoned Wind Globadiers and Plague Censer Bearers of which I have a few. Maybe I should fill out those units. I mean, they're already started...

To the point- I'm almost done painting what rats I already own, and I'm nearly ready for the tourney, so all it will take to complete my army now is a can of Dullcote and the $15 entry fee to play. I'll post the army soon, as soon as I can snap a picture of it fully assembled and painted. The army list will be in the same post, as the tournament is an open list format so I don't really care who sees it ahead of time. Expect some exciting things for the rats in the very near future!

2,500 Point Skaven- Tomorrow's Army

Reusing photos, hurrah!

Yesterday I outlined the reasoning behind the thought processes involved in my Skaven army. Today I'll break down what is actually in the army and how it will be deployed and fielded.

LORDS
Grey Seer w/ Talisman of Preservation, Ironcurse Icon- 290 pts.

HEROES
Assassin w/ Blade of Corruption, The Other Trickster's Shard- 170 pts.
Chieftain Battle Standard Bearer w/ halberd, The Armor of Destiny- 122 pts.
Warlock Engineer w/ lvl. 2 wizard, Warp-Energy Condenser- 120 pts.
Warlock Engineer w/ warplock pistol, Doomrocket- 53 pts.

CORE
60 Clanrats w/ shields, full command; Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team- 355 pts.
40 Clanrats w/ shields, full command; Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team- 270 pts.
40 Skavenslaves- 80 pts.
40 Skavenslaves- 80 pts.

SPECIAL
7 Gutter Runners w/ Poisoned Attacks, slings- 126 pts.
6 Rat Ogres; 4 Packmasters- 272 pts.

RARE
Hell Pit Abomination- 235 pts.
Hell Pit Abomination- 235 pts.
Warp Lightning Cannon- 90 pts.

The plan is to deploy the Clanrat units centrally, flanked by their weapon teams and then the Skavenslaves. The Rat Ogres will deploy on one flank , and the Abominations on the other. My Warp Lightning Cannon will be dropped in a corner, and the Gutter Runners will deploy in the best possible location to assault enemy war machines.

The Grey Seer and BSB will drop in the 60-strong Clanrats, slightly off-center and toward the Rat Ogres- the plan here is to keep the Ogres in Leadership boost/re-roll territory. The Warlock Engineers will deploy in the 40 strong Clanrats. I'll try to keep the Doomrocket as close to whichever wizard generates Skitterleap as possible, planning on teleporting him onto one of my opponent's flanks. The Assassin (obviously) will start hidden in the Grey Seer/BSB's unit. He's there to pop out and off any serious threats to the army command section's health.

From there the plan is to advance into optimal spellcasting range and begin raining death down on my enemies. I'll try to avoid combat until the last few turns when I should be facing a fairly depleted army. The Skavenslaves will act as tarpist/redirectors, and the Rat Ogres/Hell Pit Abominations the sledgehammers to break up the combats remaining after I dump all the firepower I have into the Skavenslave combats.

The battle plan is fairly straightforward, reliant only on assessing my opponent's biggest strengths and dismantling them.

Now to find out what all this "Hold the Line!" stuff is about...

Skaven Army Construction- 2,500 Points

After my long post yesterday I wanted to show my concepts in action. I pulled out my netbook and opened Army Builder. Clicking away frantically I set about building a Skaven army worthy of my rantings.

My first concern was a solid core of Lords and Heroes. The ever present Grey Seer was the first on the scene. As stated before his utility as general, spellcaster, and attention magnet  all combine to keep the rest of your army a secondary thought (well, after the A-Boms). From there it was a matter of choosing his immediate subordinates.

First up is the ever-present Battle Standard Bearer. This one's a no-brainer, and should be the second mini you reach for in any Skaven army build.

From there it's a matter of spellcasting. You should never leave home without a backup spellcaster, and so I slapped together a competent level 2 Warlock Engineer.

I have a personal favorite dirty trick, that weather your opponent knows it's coming or not can be very useful. slap a Doomrocket on a Warlock Engineer (and a warplock pistol if you have the points) and Skitterleap him across the board onto the flank of the opposing battle line. The effects of this tactic are one of three options:

-Your opponent spends the whole game trying to keep you from Skitterleaping your Engineer across the table, allowing other, potentially more destructive spells through (I've forced a Dreaded Thirteenth through using this tactic).

-Your opponent doesn't see the move coming/doesn't care about the effects, in which case you get to launch the rocket down his flank assured that it's going to hit something on the way across.

-Your opponent overreacts and spreads/staggers his line allowing your sledgehammer units to take him apart one bit at a time.

Any of these options is great, as the model only costs from 45-53 points (depending on the presence of the Warplock Pistol) and can cause all kinds of havoc. Once he's fired off his rocket you can even use him to take pot-shots at artillery, or if he's feeling particularly brave he can gum up charges.

Finally there's the model I only include if I think I have enough points (and as I'm building a 2,500 point army here I do). The "card up my sleeve" if you will. I toss in an Assassin for good measure, as he's great for taking up challenges (or even issuing them) with his high Initiative, Always Strike First, and good number of attacks. With his usual loadout my assassin is Strength 5, doubles wounds he inflicts, and forces enemies to re-roll successful Ward Saves. He's a pretty lethal dude.

Next up you have Core choices. In this department you can never have too many warm bodies. Here I've opted for 182, but you may wish ti go even higher. There's the 60 strong Clanrat regiment with Poisoned Wind Mortar that my Grey Seer and Battle Standard Bearer reside in, my 40 strong Clanrat block with a Warpfire Thrower that my Warlock Engineers run, and two 40 strong blocks of Skavenslaves. The Clanrats provide bunkers for characters and Weapon Teams for adden firepower. The Skavenslaves not only tarpit enemies, but since you can shoot into combats involving only Skavenslaves they set enemies up to be decimated as well.

Now we're on to Special choices. I start with seven Gutter Runners. I don't know why but this seems to be the magic number for them. As discussed in a previous article, they require both slings and Poisoned Attacks. No discussion here.

My next addition is probably my most controversial one. Rat Ogres. Many people will say that they're over costed, under perform, or are too unpredictable (with few ranks they have low Leadership and are more likely to go charging off and leaving your battle line all out of whack). I find all of this (except for the unpredictable part) to be bluster. I have never been disappointed in my Rat Ogres' performance except in the games they don't make it into combat. When they don't get their paws on something It's usually my fault any way. The 21 attacks an unmolested unit of 6 Ogres and 4 Packmasters crank out more than makes up for a little mystery as to what they'll do in the Movement Phase.

Finally, Rares. I start here with two Abominations. In they go, no questions asked. They hit like a ton of bricks when they make it to your enemy's line, and they soak up a ton of firepower when they don't. Your Gutter Runners' first priority should be to silence cannons and any flaming war machines (Dwarf war machines, Screaming Skull Catapults) your opponent has, because without Regeneration these fellows die quickly. With it however, two of them is more than enough to deal a death blow to even an elite unit.

Finally, a Warp Lightning cannon. for its point cost the thing is a bargain. If you get a Strength 10 blast in the middle of your opponent's unit, feel free to give yourself a pat on the back. You've just severely weakened his battle line at that point. Aside from that, it's a cannon. Use it accordingly. Point it at tough, multi-wound stuff and blow it sky-high! Also keep in mind that if you fail to kill a multi-wound monstrous model with a cannon shot, the attack stops there. If the attack stops, the template is placed. What you want here is for the lightning blast to kill the first Ogre, then fail to off the next. Place the template where the shot stops and fry a bunch more!

My next post will have exact numbers and point values of units, but for now I just want to let you in on my thought process. For your entertainment, here's a picture of the army.

A Skaven State of Mind

Well, after a devastating loss at Demitra's hands today, I need to refocus my attention onto Friday, when I'll be facing the new Empire army book. My regular WHFB gaming buddy will be dropping by/ having me over (I probably should find out which) and we'll be going toe-to-toe with our armies. This one is going to be special. The army lists are set at 2,500 points, which is a fairly large number. I've been slapping together army lists and I've settled on one. The list is a touch more aggressive than the last one I fielded in preparation for the tournament I was supposed to go to, but blew of in favor of going to a brewfest. After seeing the traffic on Google and sampling the wares at the festival I must say I made the right call.

So it's back to pondering lists. I won't post the army yet, just some notes I've gleaned.

1) Plague Monks are trash. Seriously, they didn't even come close to winning a single combat. They may be devastating the turn you set off the Plague Banner, but that's just a single round of combat. The rest of the time they're relying on volume of attacks to get them through combat. That works fine for Witch Elves with their Poisoned Attacks, but not so much for my little rats.

2) Don't rely on your artillery. I had a fair amount of shooting in my last list (I do in my current list as well), but Warhammer Fantasy is won and lost in melee. If you can't cut it up close and personal you will lose games, pure and simple. If you aren't ready for the Close Combat Phase and your artillery goes up in flames, you're in deep, deep trouble.

3) Rat Ogres are unpredictable. It's hard to keep them in check when they're Frenzied on Leadership 7 (provided they're near the general). Failing to keep them in line results in them charging after something worthless the whole game, and while they're glorious once they get their big, meaty paws on something, they're not worth squat being kited around by fast, cheap stuff.

4) Your Grey Seer is your lifeblood. There's a reason I keep my command section (Grey Seer and Battle Standard) together in my biggest block is twofold. First, we have... poor Leadership. Without the General and Battle Standard's presence we're totally out of the game. The second reason is simpler. Your Grey Seer is your best utility piece on the board. He casts, he dispels, he channels. Skaven magic, in particular the Dreaded Thirteenth, is pretty potent. It's not as nasty as, say, the lores in the rulebook, but they were designed without the caster being able to add his level to the attempt in mind. This (arguably) makes them easier to cast than they should be. With that in mind, you can ratchet up their lores (and really, you should ever pick your spells from the Lore of Ruin) a bit on the power curve.

5) Warlock Engineers are amazing. They're 15 points each, and they can either be built as spellcasting or fighting characters. Sure you could do both, but then they'd be expensive and they wouldn't really be good at either role. A Warlock Engineer with either a Warp Energy Condenser and Level 2 spellcasting will get the job done at range. One with a Doomrocket and (if you have points left over) a Warplock Pistol is great at backfield harassment. Shoot, for 15 points you could keep them bare-bones and just Skitterleap them at your opponent's line to stop them from charging. It's cruel and a nasty ploy, but never forget, you're a Skaven General. It's a great reason to try out all kinds of despicable tactics (as long as you're not cheating, of course).

6) Clan Eshin? Yes please. With oodles of nasty shooting from slings with Poisoned Attacks, Gutter Runners are your premier war machine hunters. You don't even have to get into grips with them to destroy them. Just hit the offending machine with a hail of poisoned rocks and watch it vanish! Oh, don't forget assassins. Pesky challenges getting you down? just accept with your hidden assassin and tear apart the enemy character. My personal favorite loadout is the Blade of Corruption and The Other Trickster's Shard, but an argument can be made for an Ogre Blade and a Potion of Strength.

7) Soften them up. You have magic, Warp Lightning Cannons, and Weapon Teams for a reason. Cripple (or better yet eliminate) big threats as they close with you. Didn't I just say not to rely on your shooting? Yes, but you need to thin your enemy out on their way in. If the enemy closes with you unharmed, your less than stellar fighting ability will show. Be ready to get your paws dirty in melee, just don't fight intact enemies.

8) Abominations are your melee masters. If you're going to play Skaven, you're pretty much buying at least one (in big games two) of these puppies. The way they move and fight can be very confusing to your opponent, not to mention that it can get him around situations that would otherwise roadblock another unit. Just point, click, and roll dice with this bad boy. Not to say that this model is an auto-win. Not by a long shot. Anything with high strength and Flaming Attacks (Black Orcs with the Banner of Eternal Flame and cannons with The Flaming Sword of Rhun are my most top of mind examples) will take away this model's survivability very quickly. This model relies on its above average Toughness, large number of Wounds, and most importantly Regeneration special rule to stay in the game. One well placed Flaming cannonball can turn this as much as 250 point monster into a smoldering heap in one shot.

In the end, it all comes down to one thing- your whole army has to work in harmony from the list writing stage to the tabletop. If your army doesn't hum, you'll know it. No true Warhammer General is truly ever done tweaking and re-tweaking his list. Hopefully I'll have tweaked my list to pull out a win over the forthcoming man-things this Friday. We'll see.

More Bodies, But Does It Have The Hitting Power?

So, I've run into the idea that my army just doesn't have the sheer volume of models required to beat other horde armies. This idea has led me to revise my army list in the hopes of eliminating enemies like goblins and their ilk in melee. I tweaked my army list a bit to see what it would look like without the Rat Ogres, and with some Plague Monks splashed in.

LORDS
Grey Seer w/ Talisman of Preservation, Ironcurse Icon- 290 pts.

HEROES
Chieftain w/ battle standard, halberd, Armor of Destiny- 122 pts.
Plague Priest w/ flail, level 2 wizard, Dispel Magic Scroll- 164 pts.
Warlock Engineer w/ Doomrocket- 45 pts.

CORE
40 Clanrats w/ full command, shields, Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team- 270 pts.
40 Clanrats w/ full command, shields, Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team- 265 pts.
40 Skavenslaves- 80 pts.
40 Skavenslaves- 80 pts.

SPECIAL
6 Gutter Runners w/ slings, poisoned attacks- 108 pts.
30 Plague Monks w/ full command, Banner of Eternal Flame- 245 pts.

RARE
Doomwheel- 150 pts.
Warp Lightning Cannon- 90 pts.
Warp Lightning Cannon- 90 pts.

TOTAL
1,999 pts.
205 models

What I like here is the volume of models. What I don't like here is the lack of high strength weapons with which to deal with big, scary stuff with lots of armor. I really wonder if the lacking Rat Ogres / Hell Pit Abominations will be missed. The Plague Monks sure crank out a lot of attacks, and that Plague Priest will be a nightmare in close combat, but is he really enough?

Also, you may have noticed that the spell casting Warlock Engineer has been replaced with the Plague Priest. He will be better up close, but I have to trade for (in my opinion) an inferior spell list and the risk of placing an unarmored character in the thick of the fighting. I'll be sure to burn that Dispel Scroll early, because once he's in combat I don't expect him to last too long.

Of course, what I may do is trade out that Dispel Magic Scroll for an upgrade from the Banner of Eternal Flame to the Plague Banner. Of course, in order to make that call I'll have to run the army through a few tests...

Friday can not get here quick enough.

Fredricksburg and Skaven

Skryre- best clan in all Skavendom.

Well, the ol' Tournament bug hath bitten again. Demitra sent me an email saying there was an upcoming tournament at the Game Vault in Fredricksburg. I intend (traffic and schedule permitting) to attend, and so I have been writing up army lists in preparation. This is one of those lists, so should you not be interested in this sort of thing feel free to skip this post.

My overall thinking with this list is the ability to attack any sort of enemy unit at range. Magic, shooting, and Skavenslaves will combine to keep threats away and (hopefully) eliminate them before anything truly scary makes it to my lines. I want to finish my opponents off at arm's length, not allowing them to make it anywhere near my vital Grey Seer and Battle Standard Bearer- the keys to my army's resiliance, and the heart of my strategy.

There is no room for a Warlord to act as my general, his point cost is better spent adding to my army's firepower rather than chopping stuff up in melee, which is exactly where a soft army like mine does not want to be. Sure I have the press of ranks, but I lack close combat specialists like Stormvermin or Plague Monks. These units, in my opinion, struggle to attain the moniker "close combat specialists" in the first place, with Stormvermin only really beginning to twinkle (not shine) in the Strength department. Plague Monks have their Toughness, Additional Hand Weapons, and Frenzy to fall back on, but without a Plague Furnace (as I am) they're just not a close combat nightmare, which is what a melee army is looking for.

I did try throwing together a more melee focused army, but all I could pull out for my sledgehammer units were Plague Monks (as mentioned above sans Plague Furnace) and my Rat Ogres. I didn't have the points to slip in double Hell Pit Abominations, and without that kind of punch (and with a spell caster general) I just didn't feel safe striking out across the battlefield.

But couldn't I just drop the Grey Seer, add in a Warlock Engineer, and go with a Warlord instead? No, not really. Magic is a very powerful force in this edition, and without the Grey Seer's +4 to dispell I just don't like my chances. This is a much more defensive army than I normally like playing, but I want to win in a tournament game and that leads to the need to adapt tactics. Throw the Skavenslaves forward, shoot and cast spells into the ensuing combat, and watch the enemy units just melt away. Anything that survives gets offed by my melee assets (of which I do have one very effective unit in my figure case).

Okay, here's what I'm thinking:

LORDS
Grey Seer w/ Talisman of Preservation, Ironcurse Icon- 290 pts.

HEROES
Cheiftain w/ battle standard, shield, Armor of Destiny- 122 pts.
Warlock Engineer w/ level 2 wizard, Warp-Energy Condenser- 120 pts.
Warlock Engineer w/ Doomrocket- 45 pts.

CORE
40 Clanrats w/ shields, full command; Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team- 265 pts.
40 Clanrats w/ shields, full command; Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team- 270 pts.
40 Skavenslaves- 80 pts.
40 Skavenslaves- 80 pts.

SPECIAL
7 Gutter Runners w/ slings, Poisoned Attacks- 126 pts.
6 Rat Ogres & 4 Packmasters- 272 pts.

RARE
Doomwheel- 150 pts.
Warp Lightning Cannon- 90 pts.
Warp Lightning Cannon- 90 pts.

TOTAL
2,000 points

The army has lots of multi-wound inflicting stuff for offing things like monstrous units (infantry, cavalry) and lots of poison combines with this to eliminate big monsters. Plenty of templates for killing off massed units, and redirection units that can be shot into.

Oh, for those saying I don't have enough warm bodies in this army, that's 186 models there.

I'll keep thinking about this army, but this layout seems good enough to try to get some practice games in with (assuming the Springfield G.W. still exists) and I'll be giving it a shot here pretty soon (Friday?).

For now however, it's just a sweet, sweet dream...

Bad Behavior Abounds

Well, despite a paper and a bunch of exams looming, I had to blow off a bit of steam. First, my fiance and her brother decided they wanted to get in a touch of Squig Racing. Thus the last post.

This was the original course. The rules were that you had to cross the arrows (from Gale Force 9 if you were wondering) in order. The first to do so won the race. The first course didn't result in enough collisions for our tastes, so we revised it.

There we go. Much more brutal. This course resulted in much more skill intensive games, as you really had to really manage the risk of hitting your squig, deciding weather or not to go around or over terrain, and correcting the inevitable collisions.This resulted in a good time for all.

I nearly won one of the races, as depicted above, but a lucky whack of a squig resulted in my ultimate defeat. The rest of the time my squig seemed to be magnetically drawn to every pool of water on the board. *splash, gurgle, gurgle*

I also managed to get in a game of Warhammer, trying out Ikit Claw. A badly timed "We'll Show 'Em" roll resulted in the entire Orc & Goblin battle line going all wonky (as depicted above). This, accompanied by the roll of a 4 on a Orc Shaman's miscast (thus the mangled unit of arrer boyz) led to my opponent losing control of his army and feeding it to me piece by piece. The more interesting parts of the battle were my big Hell Pit Abomination getting offed by Night Goblin Fanatics (I still can't believe I forgot they were there!), the Warboss' unit having to charge the Warpfire Thrower in order to get to my lines, and finally the Orc Warboss' demise. I dropped him into a hole with Crack's Call as he moved over to challenge me. Typical Skaven valor. Upon reflection this may or may not have been legal. The rulebook states that you cannot target a unit in melee, but Crack's Call doesn't really target anything- it just draws a straight line and forces everything along the line to take an initiative test or die. Hmm...

One thing is sure, I borked up Death Frenzy. The caster was slain by a Miscast result, and I let the spell remain in play. I should have checked this, but I was sure the spell stayed up until it was dispelled. Turns out it ends instantly. Whoops. It makes the victory feel rather hollow.

Oh, well. I'll just have to get a re-match. This time with a Grey Seer and Plague Monks.

I found that Ikit Claw is overpriced compared to a Grey Seer. He has little close combat ability, and his greatest asset is Storm Daemon. His missing wizard level (3 versus 4) caused him to struggle to cast spells, and the missing spell was quite a hindrance. The removal of my Rat Ogres and swapping out of a Warlock Engineer in exchange for a level 2 Plague Priest will add a Frenzied unit I can actually control, and my first time using the Skaven Lore of Plague. I've favored the Lore of Ruin as I see more utility to it, but the destructive potential of Plague has me intrigued.

Now back to my paper. 700 words and 3 resources down, 700 words and 3 resources (plus a bibliography) to go.
Then on to studying Evolution.
Then on to taking notes for my English final.
Then on to studying for my Biology final.

*Phew*, It may be a while until my next post...

Look What I Found!

While I was at my local game store I was rifling through their metal Skaven miniatures, and came across this little gem. Now, I've heard a lot of horror stories about the new resin miniatures being produced by Games Workshop, and due to this I've decided not to purchase any until these stories stop. I had given up hope getting my hands on a metal copy of Ikit Claw, but the gaming gods saw fit to smile on me. Now I just need to find a game to try him out! Of course I painted him up as soon as I got home.

In addition, I rounded out my Yu Jing force with a sniper. From what I've been hearing they're great for board control (with their extreme range and accuracy they can use an ARO against just about anything on the board).

Now that I've finished my Yu Jing force, I'm waiting for my ALEPH starter to arrive from the War Store. The website said the miniatures I ordered were in stock, but this wouldn't be the first time I ordered something listed on their site that had to be restocked by them...

Two Posts in One Day! This Time: Skaven at 2,500 points!

2, 500 points of Skaven. Also Mr. Frog- one of my ferret's favorite toys.

My last game at Games Workshop kind of caught my opponent off-guard. You see, they've been playing 2,500 point games there in preparation for that tournament that's coming up. I really want to get more familiar with my Skaven, as they're my favorite Games Workshop race, so I decided to write up a 2,500 point army for them.

I sat down with my "army construction software" and began to crank out an army list. As usual, it focuses on heavy hitters surrounding what is more or less a bunker for my Grey Seer.

This is a fairly standard list, it just incorporates some units which are regarded on the internet as... less than effective. Personally, I like them, so in they went.

Lords
1x Grey Seer w/ Power Scroll, Talisman of Preservation, Ironcurse Icon (325 pts.)

Heroes
1x Chieftain w/ Battle Standard, shield, Sword of Might, Foul Pendant (122 pts.)
1x Warlock Engineer (lvl. 2 Wizard) w/ Warp-Energy Condenser (120 pts.)
1x Warlock Engineer w/ Doomrocket (45 pts.)
1x Assassin w/ Blade of Corruption, The Other Trickster's Shard (170 pts.)

Core
53x Clanrats w/ full command, shields, Poisoned Wind Mortar weapon team (314.5 pts.)
40x Clanrats w/ full command, shields, Warpfire Thrower weapon team (270 pts.)
40x Skavenslaves (80 pts.)
40x Skavenslaves (80 pts.)

Special
7x Gutter Runners w/ slings, poisoned attacks (126 pts.)
6x Rat Ogres & 4x Packmasters w/ Master-Bred Rat Ogre (287 pts.)

Rare
1x Hell Pit Abomination (235 pts.)
1x Hell Pit Abomination (235 pts.)
1x Warp-Lightning Cannon (90 pts.)

Total: 2,499.5 pts.

As usual, my army is led by a Grey Seer. I know he's a magnet for enemy fire and spells, but Curse of the Horned Rat is just too good a spell to pass up, especially for dealing with elite units like Tzeentch Chosen or Phoenix Guard. Just cast it with a Power Scroll, get Irresistible Force, and watch your troubles melt away. Sure, you'll blow up some Clanrats, but they're Clanrats- plenty more where they came from!

The Warlock Engineers carry their usual kit, so they can be skipped.

New to the army is an Assassin. I've armed mine with the Blade of Corruption, so every wound he inflicts (at Strength 5) is doubled. Sure, there's the possibility of him rolling two ones and killing himself, but with his re-rolls to hit in melee, he should be fine. He also carries The Other Trickster's Shard, a personal favorite of mine. Forcing an enemy model to re-roll all passed ward saves should help power through those doubled wounds, hopefully killing the target instantly. Should he fail, he's a whopping 170 points given up, but that just means I'll have to be careful where I reveal him- going after softer targets like battle standards rather than Lord-level models.

My core choices remain the same, so no comment needed there other than that this time I've included a Warpfire Thrower to deal with multiple wound and/or regenerating models.

My Special choices are again unremarkable other than the fact that I've upgraded one of my Rat Ogres to a Master-Bred Rat Ogre. This gives the unit a champion capable of standing up to hero-level characters in a challenge and tearing the limb-from-limb. With his vastly improved stat-line, I feel he's the only Monstrous Infantry champion worth his points.

Rare is more or less unchanged except for adding a second Hell Pit Abomination. I've heard that running two gives your opponents fits, so I scrounged up my scratch-built one from before there was an official model and threw it into the army.

There you have it, my 2,500 point Skaven army. Maybe I'll even get a game in with it once I start understanding this math course I'm in...

Final, Final Army List

I want to be this guy

Well, the Skaven Warlord in me is finally pleased with the finalized army list for tomorrow. I've put an awful lot of work into a tournament the odds say I won't get to play in, but it beats painting more Incubi.

I did have to quickly assemble and paint a new warlord, but hey, I needed to finish him any way.

I'm not going to post my army list here yet, as there are people in the tournament on Dakka Dakka who might see it (See? Skaven paranoia! I'm the perfect warlord!). I'll be sure to post it soon, along with a tournament wrap-up, provided I get in. Either way you'll get a picture of the army and what's in it in the list in the next few days.

Now to try and remember to pick up some matt varnish / Dullcote tomorrow...

1,000 Point Skaven Revision

Well, after much pondering, I have come up with a much more solid 1,000 point Skaven army. The Interwebs seem to agree, so I'll take it for what it's worth. The final army is as follows:

Lords
Warlord with Great Weapon, Dragonhelm, Talisman of Preservation, Ironcurse Icon (156)

Heroes
Chieftain BSB with Charmed Shield, Talisman of Endurance (105)
Warlock Engineer Lvl. 2 Wizard (100)
Warlock Engineer with Doomrocket (45)

Core
38x Clanrats with full command (191)
40x Skavenslaves (80)
40x Skavenslaves (80)

Rare
Doomwheel (150)
Warp-Lightning Cannon (90)

We'll see what the army does Friday, if anything at all.

My First Tiptoe Into Tournaments?

Well, a tournament was posted on Facebook for 1,000 points at the second closest G.W. to me, so I've decided to give the ol' competitive scene another whirl. I'm the third alternate, which means I probably won't be able to play any way, but hey, worth a shot, right? The army I'm thinking of bringing is:

Lords
Warlord with shield, Ogre Blade, Foul Pendant (163 points)

Heroes
Chieftain, Battle Standard Bearer, shield, Talisman of Endurance (102 points)
Warlock Engineer, Level 1 Wizard, Dispel Scroll (90 points)
Warlock Engineer, Doom Rocket (45 points)

Core
40x Clanrats, full command, shields (200 points)
40x Skavenslaves (80 points)
40x Skavenslaves (80 points)

Rare
Doomwheel (150 points)
Warp-Lightning Cannon (90 points)

The army is a bit top-heavy, but I don't want to drop the Doom Rocket Warlock Engineer, and I can't afford to drop any other models. Maybe I should drop the Warlord's Ogre Blade and replace it with a halberd, but that will mean painting up a new warlord miniature. Another way to get some more points for more toys would be to drop the two Clanrats whose spaces are being taken up by the Warlord and Battle Standard. Every point counts at this level, and making that Warlock a level 2 mage, or adding a weapon team to the Clanrats could be a game changer.

Any way, more pondering will undoubtedly occur.

Wargaming Fail

Well, it was a Friday of frustrating losses. My best efforts to defeat the Winterguard Deathstar failed. I'll leave the nitty-gritty of it for those of you who care to Khadoran Machine Never Breaks, but suffice it to say I was outplayed at every turn.

The Orc & Goblin showdown didn't go much better. We bashed the tar out of each other, but as I feared the Grey Seer charging headlong into combat atop his bell turned out... poorly. He was easily massacred by his goblin foes, but at least I was able to take out the opposing Night Goblin Great Shaman immediately after. My Hell Pit Abomination was again easily pasted by Black Orcs. My Doomwheel did little to nothing against the trolls it was sent against (constant "Misfires" from its Warp Lightning projectors). All in all, I was utterly dominated the whole game.

This brings up one of my thoughts from the game; how good is the Hell Pit Abomination, really? Now I understand they're a force that multiplies on itself (two A-Boms are vastly better than one), but my single Abomination has yet to achieve anything other than crushing Skinks and winning a slug-out against the notoriously underpowered Giant. Maybe I should drop him.

Now, conventional "Internet Wisdom" is to go grab another model and double up the pain, but the problem with the model is it rolling 1s for it's random action. This action is useless (in my opinion). The only redeeming quality is its multiple damage ability, which in an era of gigantic blocks of single-wound infantry is a pretty useless ability. Honestly, I'm thinking I might want to remove the model and replace it with more Rat Ogres. Why Rat Ogres? Sheer damage output. My usual regiment of six Rat Ogres and four Packmasters seems ideal. Twenty-one attacks is simply an avalanche of pain, and they have far more wounds than an Abomination. Now, of course the unit costs more points, but not terribly many. I should be able to get the points by dropping the Warp-Lightning Cannon (another internet no-no).

What about the Screaming Bell? well, the Grey Seer is now going to simply bunker-up in one of the Clanrat units and hide at the back of the formation. The combat leader will now be a Warlord carrying an Ogre Blade. High Strength attacks, and a fair few of them seem to be my forte', so lets see if a Clanrat block with some teeth can turn things around. I'll need to get my hands on some Rat Ogres to pull this off, so until then the HPA will have to stay.

Hmmm... What if I simply drop the Abomination and use its points to buy a Warlord?

Off to write up some army lists!

Big, Bad Skaven

Whole Lotta Skaven Goin' On

 Well, the 2,250 point Skaven vs. Orcs & Goblins showdown has been made official, and a date has been set. This Friday there will be a clash of horde armies, and I may be fighting uphill in terms of sheer volume of models. "Why?" you may find yourself asking. Simple. I'm taking every big model I own. "Why?" you may again ask. Well, either I've never used them before, or I forgot some of a given model's rules, leading to it under-performing in previous battles. Plus, big honkin' models are just cool. The only model I'm unsure about is the Screaming Bell, as it seems counter-intuitive to place my non-fighty general directly in harm's way. Luckily, as long as the Screaming Bell itself does not get wrecked, the unit pushing it is Unbreakable. Added to the impact hits the unit will cause, plus the inclusion of three sledgehammer close-combat units. Now, I'm not too sure how this army will preform as it's got a bunch of unknown factors in it, but there's enough to this army that I am sure of to make me comfortable enough with it to field it.

"But what is actually in this army?" you may well ask.
"You ask too many questions," I'd reply. Then I'd rattle off the following army list:

Lords
1x Grey Seer (General) with Screaming Bell, Power Scroll, Ironcurse Icon (480 points)

Heroes
1x Chieftain Battle Standard Bearer with Enchanted Shield, Talisman of Preservation (120 points)
1x Warlock Engineer with Warplock Pistol, Doomrocket (53 points)

Core
44x Clanrats with shields, full command; attached Poison Wind Mortar (283 points)
40x Clanrats with shields, full command; attached Poison Wind Mortar (265 points)
40x Skavenslaves (80 points)
40x Skavenslaves (80 points)

Special
7x Gutter Runners with slings, Poisoned Attacks (126 points)
6xRat Ogres; 4x Packmasters (272 points)

Rare
1x Doomwheel (150points)
1x Hell Pit Abomination with Warpstone Spikes (250 points)
1x Warp-Lightning Cannon (90 points)

As you can see, I dumped a lot of points into Rare units, and kept my Heroes to a minimum. Really, all that's required of Skaven characters is to have a commander and a Battle Standard Bearer to keep your low-leadership rats in line.

That's all for this army list, as I don't really want to give away my tactics until after the battle, but let's just say that no flank is safe from this army.

Dark Eldar and Torrents and Skaven

More and more I've been considering Demitra's and my relative 500 point armies, and I'm fairly sure it's safe to say I'm boned. I have one asset in my army, and that is mobility. 54 bodies with a 5+ Invulnerable save against my shooting (my only hope against his sheer volume of bodies). This leaves my main weapon, a squad capable of pumping out 21 shots on the move, wasted. The fact that all it takes is a single model within 6" of the Big Mek's Kustom Force Field (and both mobs easily will be) to gain this save is the biggest issue.

I've considered strategies, the biggest of which is avoidance and thinning the herd followed by the glorious charge, and there's one big problem with that. The "Green Tide" army has the answer to the Dark Eldar's one biggest weak point; torrenting attacks in assault.

If you don't know what "torrenting" attacks is, it's the concept of attacking so many times that the target must eventually fail its save. With a whopping Toughness of 3, Dark Eldar have very little chance of standing up to the massive volume of attacks the Orks will crank out. Then there's the shooting. Lots of Strength 4, 5, &8 shots will likely stun-lock my transports (which at 500 points cannot afford Flickerfields) if not simply downing them and leaving my warriors stranded.

So what, then, are my options? The most likely one is dropping the Incubi. They're a pretty big point-sink which, while very good at what they do, will likely fail at their mission. On the charge (and with a Raider and the Fleet Special rule they'll probably charge) they'll kill, on average, 5 Orks. Sure, this does mean the Orks will have to wipe out the unit to win, but through sheer volume of attacks they shouldn't have too much problem. After the assault any remaining Incubi lucky enough to have survived the Ork counter-offensive will likely only down a fraction of an Ork apiece.

Wyches are also a liability. They're great at tarpitting enemy units, but Ork Boyz are even better. The Wyches also have the liability of not being Incubi. Incubi are Strength 4, which allows them to wound Orks on a 4+, Wyches need a 5+ to wound. Again, Wyches are vulnerable to being torrented off the board, and with their low Toughness and worse save, will be handily dispatched.

This is not to say I won't try to defeat this army. I will. I just know that I'll be going into every game at this (and maybe the next) point level fighting an uphill battle. The Ork army simply has to saunter up to objectives and squat on them.

What, then, is my answer?
Well, I can't stand tailoring my army to deal with my opponent's, so that's out. I mean, sure, I could re-write my army to include no incubi and nothing but Raider-mounted Kabalite Warrior squads. That would address the bodies issue in a hurry. Against other armies, however, (and I do build my armies to take on all comers) all those Poisoned 4+ shots would kind of fail to do much damage.

I actually think my army fails to realize its true potential until the 2,000 point level right now. I think it's the Incubi's fault.
Clocking in at a hefty cost per model, they are consumate killing machines. They offer a ton of average (let's face it- Strength 4 is average in 40k) strength attacks, and with Feel No Pain granted by the Haemonculus who starts the game with them, are very, very good at offing elite units. This makes them an elite unit good at taking out elite units, which sort of ends up as a wash in my book. Well, I have other answers for elite units- Dark Lances. Lots of Dark Lances.

I am, however, at a loss as to one major aspect of my Incubi- They're the reason I started Dark Eldar in the first place. I'll have spent nearly $100 on miniatures which will do nothing other than collect dust if I switch them out of my army. They're just so damn cool.

The only real options left open to me are either sucking it up and taking it on the chin (kinda like my Deathwing, who are now in permanent mothballs after 4 consecutive complete massacres) or re-structuring my purchasing / army composition system. This only really works if Wracks and Venoms are included in the next wave, and then only if the next wave comes in the next couple of months. It's looking sort of grim for my ol' Dark Eldar, eh?

In other news, my Skaven have been challenged to a showdown with the new Orc army list, a gauntlet that once thrown cannot be ignored. I've been hearing a lot about the new Orc list on my podcasts, and I must say I'm not too intimidated. This may be folly on my part, but they still suffer from Animosity, they're still on big (25mm) bases, and they're still fewer in number than my Skaven (thank you 2 point slaves). As long as we don't roll up the stupid "Watchtower" scenario again, I'll be just fine. Now all I need to do is pick an army list.

I really want to go with a Screaming Bell, but with the Grey Seer on top, that's an awful lot of points in one place...

I may just suck it up and go with this list. It's one that I've theory-hammered pretty long and hard, and it has several models I've never used before. In the end, however, it's down to what models I have room for in my car, as the core of my army already takes up three figure cases!

Rat-A-Tooie

My second 2,250 point Skaven army today, this one is totally hand-to-hand combat focused. This army consists of:

Lords
-Grey Seer on Screaming Bell with Power Scroll, Shadow Magnet Trinket, & Skalm

Heroes
-Chieftain Battle Standard Bearer with Charmed Shield & Talisman of Preservation
-Warlock Engineer with Doomrocket

Core
-44x Clanrats with Shields & Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team
-40X Clanrats with Shields & Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team
-40x Skavenslaves
-40x Skavenslaves
-6x Giant Rats with 1x Packmaster

Special
-6x Rat Ogres with 4x Packmasters
-8x Gutter Runners with Slings & Poisoned Attacks

Rare
-Doomwheel
-Hell Pit Abomination with Warpstone Spikes

This is a much more straight forward army list. This one simply wants to get in close to the enemy and beat the snot out of them. The avalanche of attacks provided by the Rat Ogres (21 at full strength) will help take heat off of your Hell Pit Abomination and / or Doomwheel. If not, the Rat Ogres will make mincemeat of whatever they touch. It's a win-win scenario!

This time the Hell Pit Abomination has Warpstone Spikes. This is to keep ethereal units like Wraiths from being able to dismantle the creature with no return attacks.

The Giant Rats are another war machine hunter. They attack from the front as the Gutter Runners attack from the rear.

All the other models act exactly as they did in the previous list, with the exception of the Screaming Bell, which wants to advance with the army.

This is one of my personal favorite lists, which trades the Magic Phase for raw hitting power. Once the enemy is crushed and driven before me, I do a little happy dance.

...In theory...

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.

For Whom the Bell Screams

Today, as you may be able to tell by looking at the "On the Workbench" bar to the right, I finished most of my recovered Skaven miniatures. This post will show you how the models came together. Of course, all the miniatures were first cleaned with Simple Green, and washed under hot water with a toothbrush. That bit was already covered in a previous post. After that, it was time to re-base everything for the current Skaven army book. The Screaming Bell needed a 100mm x 60mm base, the Doomwheel a 50mm x 100mm one, and the Jezzails and Warpfire Throwers needed cavalry bases (25mm x 50mm). The Gutter Runners were based on current 20mm x 20mm bases just for good measure.

The Doomwheel was left apart at this stage so I could prime inside the wheels.

Next, I had to cover all the unsightly gaps in the cavalry bases/ This was achieves by tearing up an old receipt and gluing it down to the base using Elmer's Glue-All. This is the stuff I use for all of my basing, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Once the glue had dried, it was outside for priming. The Screaming Bell and Doomwheel got a black coat, while the Grey Seer, Bell Ringer, Jezzails, Gutter Runners, and Warpfire Throwers got a coat of Army Painter's "Army Green" primer. It's a nice dark green which goes together nicely with the dirty dark yellow I use for the rest of the uniform.

Thus primed, I set about painting the models, along with my new conversion for Captain Belial for my Deathwing. Once all the colors were laid down, I glued the Grey Seer and Bell Ringer to the Screaming Bell carriage.
Now it was dipping time. Eager to finish three armies in one go, I spent the evening, brush in hand, dipping every last Ogre, Space Marine, and every Skaven except the Warpfire Throwers. This was because I already have two painted, and have no current need for three more. Also, I was running out of steam.

Today I set about basing my Skaven. After coating the bases (including the Ogres' bases) Khemri Brown, I Then flocked all the Skaven bases, and finished them with a few clumps of static grass. Finally, into the humidity-controlled confines of my bathroom for Matt Varnish.

And thusly are my Skaven reinforcements completed. Now it's a matter of getting a 2,250 point game in to try out my two new engines of destruction. I keep hearing such great things about the Doomwheel...