Another Army List- This Time SSU

That's right, I'm posting my SSU army list for Dust. It's mostly a conglomeration of almost every SSU miniature on the market, and it's up for re-tweaking, but this is pretty close to the final version.

From what I can figure, the SSU's main advantage is their commissars. The ability to tack them onto any squad in your force, as well as their ability to add new and exciting weapons to squads makes them the x-factor your opponent will have to think around. Their units all act a little odd compared to Axis and Allied units (our squads are quite specialized) but that allows every unit to focus on one aspect of the fight rather than spreading their fire around the field. Plus the commissars' ability to paste two identical squads together into one makes them a scary prospect. I plan on fielding an 11 man squad armed with five machineguns. That should put a dent into Infantry 2 units!

The SSU however does suffer from a single major drawback- they can't effectively engage enemy armor. Maybe that will change once the super heavy tanks arrive (December-ish) but for now we have to fall back on our Widowmaker rifles, which are much less accurate than our Axis and Allied equivalents, but we just plain get more sniper rifles than they do. The fact that they're either in the hands of a pair of snipers or hidden in a squad (the rifles have Penetrator, which is nice) ups their effectiveness, but they can only engage up to Vehicle 4 units, which puts us at a serious disadvantage against the new Axis Vehicle 5 & 6 walkers. Let's not mention the Axis & Allied Vehicle 7 machines.

Our other method is praying that our KV47 walkers and Close Combat Squads can take out the enemy walkers before they can paste us. Sulfur Throwers are great at this (setting enemy vehicles on fire will be a ton of fun). Provided they can:
A) Be brought into range (our best Sulfur Thrower has a 14" range), as they may very well be destroyed on their way into combat.
B) Hit. One die needing a 5+ to hit just isn't a very good chance, and then there's armor negating damage...

Here's what I plan on running:

DEFENSE PLATOON
Command Section: SSU Command Squad (25 AP)
-Special Support 1: "The Trediakovsky" Commissar (8 AP)
-Special Support 2: "The Karamzin" Commissar (8 AP)
Section 1: SSU Battle Squad (20 AP)
Section 2: SSU Battle Squad (20 AP)
Section 3: SSU Rifle Squad (20 AP)
Section 4: ---------------------------------
-Support 1: SSU Sniper Team (14 AP)
-Support 2: MIL-MI 45 Airborne Transport (40 AP)

DEFENSE PLATOON (Political Importance- 5AP)
-Special Support 1: "The Sumarokov" Commissar (5 AP)
-Special Support 2: "The Derzhavin" Commissar (5 AP)
Command Section: Koshka (18 AP)
-Grand'Ma: (35 AP)
Section 1: SSU Close Combat Squad (21 AP)
Section 2: SSU Close Combat Squad (21 AP)
Section 3: --------------------------------
Section 4: --------------------------------
-Support 1: KV47-A Walker (30 AP)

I'm really only running Koshka and Grand'Ma in the army as a way to shoehorn in another KV47 variant. Since I can assign the platoon "Political Importance" so I can run the commissars I want in order to keep the Close Combat Squads in the fight (they get an action even if they have a reaction marker on them and are suppressed).

The Battle Squads will be joined together in order to form that 11-man, 5 machinegun squad (their commissar has a machinegun too) and the rocket launcher armed commissar will either join the Rifle Squad or the Sniper Team. Either unit has its own advantages and disadvantages, so he may float around until I come to a decision as to where he'll be the most effective.

Of course, I ultimately want to remove the rocket launcher commissar as well as the Airborne Transport in favor of a MIL MI-47 Attack Helicopter (D variant- I like the idea of dropping all those bombs it has). The transport chopper just doesn't really fit into what I'd been planning for the army, so the aggressive, anti-armor stance the helicopter brings to the table is most welcome. I've already come up with some fun ways to use the way the bomb rules work. This is a while out, however, as the mini for the unit is still being manufactured, let alone packaged, shipped to America, and distributed to retailers.

This is all still a pipe dream, however, as I don't even have my second Battle Squad and Close Combat Squad yet.

I do have some units fully painted now, so I'll be posting them soonish. Stay tuned!

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.

Two Armies Near Completion

That's right, it's just a matter of time. I've nearly completed two armies, and it just feels so good!

Note the "Coming Attractions" sidebar. It's gotten quite a bit smaller. At least until I get that SSU stuff, any way. I'm getting closer and closer to the finish line as far as my Dark Eldar and Space Wolves are concerned. Now I'm at the mercy of the weather as far as matte varnishing the minis is concerned. Monday will see me cracking down and putting the brush back to that last eyesore Raider. You see it there. The one that's still mostly primer. The one I kind of highlighted there. It's driving me nuts, all sitting there in my display case mocking me. It will be put in its place! I will make it pretty!

...Then there's the matter of the Splinter Cannon armed Trueborn. Those three jokers aren't even primed yet. No, I must focus on one effort at a time!

The above army was fielded against Demitra on Tuesday. While it still has the Blaster armed Trueborn, I did drop the Splinterborn, a unit of Kabalite Warriors, and a Venom from the list in order to accommodate an Archon and her Incubus bodyguard. They performed somewhat under par, charging a Blood Angel Tactical Squad and getting wiped out (well, except the Archon- she failed her first Shadowfield save and then annihilated the unit) to a man. All in all this proved to be the most entertaining game Demitra and I played with me using my Dark Eldar.

As far as actual painting progress is concerned, Behold! Today was dedicated to painting up my Land Raider Crusader. It started the day basecoated and washed, and hopefully it'll be dullcoted soon enough.

I also painted up my Wolf Priest, two Lone Wolves, and got a touch further on my Grey Hunters. You'll have to wait to see them though, as I have company coming over soonish.

Now, back to sweeping...

Hooray.