Let´s Talk Skyre

[Betelgeuse]

I get the feeling that the stormfiends/packmaster combo is a bit of a trap. On paper it makes them (the fiends) super but in my experience that packmaster is super easy to knock out or just 80p that really doesn't do that very much. Absolutely go for two units of three just like Mayple suggested above. I've tried the big unit and packmaster just like the list above and ended up in exactly those scenarios also listed above. =P

Also... Has anyone gotten the doomwheel to work? I love the model but it doesn't have the scare factor it once had.

[Oldmanlee]

16 minutes ago, Betelgeuse said:

I get the feeling that the stormfiends/packmaster combo is a bit of a trap. On paper it makes them (the fiends) super but in my experience that packmaster is super easy to knock out or just 80p that really doesn't do that very much. Absolutely go for two units of three just like Mayple suggested above. I've tried the big unit and packmaster just like the list above and ended up in exactly those scenarios also listed above. =P

Also... Has anyone gotten the doomwheel to work? I love the model but it doesn't have the scare factor it once had.

What would you recommend then if I was to drop the pack masters the doomwheel is in the list becuse I love the model 

[Mayple]

The doomwheel is a wildcard. A good wildcard. No one expects it to do much, but it can dish out a surprising amount of damage, even without running things over. Not unit-wiping level, but enough to matter. It can also grab objectives more freely as the game progresses and both sides ramp up casualties.

Expect it to be low on the opponent's focus list, and take as much advantage of that as possible

 

If you get the vigordust injector, you should be able to get the packmasters to work. Three separate sources of buffs is difficult to remove in a single stroke, and if only one packmaster survives alongside your vigordust injector, then you'll still get a +2. Even just a +1 is notable. 

If the opponent spends such an effort to remove them that he then removes all 3, that means he didn't use that firepower to remove some of your other dangerous stuff. 

Your inclusion of clanrats should allow you to protect the packmasters pretty well except against gunlines, which Skryre struggles against anyway (perhaps replacing the rattling gun for another mortar would better equip you against such)

It comes down to preference as with most things Skryre, I think you can get good results if you can keep em alive failing that, bring something else.

[Rahr]

Is there a reason that jezzails are not in the gw app azyr they are not remove or is it a mistanke or something?

[Umjammerlama]

35 minutes ago, Rahr said:

Is there a reason that jezzails are not in the gw app azyr they are not remove or is it a mistanke or something?

They are in the artillery section of the list building

[Rahr]

Ah thanks buddy

[Mayple]

Working on an idea for a Skryre list that could potentially be very nasty. Input desired.

The general idea being a sort of 'death march' army that marches forward on multiple fronts and absolutely destroys anything in it's path. So a sort of slow-paced marching accross the board, lobbing a ton of damage at anything in range, as opposed to a quick lightning strike. 

Noteworthy interactions:

- the arch-warlock chills with the mortars, giving rerolls ones to hits, handing out his battalion reroll to the other warlocks where needed. 

 - the clanrat lines are there to die. Anything they do beyond that is a victory. Essential chaff to protect all the weapons.

- the stormfiends roll out with shock gauntlets, and bodyguard the gas warlock until they need to tear loose. At which point they get the vigordust injection.

- warpfire throwers on both flanks for good measure. They're there to respond to mawcrushas, carnosaurus', and such. 

- I'd love to max out the acolytes, but I don't see where I'd be getting the points for that in this particular approach. 

 

Leaders
Arch Warlock (140)
- General
- Trait: Overseer of Destruction 
- Artefact: Esoteric Warp Resonator 
Gascloud (100)
Warlock Engineer
- Artefact: Vigordust Injector 
Arkspark (100)
Warlock Engineer

Battleline
5 x Skryre Acolytes (60)
- Skryre Battleline
5 x Skryre Acolytes (60)
- Skryre Battleline
3 x Stormfiends (300)
- Skryre Battleline

Units
1 x Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team (60)
1 x Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team (60)
1 x Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team (60)
1 x Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team (70)
1 x Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team (70)
20 x Clanrats (120)
- Rusty Blade
- Allies
20 x Clanrats (120)
- Rusty Blade
- Allies
20 x Clanrats (120)
- Rusty Spear
- Allies

War Machines
Warp Lightning Cannon (180)
Warp Lightning Cannon (180)

Battalions
Clan Skryre (100)
Arkhspark Voltik (50)
Gascloud Chokelung (50)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Allies: 360 / 400
Wounds: 131
 

 

Thoughts?

[Nikobot]

@ Mayple

I like it. I've been working on Skryre battalion lists without Gautfyre, meaning combinations of Gascloud, Arkhspark and Rattleguage. Forget Whyrlblade.

I'm trying different combinations in order to fit in enough firepower to slowly pick apart the enemy whilst managing to field enough models to not feel like naked and be able to press an objective, which your clanrats are helping to do.

You have served up a very valid formation in my mind.

I was trying to get 2 units of stormfiends into 1 of my lists which made it look like yours less 20x clanrats, 1x mortar, 1x warpfire and 5x acolytes.

 

[Betelgeuse]

@Mayple I think it is absolutely the right way to go regarding clan Skryre these days. Combining Arkhspark with either the jezzails shhoting or windmortar lobbing. Think about squeezing in 10 gutter runners if possible. Tried them out recently and they are from now on almost auto include in upcoming lists. Perfect for sniping the odd hanging back enemy hero and grabbing the odd objective on the other side of the enemy lines. 

[Betelgeuse]

I ran this list a couple of games during the weekend and dear lord it puts out damage... The vigourdusted jezzails blasted things left and right with thier shooting twice per turn. So jezzails, cannon and warlock handles almost any threats at range while stormfiends and monks (combining MW from hero book with a charge) mops up those at close range.  Finally the gutter runners scored a couple of points and/or sniped a hero or two every game. 

The list is however vulnerable to things like turn 1 herald on balewind, skyfire etc since some wounds on them before I can give them IP hurts ALOT.  

Allegiance: Skaven Skryre

Leaders
Arch Warlock (140)
- Artefact: Esoteric Warp Resonator 
Warlock Engineer (100)
- General
- Trait: Overseer of Destruction 
- Artefact: Vigordust Injector 
Warlock Engineer (100)

Battleline
3 x Stormfiends (300)
- Warpfire Projectors
- Skryre Battleline
5 x Skryre Acolytes (60)
- Skryre Battleline
5 x Skryre Acolytes (60)
- Skryre Battleline

Units
9 x Warplock Jezzails (420)
1 x Ratling Gun Weapon Team (80)
10 x Plague Monks (70)
- Foetid Blades (both banners, both musicians, book)
- Allies
10 x Plague Monks (70)
- Foetid Blades (both banners, both musicians, book)
- Allies
10 x Gutter Runners (120)
- Allies

War Machines
Warp Lightning Cannon (180)

Battalions
Clan Skryre (100)
Arkhspark Voltik (50)
Rattlegauge Warplock (50)

Reinforcement Points (100)  (balewind)

Total: 2000 / 2000

[Mayple]

@Betelgeuse nice quick question about your list though. Is the overseer of destruction meant to be paired up with the jezzails? Because those aren't weapon teams  So no rerolling 1s to hit there unless I'm missing something.

[Betelgeuse]

Nah the overseer doesn't really have a purpose here but I didn't know what else to take rather than to at least help the rattling gun a tiny bit. 

[Mayple]

45 minutes ago, Betelgeuse said:

Nah the overseer doesn't really have a purpose here but I didn't know what else to take rather than to at least help the rattling gun a tiny bit. 

If in doubt, you can't go wrong with the scavenger one. 

Or if you -really- want to preserve the life of one of your warlocks - verminous valor. After all, if someone kills any one of them (excluding the walking-tank-arch-warlock) you do lose that warlock's enginecoven benefits. 

The overseer of destruction works really well if you have a few weapon teams, but might not even be optimal then. My own inclusion of it is an experiment to see if it will do anything at all

[Betelgeuse]

I honestly think most of the warlord traits for Skryre are if not useless so at least pretty close. So usually just pick the overseer since... well rolling 1s is mildly annoying. Verminous valor is great if you run large blocks of rats but since I ted to go the opposite route just a single would on my super low bravery units causes several of them to run away. Scavanger is nice thought. Especially if i'm not running battalion and a list like this where almost all damage output  comes in the form of Mortal Wounds. With war resonator on the arch-warlock I've never run out of tokens yet.

The thing that saves me ALOT is the hero phase die that comes with the clan skryre battalion. Since I can use it whenever I want in the hero phase I can reroll a dice for the damage on the cannon, an annoying 1 on mystical terrain or maybe the damage the jezzails or cannan takes from shooting i hero phase. 

[Nikobot]

I don't rate the command traits / artefact choices highly either, much of it is geared to being in combat, where ideally you don't want to be!

Malevolent is not that helpful to them, mostly combat oriented, not where you want warlocks really.
Cunning creature isn't bad, but again, you don't really want your warlocks in CC anyway!
Deranged inventor only works on doomwheels, so you got to run across the board staying within 6" to buff a mediocre war machine. Not where you want to be.
Masterful scavenger is good.
Verminous Valour is actually good, but I just don't think I'd take it, I'd be avoiding the situations where this might be useful I think.
Overseer of Destruction is probably my goto choice.

Assassins bane rigging / Skryres breath bellows are both CC oriented and not really reliable to do much. Again not where you should be.
Vial of the fulminator is for doomwheels... waste as it stands.
Brass Orb is COOL, but just a hail mary. Still cool.
The resonator is good.
Vigordust is the GOTO option.

The lists are mostly options which you are never going to take, which is a shame. I think they are getting better at making these lists and including mostly reasonable options as opposed to 1-2 good ones + fillers, so by the time they get a proper battletome it should offer nice options.

Does anyone see it different?

 

[Betelgeuse]

I agree. 

Have used the Assassins bane on my arch-warlock a couple of times when I've played him in tandem with deceiver. Mystic shield him, teleport him to a sweet spot in enemy lines (preferably somewhere where he gets cover save as well), cast spells, flame and charge in and do extra wounds with tokens. Those who hit back suffers an extra MW. A pretty fun setup actually. But requires deceiver...

[Nikobot]

Nice little assassination tactic, the warlock has some nice damage potential.

I look forward to seeing some Skryre command abilities in the future should kick the engines of war into overdrive!

The enginecovens are a good concept, hope they become an area they really develop for Skryre that doesn't come with too much overhead costs.
The little bonuses they give are colourful and a lot of flavour.

[Mayple]

I ran the list I posted previously, which worked out wonderfully against a thunderhost seraphon list with Kroak.

 

Blasted Lord Kroak out of the sky in response to a cheeky frontline teleport+balewind on his first turn that threw mortal wounds across my whole army. Lost a mortar and a warpfire thrower, nothing big. 

Almost killed his engine of the gods as well. Moved two clanrat blobs forward on the flanks, kept the remaining one spread out behind my lines to block off my deployment zone to any backline teleportation he might have wanted to try. Kept my Stormfiends at the center in front of the warplightning cannons, in range of a vigordust injector (and deadly/damned terrain. The one that gives +1 to hit at d3 mw cost) - wanting his stuff to get closer.

His turn two saw one of the warplightning cannons destroyed by his stegadon, as well as a unit of clanrats. A worthy sacrifice. He grabbed a mid objective.

On my turn I finished off the Engine of the gods with my hero-phase shooting (he had healed up a bunch) - was low on time, so I skipped everything else in favour of a glorious +2 to hit Stormfiend rush that tore his Stegadon apart. 18 unsaved wounds between TWO stormfiends (the third one died previously to some shooting)

We ran out of time, but his army was devastated at the end of turn two, and I still had most of my stuff left. 

What I learned:

- the gascloud is SO good. Free D6 mortal wounds at a low risk is great!

- My cannons didn't backfire, but even if they did, they still carried their weight, and then some. Might want to add another Cannon, or Arkspark coven.

- the warpfire throwers did nothing, but I havent tested them against the in-your-face stuff I brought them for.

 - I might not need three units of clanrats. Two could do the job just as well. Need to fight a much more offensive army to know for sure.

 

Edit: forgot to mention, but I run the stormfiends with shock gauntlets.

I threw them against Rotigus in an earlier 1000 pts battle, with the same bonuses, and they killed him outright.

[Nikobot]

1 hour ago, Mayple said:

I ran the list I posted previously, which worked out wonderfully against a thunderhost seraphon list with Kroak.

 

Blasted Lord Kroak out of the sky in response to a cheeky frontline teleport+balewind on his first turn that threw mortal wounds across my whole army. Lost a mortar and a warpfire thrower, nothing big. 

Almost killed his engine of the gods as well. Moved two clanrat blobs forward on the flanks, kept the remaining one spread out behind my lines to block off my deployment zone to any backline teleportation he might have wanted to try. Kept my Stormfiends at the center in front of the warplightning cannons, in range of a vigordust injector (and deadly/damned terrain. The one that gives +1 to hit at d3 mw cost) - wanting his stuff to get closer.

His turn two saw one of the warplightning cannons destroyed by his stegadon, as well as a unit of clanrats. A worthy sacrifice. He grabbed a mid objective.

On my turn I finished off the Engine of the gods with my hero-phase shooting (he had healed up a bunch) - was low on time, so I skipped everything else in favour of a glorious +2 to hit Stormfiend rush that tore his Stegadon apart. 18 unsaved wounds between TWO stormfiends (the third one died previously to some shooting)

We ran out of time, but his army was devastated at the end of turn two, and I still had most of my stuff left. 

What I learned:

- the gascloud is SO good. Free D6 mortal wounds at a low risk is great!

- My cannons didn't backfire, but even if they did, they still carried their weight, and then some. Might want to add another Cannon, or Arkspark coven.

- the warpfire throwers did nothing, but I havent tested them against the in-your-face stuff I brought them for.

 - I might not need three units of clanrats. Two could do the job just as well. Need to fight a much more offensive army to know for sure.

 

Edit: forgot to mention, but I run the stormfiends with shock gauntlets.

I threw them against Rotigus in an earlier 1000 pts battle, with the same bonuses, and they killed him outright.

Great Result against Kroak!

What killed the nasty toad? Cannons? How many wounds did you do to get him to fail?

The stormfiends are just lethal, one of the scariest things going around but requires a bit of effort to keep stuff alive and close, well worth it though.

I have never thought to ever run more than 2 covens in games under 2000pts, I always struggle to build lists with just 2! A 3rd one would be interesting...

I like that you've got more clanrats, I just see it as vital to have the bodies to hold off the enemy whilst your Skryre-tech goes to work. Best test that against an in-your-face list first

Thanks for the great read

 

[Mayple]

38 minutes ago, Nikobot said:

Great Result against Kroak!

What killed the nasty toad? Cannons? How many wounds did you do to get him to fail?

The stormfiends are just lethal, one of the scariest things going around but requires a bit of effort to keep stuff alive and close, well worth it though.

I have never thought to ever run more than 2 covens in games under 2000pts, I always struggle to build lists with just 2! A 3rd one would be interesting...

I like that you've got more clanrats, I just see it as vital to have the bodies to hold off the enemy whilst your Skryre-tech goes to work. Best test that against an in-your-face list first

Thanks for the great read

 

He died in the hero phase (Well, at the end of my turn, but he was declared dead at the time) - I did 12 mortal wounds to him. 6 from the superspecial gas mortar bomb, and 6 from the Warplightning cannon. What can I say, the Horned rat clearly favours overwhelming firepower. 

I have been argumenting pretty strongly for a while for the whole Shockfist>Warp Projector case. It's good to see my suspicions verify themselves on the board. I definitely agree with the difficulty of keeping them alive, although that is very much off-set in this list by the vast amount of different threats. It's hard to justify spending firepower on removing three reasonably tanky 7 wound models when the cannon next to them just killed Kroak That's a kind of mindgame I can work with. 

When I tried to incorporate Arkspark into my list, I realised that it's actually the cheapest (effective) Enginecoven to incorporate. You only need a single Warplightning cannon and warlock to make it work, and since you're already investing into a battallion, might as well make it interesting. If I hadn't gone into the Gascloud, I would have run three, if not four of those just for the overwhelming amount of damage. I consider one Arkspark with two cannons plus a warlock to be the safe choice though. Good to have a backup cannon if the first one blows up (not at all due to bad craftmanship! No no no!) 

Will try to pick a fight with something aggressive, and see how it goes Not a lot of that going around at my club, but maybe I'll get lucky. 


Edit: 

Something like this. Although it would be much more of a gunline, and a bit less of the flexible in-between I used above. I call it the "No one will enjoy this but me" list.

Allegiance: Skaven Skryre

Leaders
Arch Warlock (140)
- General
- Trait: Overseer of Destruction 
- Artefact: Esoteric Warp Resonator 
Warlock Engineer (100)
- Artefact: Brass Orb 
Warlock Engineer (100)
Warlock Engineer (100)

Battleline
5 x Skryre Acolytes (60)
- Skryre Battleline
5 x Skryre Acolytes (60)
- Skryre Battleline
5 x Skryre Acolytes (60)
- Skryre Battleline

Units
1 x Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team (60)
1 x Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team (60)
1 x Ratling Gun Weapon Team (80)
1 x Ratling Gun Weapon Team (80)
1 x Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team (60)
20 x Clanrats (120)
- Rusty Spear
- Allies
20 x Clanrats (120)
- Rusty Spear
- Allies

War Machines
Warp Lightning Cannon (180)
Warp Lightning Cannon (180)
Warp Lightning Cannon (180)

Battalions
Clan Skryre (100)
Arkhspark Voltik (50)
Arkhspark Voltik (50)
Arkhspark Voltik (50)

Total: 1990 / 2000
Allies: 240 / 400
Wounds: NaN
 

[Popsicle]

Hello!  I have a few games of Skryre played, and after reading the posts it seems we are taking the same journey, I saw some themes that I agree with:

- buffed shockgauntlets are the hidden gem, I have tried 6 which are unyielding, but I think can sweep at least a few objectives and have the wounds to survive it. 

-need like 3-4 wind mortars to cover the odds, but for me have been great overall with that many

- WLC are amazing, and am sure the engine makes it even better

- pure skryre lacks screens- need either summoning pool to retain the 1 drop or take clanrats/plaguemonks/gutters runners

- fiends with projectors only work well with movement shenanigans, a screen, or double turn, but in those situations do a ton 

some things I also have discovered and were maybe only breifly mentioned are:

- use Vial artifact to double the move of a WLc to get position or 30" range turn one (or bale wind as mentioned)

- include a grinder fist with your shockgauntlets team to tunnel or threaten a tunnel, or simply use a token to double the damage in the combat phase (with Rend2)

-verminlord deceiver ally is great for some of the counters, and adds mobility to a static gunline, although I find him difficult to play with (you need to know which fights to pick)

- tunneling randomness outside the gautfyre is unreliable and will lose you games, and doesn't put you in enough range to do much (even the tunneling rattling averages like a couple wounds for 300 points) 

 

Things I want to try next

-Packmasters double stormfiend bravery and help solve the 6 pack issue, but pile ins seem challenging to get more than 4 still 

- would like to try 6 rattling fiends with +hit buff as well (might be interesting) 

- would like to try doom flayers- single model with good damage and cheap points- seems good? Prob not try the coven though, as the doomwheel seems meh

- will try the gas and lightning gunline coven as soon as the metal acolytes arrive 

 

Posted a pick of my last list:

Arch, deceiver, packmaster, 4 mortars, 2x3 projector fiends, 6 fiends with shocks and 1 grinder.. list is missing a chaff wall, but is fun to play and looks great!

[Nikobot]

@ Mayple

Down with Kroak ! Glad to hear you popped him, his mechanic upsets balance, good riddance

Cool idea with your list, but I think its too much of a sacrifice leaving the 3 stormfiends out, they mix up the threats on the board for the opponent in terms of range and add some melee presence (BIG presence),  wounds and are a strategic hurdle for the enemy.

2x arkhsparks + fiends is more appealing

Like the list though, creative. What do you think its going to suffer against?

[Nikobot]

@ Popsicle

Agree with lots of your points.

Most important thing with Skryre is screens and buying time and protection.

I've used the grinderfist and shock combo, unfortunately no luck with bringing the fiends up. Last attempt saw them underground for 3 turns and miss the whole battle, ouch. I get the threat though and it works. messes up enemy deployment.

Dont know about trying the Vial like that, i get the idea, might surprise the enemy, but I do like my vigordust and warp generator!

Agree doomflayers might be ok, but not sure if they fit in with a Skryre list too well thats generally avoiding combat a lot to buy time to shoot. Doomwheels are just in a bit of a limbo. Havent seen them used really.

Some good advice overall !

 

 

[Betelgeuse]

1 hour ago, Nikobot said:

Doomwheels are just in a bit of a limbo. Havent seen them used really.

Just a quick though... I've found that for me duality of death is a bit of a struggle. I have the tools to pick out the enemy heroes but since arch-warlock usually stands upon his balewind it's up to the super squishy engineers to grab the objectives. The doomwheel is actually a behemoth and can help grabbing these objectives (even if it is also really fragile). But with the tokens it might actually do something and you can't token your canons any way... 

 Might be worthless and an utter squeeze just in order to use it but at least you get something more that can grab one of those objectives. 

[Mayple]

@Betelgeuse That's a really good point! I don't know if there are other behemoths that can match the Doomwheel for price, so definitely usefull when considering that scenario.

@Nikobot I think it would be weak to anything that can outrange them (since firing in the hero phase doesn't help if they have nothing to shoot at) and lists that have a powerful enough alphastrike to hit them hard. With less clanrats, and no stormfiends, it's not as hard for an opponent to cripple it as it would be with the balanced list. Entertaining for the sheer cheese of it though. Anything that has to walk up the field (Looking at you Nurgle) will get annihilated by the sheer overkill of firepower coming their way. 

But I doubt I'll ever play it I'll try to squeeze in another arkspark if I'm able to justify it, but I probably won't go as far overboard as the list presented.