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Starting AoS - Need help with Skaven


Stur

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Hey, I am getting ready to get started in AoS, and I am stuck between Sylvaneth (Which I know are a solid choice), and the less optimal but awesome Skryre, I have also given  thought to pestilens since they are more "Fleshed out as a real faction". Now going with the rule of cool, does the list I posted have any chance of giving me an enjoyable games while getting used to the rules. Or are there way to few models in there? I know skaven and especially Skryre are not in the best place but I plan on only playing for fun and the occasional local tournament for kicks. Does not need to be the most competitive faction I play, but I also dont want to buy a loss if you get what I mean! Would you reccomend any other start for Skryre? Most data I could find is from early 2017 and 2016 so not sure how outdated it is.

Thanks in advance and sorry if it is not allowed to post points cost here, I do not quite know the rules about this with AoS since I was told scroll builder is supported by GW!

Skryre.PNG

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Heyo! :) I could tell you all kinds of stuff about Skryre, but it's much easier to direct you to this thread: 


It is up to date, and reading the last few pages should get you up to speed. Until then, yes, you've probably got too few models, but that's not the biggest problem in a 1000 points game - sure, you will lose a bunch because of it, but you'll punch back pretty hard. If you're serious about going with the stormfiends, you're going to want to consider adding a packmaster instead of one of the warlock-engineers for that +1 to hit. If you equip them with Shock-Gauntlets, that buff alone (and a vigordust injector) will turn them into meatgrinders - although you don't need shock-gauntlets on both units.  (Also make sure to check out the clan skryre batallion, it consists of a minimum of two enginecovens that come together to form one batallion - it's minimum price of 200pts is actually pretty fair)

But that's just a shot in the dark, because honestly, Skaven can do so many different things, and we sorta need to know what kind of things you want to be able to do to more easily give you good advice ;) For simplicity, consider Skryre a sort of gunline/Mortal wound nuke//Alpha striking nuke. They can hit things -very- hard, but fold like paper if you don't ally in some clanrats/giant rats to keep your weapon crews safe. Which is an important thing to note; Skryre is all about those weapon crews. If you don't like the idea of aquiring, or running around with several (3-5) crews doing their thing in addition to the rest of your army, then you should probably look elsewhere. 

In contrast, Pestilens is a sorta fighty horde that slowly drops mortal wounds here and there. Skryre is all burst. 

 

And if you don't like hordes at all, then, well, Skaven is prooobably not your kind of deal :P

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@Mayple Thanks a lot! Had searched for Skryre but somehow missed that thread haha. Well what I mostly thought when reading the warscrolls was "Michael Bay". Since I probably will end up playing pestilens either in the beginning or after Skryre so I will end up with many many plague monks. Have already checked with my local area if its okay to proxy them as clanrats because im not getting 120 monks painting them, then 40 clan rats, then stormvermin etc.. 

So I am pretty much down for any kind of playstyle, about the weapon platforms, they dont bother me since I mainly play skirmish games and they sound similar in how they work!

What appeals to me with Skryre is mostly just that they sound like the can put some serious hurt on the table and they have a lot of wizards :D!

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Both skryre can pestilens can be competitive if used correctly. But i recommend always playing with the models you think look fun, keeping in mind to have a good balance in your force. What i mean about that is not too many heroes or too much shooting, but a balance of units to play different roles. For your list i'd recommend switching out the doomflayer and the two warlock engineers for clanrats and a ratling gun, or a warp lightning cannon.

Skaven as of writing this is not an army that you can place on the battlefield and expect results without effort like other armies. Playing skaven requires you to know when to retreat, charge or advance to get the most out of your units. Here are some rules of thumb;

  • Any shooty unit is going to need bubblewrap in the form of clanrats to get the most out of their potential. This includes stormfiends with warpfire throwers as they have little in the way of melee combat. 
  • Make sure to be the first to charge with your melee units. Playing pestilens is basically summed up as ''get the charge off''. Many of our units are glass cannons, meaning they hit hard but die fast. So be sure to hit first!
  • Synergize your units and shoot the same target you're going to charge. Skaven divided are easy to conquer, but working together they are formidable.
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@Kraxriket is spot on about pretty much everything. I'll throw in an additional important add-on on the "always charge first" though, as it is definitely true that you'll always* want to charge first with Plague Monks, but if you're using clanrats, you never* want to charge first, especially if you're using them defensively as bubblewrap. Plague monks kill, Clanrats stall*. 

*There are always exceptions. Consider both Plague Monks and Clanrats as "Always/Never charge first.. unless: -Insert situational reasoning here-" 

 

I also want to double down on Kraxriket's point about how Skaven does not earn victories without effort. More so than most other armies, you really got to work for it. Not neccesarily on the table (skaven are not -weak-), but you have to do a lot of legwork. Come up with all kinds of strategies and builds, because you need to build your castle with lego, while everyone else got bricks and steel**. 

**Everyone knows stepping on lego hurts more than stepping on brick. Show them the Skaven way ;)

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Alright thanks for the tips. Definately inspiring to hear they are hard to play but not impossible!

I am very interested in playing Skryre with a verminlord, is there any good way to do this or is the only "viable" way to play as chaos allegiance, in order to also be able to take clan rats or similar bubblewrap :)?

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I don't think a verminlord would fit a skyre army because:

- as allies, they cost at least 260pts so not many left for allied clanrats

- as allies, they can't be general and thus only their spells and stats are useful. Not many synergize with skyre

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Skyre is the only competitive option if you want a monoskaven list, I can suggest a list that won NZ masters this year

arch warlock

warlock eng

warlock eng

5 accolyte

10 plague monks

10 gutter runners 

Warp lighting cannon

warpfire thrower team

warprinder weapon team 

2x3 stormfiends with warpfire project

clan skyre battalion

arckspark voltik battalion

gautfire scorch battalion

160 pts to summon 

( balewind is good summon)

 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Num said:

I don't think a verminlord would fit a skyre army because:

- as allies, they cost at least 260pts so not many left for allied clanrats

- as allies, they can't be general and thus only their spells and stats are useful. Not many synergize with skyre

I’ve seen a few builds with the verminlord deciver as an ally, basically with the play of throwing the arch warlock into the thick of something to toss out a load of mortal wounds with skitterleap.   Also can move a warlock engineer into position to cast his unique spell, and jump himself in too, natch. 

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