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AoS 2 - Clan Pestilens Discussion


Gaz Taylor

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Played a one day event today, achieved my target of 2 major wins, with a major loss in the middle.

Allegiance: Pestilens
Verminlord Corruptor (220)
- General
- Trait: Master of Rot and Ruin 
Plague Furnace (180)
- Artefact: Liber Bubonicus 
Plague Priest with Plague Censer(80)
Plague Priest with Plague Censer(80)
Plague Priest with Plague Censer(80)
40 x Plague Monks (240)

- Foetid Blades
10 x Plague Monks (70)
- Foetid Blades
10 x Plague Monks (70)
- Foetid Blades
10 x Plague Monks (70)
- Foetid Blades

10 x Plague Monks (70)
- Foetid Blades

10 x Plague Monks (70)
- Foetid Blades

10 x Night Runners (100)
- Allies
10 x Night Runners (100)
- Allies
40 x Clanrats (200)
- Rusty Blade
- Allies
Plagueclaw (160)
Plagueclaw (160)

Total:
 1950 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 400 / 400
Wounds: 201

 

Plague Monks: As ever, did all the killing and were their usual effective, pesky, brutal selves.

Verminlord: Think I'm going to leave him on the shelf for a while.  Was my warlord,  stayed alive, threw some prayers from the back but not much else.

Plagueclaws: Did 3 wounds between them all tournament. Effectively a 320 point handicap. Probably won't use again

Night Runners:  Outstanding screening units, amazed that more Skaven lists don't have them. Their pre-game move prevents alpha strike and keeps the enemy in the middle of the board first turn, so Monks and prayer casters can deploy almost on the deployment line and not get penned in. The best 200 points you'll ever spend on a unit that dies first turn

Clan Rats: Brilliant objective grabbers, won me many points.

 

So, I'm putting the Plagueclaws down as a failed experiment. I'm trading the VL out for a Plague Furnace in future, could have definitely used another Rabid Fever. I played well overall I think,  looking forward to the next one. Will keep my expectations at 2/3 games for now, but will be aiming for podium by the end of the year. 

IMAG0839.jpg

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36 minutes ago, gronnelg said:

@Ratcliff Well done fellow rat! I'm guessing the 3 x priests were for prayers? How did they perform, and is it worth i bringing 3 of them?
What's the though process behind having several small units of monks, and then a big one. Did you need a lot of inspiring presence to keep the big unit alive?

 

Thanks mate. I'll go through each question as best I can. 

3 x Priests: Priests are a superb unit, especially within a Pestilens allegiance list. I think one of the main problems Skaven players encounter is their range of effect which, of course for any self-respecting rat, is 13". Because Pestilens usually go second, and there are a load of alpha strike lists out there, the tendency is to deploy them 4" or more behind your main line, which means it takes a good deal longer to get in the range of effect. I have mitigated this with the use of Night Runners. Because Night Runners can form a wall higher up the battlefield before the game starts, I can deploy Priests more or less on the front line. within 13" of objectives. Would alter this slightly if there were flying units with an exceptional charge range, but if you're using your Night Runners to shield correctly (and they can run in that pre-game move), enemy units can't deep strike anywhere near you and even flying enemy units will be at least 10-11" out of charge range.

Once you do have a Priest surrounded by other rats in range to plant Wither on the enemy, it's showtime. It's a stackable prayer that segues amazingly with the Priest's one-use tome and Plague Monk Scrolls. 1 or 2 withers on a tough enemy unit, activate Plague Banner and boom, for a charging ten man unit, you have 30+ rerollable attacks, wounding on 2's or 3's (rerolling) and rending on 4's or 5's with the possibility of additional mortals. It's enough to destroy or maim most units to point of uselessness, and all that from a 70 point blob of monks and an 80 point buff. Pestilent breath is underrated too. It can hit multiple congested targets and can be very effective when spammed into single points. 

Why ten-man units of Plague Monks: A couple of reasons. Firstly: Simply put, 40 Plague Monks is overkill. They're one of the most brutal attacking units in the game, but pay for that by having their defence stat dialled down to zero. Once they have killed the thing they are pointed at, they are probably out on the frontline and will die. When you form your Plague monks into 40 man blobs and charge them into things, those 40 will probably get charged and die before you get their worth back. If you form them into ten man blobs, they can wipe out units that far exceed their points cost, and when they are inevitably butchered next turn, your enemy has only taken 70 of your points off the board. Which they have to do, because ten plague monks are too dangerous to let live. 

There is also the point of flexibility. A 40 man blob is difficult to move, especially on terrain heavy boards. 10 man blobs are more flexible and reactive, and can cordon off vital areas of the board from flying enemies and such utilising the 3" rule. I think there's a logic out there that a 20 monk blob is optimal, and I'd agree with that. I wouldn't discourage you from using 40 strong units, but I'd go with 1 or 2 at most and keep the rest small.

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@Ratcliff Thanks for the report, interesting stuff.

Agree wholeheartedly on plague monks. good insights, its how  i view them when i run them too.
Only thing I might disagree with is the corruptor being benched. I have had good success with them providing support and the +1 attack is welcomed. I like running 1x unit of 20 monks with swords/staves to be the target of his CA. If you run realm artefacts then sword of judgement is a game changer for the corruptor's utility.

Interesting insights into night runners, i will have to experiment with them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I’m new to Pestilens in 2nd edition so I got three questions: are we op for casual games? ( our damage seems thru the roof I don’t know if an army that can one shot archaon with a ten man unit when fully buffed (in theory) is toxic for casual play) we were bad last edition I thought, are we tournamount worthy now? And the third question, does wither stack? Cuz if wither stacks then archaon went from in theory to definitely dead if all the proper buffs align... lol and 70 points killing the world ended sounds hilarious! (Actually he has a 3 up save so perhaps we need two units now that’s I think about it...)

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23 minutes ago, Gdead909 said:

Hey Guys I am just starting up pestilens and I was wondering what allies everyone is using? Prefer it to be rats but if there is an ally that is non skaven i will at least hear your idea out lol

Clan skryre has a kool tool with deep striking warp grinders to put our powerful melee units directly into the opponents face while also putting our drops down a bit. Another good tool is a wizard for spell denial, although you could also bring something like karanak to hunt wizards if you like the idea of a hunting dog (although we might not have access to non rat allies can’t remember) for wizards I think the arch warlock is your best bet for two dispels a turn and a decent spell, add a bale wind for a good range artillery wizard. Another possible add is jezzails if you are finding killing enemy support heroes too difficult, although this isn’t optimal but it’s an idea.

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6 hours ago, herohammer said:

He is also really good with the -3 rend sword from the same realm. I run both 😊

I find this to be preferable.  

The strength of pestilens is that your units are able to go off on their own and be successful anywhere.  I like that the corruptor doesn't have to hunt down heroes and can run into anything and still get value.  

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20 hours ago, Gdead909 said:

Hey Guys I am just starting up pestilens and I was wondering what allies everyone is using? Prefer it to be rats but if there is an ally that is non skaven i will at least hear your idea out lol

Another amazing add on is the blight kings lord of blights (I believe I might be mixing him up with the other lord characters) his command gives a unit the same bonus as plague bearers (up to -2 to hit from shooting plus -1 to hit in melee) this makes max squads incredibly tanky against gunline armies as most gunlines go from 4 up to hit to 6 up making them do chaff levels of damage lol, this allows us to survive before we get to grips with an enemy that usually would give us trouble (as we do well vs other melee armies so gunlines and wizard heavy lists are the main weakness to a pure Pestilens army) as for armies with melee alpha strikes I would screen with either smaller units of monks or for even better chaff to protect our fragile Death Stars use clan rats from verminous skaven. So basically as a melee army that has awesome damage anything that helps get to grips quickly, protects us from alpha strikes, or protects us from wizards/gunlines will be amazing as an ally

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On 11/10/2018 at 1:11 PM, wander said:

Thanks for the response!

I have Liber Bubonicus on my solo Plague Furnace atm, so I can dole out two prayer buffs a round. I agree so far in my experience in smaller scale games that the Plague Furnace is a monster for throwing damage, really good beatstick. I don't tournament, so there's no 'only Heroes can capture objectives' rule in the games I play. I like their damage out-put and that they do stick about though. And yep, boosts the chance of a Great Plague going off with that extra prayer.

As an aside, I feel if we get an update to Pestilens forces in the future, the Censer Bearers need buffing. For what they currently cost in points, I'd increase the mortal wound damage from Poisonous Fumes (d3 mws seems not too op) and change Plague Disciples rule to have the Monks auto-pass Bravery on a d6 roll of 4+, similar to a Grey Seer's command ability.

How can you get a plague furnace to pray twice?? 

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You cannot get it to pray for its own prayers twice. 

You can get it to pray for its own "noxious prayers" once, and then have it pray for the plague priests "pestilent prayers" once as well.

Pestilens Artefact Liber Bubonicus the bear to use "pestilent prayers" ability. 

 

Edited by Nikobot
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7 hours ago, Gdead909 said:

So I have decided I want to add a lord of blights to my army but to keep the rat feel I am going to kitbash it with a rat ogre. I will post pics when I get him in.

 

 

Nice, been thinking of doing the same.  Really want to try out a LoB, could be incredibly strong with 40 rat plague monk blobs

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Hey just starting a Pestilens army, had a quick question...

If a furnace is a general and has the Liber Bubonicus, can it pray 3 times?

LB let’s it pray twice from the Pestilent Prayers (as it has the plague priest keyword) and it’s own prayers are Noxious Prayers, which are different right? So three prayers altogether?

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16 hours ago, Ajay29 said:

Hey just starting a Pestilens army, had a quick question...

If a furnace is a general and has the Liber Bubonicus, can it pray 3 times?

LB let’s it pray twice from the Pestilent Prayers (as it has the plague priest keyword) and it’s own prayers are Noxious Prayers, which are different right? So three prayers altogether?

No it can't anymore. 

Liber got Errata'ed to the following...

‘The bearer can use the Pestilent Prayers ability from the Plague Priest warscroll. If the bearer can already use the Pestilent Prayers ability, then it can use the Pestilent Prayers ability twice in your hero phase.’

And the Master of Rot and Ruin command trait only gives it rerolls as it has priest keyword. 

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3 hours ago, Nikobot said:

No it can't anymore. 

Liber got Errata'ed to the following...

‘The bearer can use the Pestilent Prayers ability from the Plague Priest warscroll. If the bearer can already use the Pestilent Prayers ability, then it can use the Pestilent Prayers ability twice in your hero phase.’

And the Master of Rot and Ruin command trait only gives it rerolls as it has priest keyword. 

Ah yeah my bad, checked the errata for the battletome instead of the GHB!

Thanks!

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