AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion

[Kirjava13]

So you guys have seen the list I'm taking. I've got my ranged Stormfriends, my WLC, my spells and that's it as far as ranged goes. Skeleton Pope has 16 wounds, a 3+ save and a 4+ mortal wound shrug. I am preemptively failing my Battleshock test.

[Num]

8 hours ago, Gwendar said:

- Yeah, as you saw from my batrep, not getting off Skitterleap completely crushed the plan of recasting WLV top right, but these things happen. However, that 13" range really is worse than initially anticipated. It worked against that Fyreslayers player thanks to the easy deployment and him not understanding it and piling everything front and center on deployment.. so it was great, especially since he had no dispels. I'm largely considering dropping it for the next few games and seeing what I can do with those 100 points. I feel the same about your other choices as they work hand in hand with it.. BW is it's own thing and I think it can still be useful, especially with Skitterleap but.. I'm usually already strapped for points.

 

What if we were to use the Warp Lightning Vortex as a melee support spell? Throw it on a unit we are going to charge with clanrats. The unit takes damage. Movement phase, the unit takes damage again. The clanrats charge and lock the unit into melee.

Next turn, everyone takes damage (clanrats included), but, well, that is what they are here for.

It would take several turns for the locked unit to escape the WLV, assuming we protect the clanrats from battle shock.

The wizard could then cast WLV from closer to the combat area. With a few more spells in addition (death frenzy, wither, plague, or warp lightning storm, mmmwp...).

I feel that the spell casters now work better from a closer range, as does the WLV.

I'm going to test it like this next time, with blobs of 40 clanrats...

 

as for the gnawbomb, I always wanted to have a Skaven army in which each turn sees hordes of Skaven sent from one side of the map to another. Endless hordes coming from everywhere.... I have seen a deal for 160 clanrats and 40 giant rats which I am considering, to add to my 100 clanrats and 80 giant rats...

 

[Cosmicsheep]

Hi guys, looking for a little help with my 2k moulder list. This is what I have so far:

Spoiler

Allegiance: Skaventide
Thanquol on Boneripper (400)
- General
- Lore of Ruin: Death Frenzy
Master Moulder (100)
- Artefact: Rabid Crown  
2 x Rat Ogors (100)
2 x Rat Ogors (100)
2 x Rat Ogors (100)
40 x Giant Rats (200)
3 x Packmasters (60)
3 x Packmasters (60)
10 x Wolf Rats (200)
3 x Stormfiends (260)
Hell Pit Abomination (240)
Fleshmeld Menagerie (160)

Total: 1980 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 144
 

 

Possible considerations are:

1. Dropping  5 Wolf Rats, 2 rat ogres and 3 packmasters  (260pts) for another 3 stormfiends
2. Dropping Thanquol and 3 packmasters (460pts) for Screaming Bell and another 3 stormfiends
3. Dropping 5 Wolf Rats (100pts) and taking 2 more rat ogres and having 2 units of 4

Thoughts?

P.S. I don’t own any endless spells or verminlords. I have another master moulder, 2 rat ogres, 3 stormfiends and 3 packmasters 😃

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2019 by Cosmicsheep

[Darkhan]

1 hour ago, Num said:

What if we were to use the Warp Lightning Vortex as a melee support spell? Throw it on a unit we are going to charge with clanrats. The unit takes damage. Movement phase, the unit takes damage again. The clanrats charge and lock the unit into melee.

Next turn, everyone takes damage (clanrats included), but, well, that is what they are here for.

It would take several turns for the locked unit to escape the WLV, assuming we protect the clanrats from battle shock.

The wizard could then cast WLV from closer to the combat area. With a few more spells in addition (death frenzy, wither, plague, or warp lightning storm, mmmwp...).

I feel that the spell casters now work better from a closer range, as does the WLV.

I'm going to test it like this next time, with blobs of 40 clanrats...

 

as for the gnawbomb, I always wanted to have a Skaven army in which each turn sees hordes of Skaven sent from one side of the map to another. Endless hordes coming from everywhere.... I have seen a deal for 160 clanrats and 40 giant rats which I am considering, to add to my 100 clanrats and 80 giant rats...

 

Not a bad idea tbh.

Currently running a win streak of 3-0 with my list, where I use the old skitterleap a Grey Seer trick, tripple cast WLV in the midst of the enemy. Not failed it so far.

Casting skitterleap with the bonus from gnawhole has a + 70%  something chance to go off. 

Rolling a perfect 13 with 3D6 is a 9.72% chance. Ill see if I can get calculated what the chances are for rolling a 8+ with 3D6.

 

[Darkhan]

Rolling a 8+ with 3D6, dropping the lowest value dice is a 68.06% chance! Pretty decent!

[Laststand]

2 hours ago, Cosmicsheep said:

Hi guys, looking for a little help with my 2k moulder list. This is what I have so far:

  Hide contents

Allegiance: Skaventide
Thanquol on Boneripper (400)
- General
- Lore of Ruin: Death Frenzy
Master Moulder (100)
- Artefact: Rabid Crown  
2 x Rat Ogors (100)
2 x Rat Ogors (100)
2 x Rat Ogors (100)
40 x Giant Rats (200)
3 x Packmasters (60)
3 x Packmasters (60)
10 x Wolf Rats (200)
3 x Stormfiends (260)
Hell Pit Abomination (240)
Fleshmeld Menagerie (160)

Total: 1980 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 144
 

 

Possible considerations are:

1. Dropping  5 Wolf Rats, 2 rat ogres and 3 packmasters  (260pts) for another 3 stormfiends
2. Dropping Thanquol and 3 packmasters (460pts) for Screaming Bell and another 3 stormfiends
3. Dropping 5 Wolf Rats (100pts) and taking 2 more rat ogres and having 2 units of 4

Thoughts?

P.S. I don’t own any endless spells or verminlords. I have another master moulder, 2 rat ogres, 3 stormfiends and 3 packmasters 😃

 

 

 

I think that will struggle. Only the giant rats are a big enough unit to hold objectives and much of the rest lacks a punch. Unbuffed Stormfiends are not worth taking in 3s and rat ogres dont do much in 2s. With Thanquol as your general you cant take a command trait. 

I would drop the stormfiends and a pack master for 320pts and use that to boost your rat ogre units so you have 2 units of 6. Use the spare points to give Thanquol the vermintide spell to cast. 

[Gwendar]

4 hours ago, Num said:

What if we were to use the Warp Lightning Vortex as a melee support spell? Throw it on a unit we are going to charge with clanrats. The unit takes damage. Movement phase, the unit takes damage again. The clanrats charge and lock the unit into melee.

Next turn, everyone takes damage (clanrats included), but, well, that is what they are here for.

It would take several turns for the locked unit to escape the WLV, assuming we protect the clanrats from battle shock.

The wizard could then cast WLV from closer to the combat area. With a few more spells in addition (death frenzy, wither, plague, or warp lightning storm, mmmwp...).

I feel that the spell casters now work better from a closer range, as does the WLV.

I'm going to test it like this next time, with blobs of 40 clanrats...

 

as for the gnawbomb, I always wanted to have a Skaven army in which each turn sees hordes of Skaven sent from one side of the map to another. Endless hordes coming from everywhere.... I have seen a deal for 160 clanrats and 40 giant rats which I am considering, to add to my 100 clanrats and 80 giant rats...

 

We certainly could use it in that manner, and I think that range decrease was intended to make it even more of an area denial spend (as I assume it was originally intended to be) and less of a straight up damage one.

I'm always wary of killing off my own Clanrats as they're what wins normal objectives. That said, I do see your point and it could be worth trying. I think the best way to do this is to charge in only 1-3 models to limit damage done back to you while still keeping them locked in; retreat + charge to re-organize them and pull in other units (2.9"ish away to pull them in as well, but limit pile-in). Our spells due tend to be short range, aside from some special cases.. so yeah, we're a little more inclined now-a-days in particular to stick around up front which is why Scurry Away and Lead from the Back exist. Like I said.. I'll keep using it but I may take a break from using it for a bit and see what happens. 

Just remember with the Gnawbomb you're still only getting to use 1 Gnawhole per turn and it's a OPG abilitiy. It's good in some setups, but I've always found there's a better artifact for my needs.

@Darkhan I believe the AW is still the better option with a re-roll + Gnawhole\Arcane. Of course, if you don't have that available then yeah, the Grey Seer is the next best option.

Man... I miss Thanquol.

[Darkhan]

@Gwendar a cast of 7 + 1 (gnawhole bonus) 58.33% chance! But here is when the re-roll comes in play with the AW:) So yeah, still a pretty good chance!

 

[Skreech Verminking]

So Ive been playing a game of aos 2000points today, against sylvaneth.

My list consisted of:

heroes:600p

1Verminlord warbringer:280p(general; Brutal fury; Rune blade (artefact of chamon)

1Clalword:100p(devious adversary)

1Grey seer on screaming bell:220p(deathfrenzy)

battleline: 850p

2x40Clanrats:400p

40Stormvermins(450)p

others:

2xWarpfure thrower weapon teams:140p

3Stormfiends:260p(flamer; rattling; doom flayers)

endless spell:40p

doom bell:40p

total points:1990p

my opponent had a Treelord ancient, 60dryads (2 units of 30 each), 2 units of 3 hunter something with glaives, the new special hero and some kind of a witch thingie hero, oh and some battalion, which affects never really seemed to have taken part in the battle for some reason.

and befire I forget to mention her, drycha was also a part of the army.

We played total conquest.

my opponent, who finished setting up first, chose to go first, something I didnt expect to happen.

his first turn was rather mutual easy, with which he basically summoned another wood and moved everything 

up slowly.

Drycha and one of those hunter units showed up, with which my opponent chose not to charge his units, instead he kept them next to the objective, which I didn't hold yet.

Drycha in the other hand tried to snipe out my Bombardier who laughter silently vanished after he was mortaly wounded down to a single wound remaining (brutal).

at the end of his turn he gained 2victory points.

In my turn the ratogre, tiredly swung the screaming bell, which got an additional 5 movement to its move characteristic.

The grey seer tried to cast deathfrenzy onto my Stormvermins which failed

miserable, he them tried to summon the doom bell and failed again, although being near a gnawhole and gaining the buff, not able to find somebody to blame his failure, he climbed a bit up his bell in hopes nobody would notice him,

Skreek the Verminlord, laughed as his underling failed his attempt to cast, while failing as well, and started blaming the bombardier next to him for disrupting his corrupted spell.

the mad scientist, then tried to cast mmmwp, failing as well, but was unable to blame anyone, since the clanrats swiftly, moved away from him.

in the movement the tide of backstabbing rat-man, run-scurried forward, truing to gain the control of the objective, at the left flank, while my red guard (Stormvermins), swiftly followed my soon butchered clanrats, but keeping a certain distance , in hopes to engage the enemy with a cunningly planned ambush from the back.

My Verminlord moved up but kept his distance from Drycha, or any enemy units, waiting and scheming for the right moment.

The mad scientist, angry of his failure in the arts of the corrupted magic, he adds another rocket into his launcher, while laughing mad as he envision drycha burning to death, while dying surprised as he notices a cut of wire.

laughing- squeaking in the distance Skaa bloodtail, who tried to keep up with the grey seer, in case the prophet should run-scurry away. 

At the end of my turn I gain the controll of the objective at my left flank and right flank, gaining 3victory points thanks to the endless hordes of clanrats, take-stealing the objective from drycha, Yes-yes😋.

with the gaze of the great horned rat, I gain my luck back and steal-take the initiative.

The screaming bell toll in triumph, giving every skaven wizard in my army a bonus to the casting throw.

full with corrupted power, my Verminlord finally is able to summon the doombell, and succeeds casting dreaded deathfrenzy, on my clanrats and stormfiends.

the grey seer amused about the death of the scientist, casts mystic shield onto himself, succeding with a magnificent  13(-6).

seeing how the masterful schemed plan seemd to carry fruits, the clanrats scurry-charged into combat with the hateful tree-thing called drycha, his dryads and those hunters thingies.

My stormfiends and the Warpfire thrower got in range with their shooting attack killing of 16dryads, but dying in exchange from a miscalculated red button pressing.

on the my left flank I almost loose the entire squad, thankfully 13of them survive keeping his hunters and drycha in combat.

The meathsields holding the line on my right-side are more immune to the attacks of his hunters and dryads, and only loose a couple of worthless skaven life's, but in exchange eat-gnaw almost ten dryads to their wooden bones.

My second turn ends with a score of 5-3.

on my opponents second turn, he kills of my remaining glorius clanrats  which kept half of his army in combat with, and shreds through my clanrats on the right side with his glaive equipped hunters.

(they did 20 whole wounds 3of them😵😵)

Scared but unable to move my Grey seer screams in frustration at his rat ogre who kill-slays another 2dryads.

Taking back what was ones theirs my opponents scores 4points, bringing him up to 7to my 5.

As my luck hasn't run out yet, I get the next turn again, and My Bell tolls an 11  bringing doom on his army (or so I thought)

knowing that my Verminlord might die to a treelord ancient I cast dreaded deathfrenzy on himslef and my remaining 3Stormfiends, My red guard who were waiting for their opportunity to kill-slay what the pitiful weak-meat was unable to gnaw to death, they move up to the dryads, surrounding them in a glorious last stand,

held up by dryads, the Stormfiends shot their way out  by almost killing of the remaining 20dryads. freeing themself for a masterful planed assault into the hunters hiding themselves in the woods.

My Verminlord who saw how weakened Drycha was from dodging the swift rosty blades of his underlings, He charged arrogantly into the fray. Inspired by his devastating charge my Stormvermins, scurry-run  into battle with his dryads and hunters on the right flank.

I activated his command trait gaining another 3attacks per weapon he has and popped his command ability, with which he then strikes Drycha, beheading her and holding his trophie high up in the air, laughing at the pitiful attempt of dodging his attacks.

instead of being scared in any way the hated hunter-things, cut through my Stormvermins with a ferocity and anger, killing of a bunch of Stormvermins, with which 28remained.

brought into a frenzy by the tolling bell  my Stormvermins attack back killing of the last remaining dryads, and a single hunter.

Having lost a objective and gained the controll of anothere that was conyrolled by my enemy, I gained, another 3victory points.

throwing me up to 8-7.

In my opponents third turn he moved his Tree-lord ancient up, teleported his unit of spirit-things that were studying the gnawhole that magically appeared, and took my Objective at the right flank back in my territory were I had nothing left.

He then charged my Vermin-lord, who he just barley kill, thanks to his piercing branch that somehow found the daemonic heart  of the corrupted Rat-daemon in front of him.

Skreek knowing that his demise is near, starts tumbling like hell, Scratching everything and anything in his way, but sadly doesn't take down the Tree-lord ancient with his attack, and Vanishes in the shadows, believing his enemy to have given the killing blow.

Afterwards, we rolled of for turn 4 and he won the role off.

Knowing that there was literally no way of winning the game, I conceded.

It was a fun game and I think we both really enjoyed it, not only that but have learned a few things of each others armies.

pro and contras about stormvermins:

Well where should I start, stormvermins are an interesting unit.

they can put out a lot of damage, although have problems taking any kind of punishment themselves.

I think where stormvermins shine is mostly a game where your opponents underestimates them, luckily this is basically almost every time, especially if you tell them how squishy they are.

they are also great units for punishing anything that has a 3+ save, something Plague monks will struggle fighting against. They are also rather easy to buff thanks to bonuses that can be given from the clawlord, warbringer and clawlord on brood horror (especially the last one since his command ability allows you to choose the same unit for gnash gnaw on their bones multiple times).

Where the so fantastic looking verminus shocktroops suffers is in point efficiency.

they are very squishy, can’t take a lot of punishment, and need immense babysitting to survive a charge or even shooting, something that isn't really easy but can be done.

The other problem I see with stormvermins is that they basically become useless when they hit 19 models or less.

they are great but loosing the bonus, from their allegiance ability, makes them worser then clanrats, and thats something we really don't want to see happening with the stormvermins at a pointcost of 120points per 10models.

So yeah that mostly it.

as for Stormfiends, well I cant really say much, since my bombardier exploded in 

and from that greenish mushroom, cloud, I doubt he’d have had any chance of coming back.

they did great against the dryads, thanks to some great roles (which would have been a blast if my warlock was still alive) but didn't do so great in combat against the hunters.

so yeah, I really think they will have potential.

They wont upright kill any target for me, but can do some devastating damage across the game, and most people seem to fear them more then any other units, so thats great I guess.

 

 

[PiotrW]

Hey guys, I got my first Skaven today (thanks to a colleague that had some and wanted to sell them). And so, I have a question:

I've got 20 Stormvermin now: 2 Fangleaders (one of them has a shield), 2 Drummers, Two Banner-rats, 6 ordinary SVs with shields and 8 SVs without shields. Can I field them as one unit of 20 SVs with Clanshields (meaning, with the Save bonus), or wouldn't it be allowed? Also, if I split them into two units, can I make a unit with a shield-carrying Fangleader, a Drummer, a Banner carrier, 6 SVs with shields and 1 SV without a shield - and claim the Clanshield bonus? I suspect it's all about what my oppoents would say to this, but do you think it'd be most probably acceptable, or does it go against the spirit of the game?

On another note: how do the SV compare against the Clanrats? Does it make more sense to invest in Clanrats or the SV?

[Num]

22 minutes ago, PiotrW said:

Hey guys, I got my first Skaven today (thanks to a colleague that had some and wanted to sell them). And so, I have a question:

I've got 20 Stormvermin now: 2 Fangleaders (one of them has a shield), 2 Drummers, Two Banner-rats, 6 ordinary SVs with shields and 8 SVs without shields. Can I field them as one unit of 20 SVs with Clanshields (meaning, with the Save bonus), or wouldn't it be allowed? Also, if I split them into two units, can I make a unit with a shield-carrying Fangleader, a Drummer, a Banner carrier, 6 SVs with shields and 1 SV without a shield - and claim the Clanshield bonus? I suspect it's all about what my oppoents would say to this, but do you think it'd be most probably acceptable, or does it go against the spirit of the game?

On another note: how do the SV compare against the Clanrats? Does it make more sense to invest in Clanrats or the SV?

Welcome

As you can see from the battle report of @Skreech Verminking above, stofmvermins are very different to clanrats. They are also very fringe, and will never be able to be worth without clanrats around. They also need to be 30 or 40...

So I think a start would be to invest in clanratd, which are key to absolutely all the lists. Then test your 20 stormvermins alongside the clanrats and decide whether you are willing to bring 20 more like in Skreech's list.

From a hobby side, I personally love the models but hate painting them. Personal taste though... Many here enjoyed painting the stormvermins because of the details

 

[Cosmicsheep]

10 hours ago, PiotrW said:

Hey guys, I got my first Skaven today (thanks to a colleague that had some and wanted to sell them). And so, I have a question:

I've got 20 Stormvermin now: 2 Fangleaders (one of them has a shield), 2 Drummers, Two Banner-rats, 6 ordinary SVs with shields and 8 SVs without shields. Can I field them as one unit of 20 SVs with Clanshields (meaning, with the Save bonus), or wouldn't it be allowed? Also, if I split them into two units, can I make a unit with a shield-carrying Fangleader, a Drummer, a Banner carrier, 6 SVs with shields and 1 SV without a shield - and claim the Clanshield bonus? I suspect it's all about what my oppoents would say to this, but do you think it'd be most probably acceptable, or does it go against the spirit of the game?

On another note: how do the SV compare against the Clanrats? Does it make more sense to invest in Clanrats or the SV?

 

For someone new to the game I can recommend playing Meeting Engagements. It’s a great introduction to the game and your 20 Stormvermin will perform well against smaller units (as is common in ME) Your stormvermin fulfil your basic battleline requirement leaving you free to buy/beg/borrow any other skaven units that you like to make up the remaining points. A clawlord can help buff your stormvermin so might be worth thinking about.

Enjoy 😁 

Edited August 15, 2019 by Cosmicsheep

[Congratz]

How do you guys deal with enemy Plague Monks?

Played a game against  Maggotkin of Nurgle and he used a max sized unit of plauge monks and they destroyed my army (He sadly unbinded my death frenzy on my Plague Monks). He alsp used Glottkin however i managed to shoot him down with 9 Jezzails.

Any tips on how to deal with them?

[Kirjava13]

Game 1 is over. Undecided, but I am taking a moral win because I listened to @Gwendar's advice and killed all the heroes by turn 3. I lost basically all my Clanrats and one Stormfiend, so Skurrilious Maus is chalking this one up as a victory.

Next game: Sylvaneth. Bring me my weed whacker.

[Gwendar]

5 hours ago, Congratz said:

How do you guys deal with enemy Plague Monks?

Played a game against  Maggotkin of Nurgle and he used a max sized unit of plauge monks and they destroyed my army (He sadly unbinded my death frenzy on my Plague Monks). He alsp used Glottkin however i managed to shoot him down with 9 Jezzails.

Any tips on how to deal with them?

Shackles\WLV\Warpgale or any combination to limit movement. Otherwise (or in conjunction with), shooting; if not using Warpfire (I wouldn't) then Ratling\Windlaunchers are your best bet probably. At the very least you want to do enough to take the edge off of them before they reach you as they likely won't survive that second volley.

2 hours ago, Kirjava13 said:

Game 1 is over. Undecided, but I am taking a moral win because I listened to @Gwendar's advice and killed all the heroes by turn 3. I lost basically all my Clanrats and one Stormfiend, so Skurrilious Maus is chalking this one up as a victory.

Next game: Sylvaneth. Bring me my weed whacker.

Nice, glad it panned out at least a bit. T3 was probably a little too late but all things considered it sounds like it went, well, about as expected.

Definitely wanna hear how the Sylvaneth one goes. Haven't played them in many months but their tome has me wondering how they do against us.

Edited August 15, 2019 by Gwendar

[Kirjava13]

Game 2 against Sylvaneth was a win, though annoyingly all his characters slipped through my grasp.

Last game now, against a stampede of Stonehorns and Mournfangs. I will hopefully just feed my Clanrats to them slowly.

[m3ganosh@gmail.com]

Hello! I'm playing my 3rd game of AoS ever tonight and was hoping to get some feedback on artifacts/command traits and spells for my Pestilens army w/ bell general.

 

Realm ULGU

Screaming Bell

-general

-master of magic

-death frenzy

V Corruptor

-SwordoJudgment

P Furnace

-Liber Bubonicus

Plague Priest on foot

 

Plague Monks x40- blades

Plague Monks x40- blades

Plague Censer Bearers x 5

 

Plaguemaw Catapult

Plaguemaw Catapult

Congregation of Filth

Warp Lightning Vortex

Suffocating GraveTide

 

The army list is mainly built with the models I have available, will move towards a 3rd unit of monks with staves instead of Censers. The grave spell was just to eat up the 20 points remaining and required almost no assembly :0

I'm not worried about sub optimal units yet, but not sure if I'm missing something good with all the command traits and artifacts available. Thanks for any feedback in advance!

 

 

[Kirjava13]

Third and final game went just as planned. The Stoneclaw Stampede turned an awful lot of Clanrats into furry marmalade but I got the double turn going into BR2 and got two unhindered turns of unloading Stormfiends (jacked up with MMMWP, Vigordust and a spark) into his ice cows. Between that and the overwhelming magical superiority, I tabled him by the end of turn 3.

More detail later. Victory has been bought with a pile of dead Clanrats.

[PiotrW]

On 8/14/2019 at 10:36 PM, Num said:

Welcome

As you can see from the battle report of @Skreech Verminking above, stofmvermins are very different to clanrats. They are also very fringe, and will never be able to be worth without clanrats around. They also need to be 30 or 40...

So I think a start would be to invest in clanratd, which are key to absolutely all the lists. Then test your 20 stormvermins alongside the clanrats and decide whether you are willing to bring 20 more like in Skreech's list.

From a hobby side, I personally love the models but hate painting them. Personal taste though... Many here enjoyed painting the stormvermins because of the details

 

Hmmm. So what's so good about Clanrats? They actually seem weaker than Stormvermins...

14 hours ago, Cosmicsheep said:

 

For someone new to the game I can recommend playing Meeting Engagements. It’s a great introduction to the game and your 20 Stormvermin will perform well against smaller units (as is common in ME) Your stormvermin fulfil your basic battleline requirement leaving you free to buy/beg/borrow any other skaven units that you like to make up the remaining points. A clawlord can help buff your stormvermin so might be worth thinking about.

Enjoy 😁 

I have the GH2019, but I have yet to read the ME part... Will do so!

5 hours ago, m3ganosh@gmail.com said:

Hello! I'm playing my 3rd game of AoS ever tonight and was hoping to get some feedback on artifacts/command traits and spells for my Pestilens army w/ bell general.

 

Realm ULGU

Screaming Bell

-general

-master of magic

-death frenzy

V Corruptor

-SwordoJudgment

P Furnace

-Liber Bubonicus

Plague Priest on foot

 

Plague Monks x40- blades

Plague Monks x40- blades

Plague Censer Bearers x 5

 

Plaguemaw Catapult

Plaguemaw Catapult

Congregation of Filth

Warp Lightning Vortex

Suffocating GraveTide

 

The army list is mainly built with the models I have available, will move towards a 3rd unit of monks with staves instead of Censers. The grave spell was just to eat up the 20 points remaining and required almost no assembly :0

I'm not worried about sub optimal units yet, but not sure if I'm missing something good with all the command traits and artifacts available. Thanks for any feedback in advance!

Being a total newb I can't give advice, but I'd be curious to learn how it all went?

[Gwendar]

3 hours ago, PiotrW said:

Hmmm. So what's so good about Clanrats? They actually seem weaker than Stormvermins...

The fact that they're 40 for 200 makes them exceptionally good at objective and unit control. All Skaven players should watch this video for a better understanding of how to use Clanrats. SV can retreat and charge as well, but Clanrats "use it better" as you typically don't want them hitting things and instead being on objectives or tying a unit down with minimal casualties:
 

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by Gwendar

[Kirjava13]

Quite apart from the tactical shenanigans Clanrats can enable, their low cost means you can use them for what they were born to do, which is be expendable. Get some way to make them immune to Battleshock (Screaming Bell, Warpseer, endless spell Bell, etc) and then get your opponent's best units tangled up in their furry corpses while you shoot and magic them to pieces. 

Armed with swords, in high enough numbers and with the right buffs, they can even do some damage! One of my units dragged down a Stonehorn through sheer weight of numbers yesterday.

[MisterJoshua]

16 hours ago, PiotrW said:

Hmmm. So what's so good about Clanrats? They actually seem weaker than Stormvermins...

I think people are assuming you’re playing Pitched Battles at set points values (because that’s what most people play), in which Clanrats are better due to being less than half the price of Stormvermin. If you’re playing open play or narrative then yes absolutely Stormvermin are the stronger option.

Going back a bit in the conversation to the value of Endless Spells. I don’t own them yet but was considering trying a WLV and Vermintide. I’m wondering if I wouldn’t be better just buying an extra Seer...

[Kirjava13]

Ok, quick summary of my first tournament experience: dem rats did good.

It wasn't a hyper-competitive environment, but people still played to win. Three games set over one day in a very cool little place in Linz, Austria, custom Battleplans of the organiser's design. 

Game 1 saw us start with an objective in our deployment zone and one in our opponent's that we had to seize. I faced a Slaanesh army- the named Keeper of Secrets, the mirror thing, the Masque, a some Daemon on another daemon's shoulders and thirty Daemonettes. My tail quivered nervously. Slaanesh has quite the rep at the moment. The Skaven edged forwards a little to try and find range on their weapons and the daemons raced to meet them. I threw down the Warp Lightning Vortex surrounding the mirror, only to find that it had a 2+ mortal wound save. No matter. The vortex took such a chunk out of his centre that what was left of that unit of Daemonettes retreated to hold his objective, playing no further part in the battle, and severely delayed another unit, ensuring that I was able to take on his infantry piecemeal. They proved a challenge nevertheless. Clanrats were butchered in droves, the cannon exploded after a disappointing overcharge and the Warlock Bombardier was dispatched by the Keeper of Secrets. But the Arch Warlock pumped the Stormfiends full of Vigordust, warp power and warpstone sparks. They blew the mirror thing to pieces, then turned their attention to the Keeper of Secrets and gunned it down, followed by the other Daemon character. A Slaaneshi endless spell popped up in the backline and hurt the Arch Warlock, but the Warpseer dispelled it with contemptuous ease the next turn, and the Stormfiends piled in to pound the Masque into the dirt. With his characters dead and his army thus unable to summon, my opponent almost gave up, but cunningly piled some Daemonettes in so as to be challenging control of my objective. He was literally an inch away from controlling it and getting the win, but the Warpseer's towering presence (and the Arch Warlock hiding on the other side of the objective) kept it in play, ensuring a draw.

Game 2 was played lengthways down the table and was a purely violence-based scenario, with points awarded based on how much of your opponent's army you destroyed. The Skaven set up across from a grove of Sylvaneth, who fielded Drycha, a Branchwraith, a Branchwych, an Arch Revenant, 30 dryads, 6 Hunters with swords, 2x3 Hunters with bows and 2x20 Revenants. My Gnawhole placement here was key- I put one right in the back corner of his deployment zone, and another one half way up, with the third in my deployment zone. Honestly I never expect the Gnawholes to help much apart from the initial +1 to cast, so I was surprised to be able to use one to my advantage here. The one at the back made him so paranoid he tasked a unit of Revenants to guard it for basically the entire game, and the one in the middle became my Stormfiends' way into the heart of his forces. Vigordusted and warp-powered, they teleported half the length of the table and promptly blew the big unit of Kurnoth Hunters into kindling. This was essentially it really- the Warp Lightning Cannon blew a massive hole in one of the bow Hunter units (before exploding, as per), the Dryads got into a slugging match with my sword Clanrats (and lost) and the Stormfiends dealt with the remaining Hunters and Revenants. The only disappointment was the Warpseer, whose spells largely failed to go off and who ineffectually duelled the Arch Revenant. Win for the ratty fellows.

The final game saw me face down the Beastclaw Raider army that had tabled a Stormcast army in the first round but come unstuck against Nagash and his pet spell portal. The charge of the Stoneclaw Brigade (four of them!) was brutal, but enough Clanrats remained intact and fighting that, when I got the double turn, I was able to bring them all down, like coked-up big game hunters, except with whiskers and machine guns. The Stormfiends, absolutely buzzing with every buff I could put on them, mowed down the Mournfangs, and it was over.

Overall, I took a squeak-worthy second place, and celebrated by getting rather drunk.

Takeaways:

- Vigordust Injector is essential. I didn't use the Suspicious Stone once.

- the Warlock Bombardier was only really useful for overcharging the cannon. I think the highlight of his day was beating a Revenant to death with his stick.

- Warp Lightning Vortex is still very handy, but significantly less with its reduced range. Using it offensively is very tricky now.

- the Battleshock immunity bubble that the Warpseer gives is incredible. Everything about the Warpseer is incredible. What a guy.

- Skaven are adorable.

[Obeisance]

Game tomorrow night. Against either.. Gloomspite or FEC, I think.

Verminlord Warpseer (300)
- General, Master of Magic 
Grey Seer on Screaming Bell (220)
- Lore of Ruin: Death Frenzy
Grey Seer (140)
- Lore of Ruin: Warpgale
Warlock Bombardier (100)
- Artefact: Vigordust Injector 
- Lore of Warpvolt Galvanism: More-more-more Warp Power!
40 x Clanrats (200)
- Rusty Spear
40 x Clanrats (200)
- Rusty Spear
20 x Clanrats (120)
- Rusty Blade
40 x Plague Monks (280)
- Woe-stave, Icon of Pestilence, Contagion Banner, Doom Gongs, Bale Chimes
6 x Warplock Jezzails (280)
Doomwheel (160)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 195

Gonna try some new stuff out.

Spark the Jezzails and Doomwheel, MMWP the Doomwheel. Haven't used Vigordust Injector yet. I've been playing with Suspicious Stone so much, it's time for a change.

Am I wasting my time taking the Doomwheel and Bombadier, when I could be taking Endless Spells? I also usually buy an extra CP for turn one battleshocks, but I'm gonna try to use the Bell for that and predict where the charge is coming from.

 

[swarmofseals]

I've been bouncing around a bunch of different variations on "9 Stormfiends" and have found that my deliberations have come down to two questions: the clanrats and the heroes.

For the rats, there are two obvious variations, one involving 3x40 Clanrats and one with 1x40, 2x20 Clanrats and 40 Plague Monks. The latter version requires shaving points from the characters. Alternately you can go for a slim 3x20 Clanrats version but I'm skeptical about that plan.

The character suite involves choosing some combination of the following: Arch-Warlock, Warlock Bombardier, Grey Seer, Grey Seer on Screaming Bell, Verminlord Warpseer, and Thanquol. There are several necessary roles to play: sparking/casting MMMWP, providing battleshock immunity, reliably casting Soulscream Bridge, and holding objectives in hero-focused missions. I've considered the following variations:

• Warlock Bombardier, Grey Seer, Verminlord Warpseer: this was my first version but I'm pretty sure it isn't correct. It hits 2000 exactly with 3x40 Clanrats, but with no bonus CP you are at risk to lose a lot of rats if you go second and eat an alpha strike.
• Arch-Warlock and Verminlord Warpseer: Can't fit Plague Monks, but it does get a CP and a good shot at a triumph. Key Skryre caster is tougher, too.
• 2 Warlock Bombardiers and Verminlord Warpseer: As per the second option, but no CP. Has the advantage of being less vulnerable to getting your warlock sniped.
• Arch-Warlock and Grey Seer on Screaming Bell: Can fit the Plague Monk version, or can do 3x40 clanrats with room for something else. Battleshock bubble protection is much lower, but doesn't require CP. Not quite as tough for holding objectives as the Warpseer. If going the 120 Clanrat route, this build can take a backup Warlock Bombardier plus an extra CP. Could consider a Clawlord.
• Thanquol and Warlock Bombardier: Can't fit the Plague Monk version, reliant on Inspiring Presence for Battleshock, and a bit less tanky than either the bell or the verminlord, but Thanquol is a much bigger threat and can cast Warpgale much more reliably. Can do 3x20 clanrats + 40 Plague Monks.
• Thanquol and Arch-Warlock: as above but -20 Clanrats and plus an extra CP
• Thanquol, Arch-Warlock and Grey Seer on Screaming Bell: the heaviest set of characters should be quite solid in battleplans where heroes cap, but requires trimming down to 3x20 Clanrats, so pretty suspect for horde cap battleplans.

I'd love to hear your thoughts as these are some very difficult choices!

Also, I'm a bit embarrassed to ask this, but is the Clanrats box set the same as the IOB/Spire of Dawn Clanrats or are they different? I'm honestly not sure which ones I have, and I can't conclusively tell from pictures online.