AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion

[Kirjava13]

@swarmofseals the Clanrats are more or less the same, with three differences: 1) the IoB/SoD Clanrats' arms are push-fit with a peg, while the boxed ones have a ball joint and must be glued; 2) the IoB/SoD Clanrats' shields are part of the model, while the boxed ones need to be glued on; 3) the IoB/SoD Clanrats' have slotta bases, while the boxed ones do not.

[TheWilddog]

Quick question for you guys.  Since the tread with some of the new books seems to be to cut out a lot of the old metal and finecast models when the army gets updated to AOS 2.0 (Free cities being the big one of course and the rumors of the trimming of the Ogres line) why do you think Skaven kept so much of its older stuff?  We lost a few bits here and there, the Isle Of Blood stuff and a couple of characters, but keep a lot of the really old models.  Just wondering what it means for us going forward and the future of the range.

[Skreech Verminking]

4 minutes ago, TheWilddog said:

Quick question for you guys.  Since the tread with some of the new books seems to be to cut out a lot of the old metal and finecast models when the army gets updated to AOS 2.0 (Free cities being the big one of course and the rumors of the trimming of the Ogres line) why do you think Skaven kept so much of its older stuff?  We lost a few bits here and there, the Isle Of Blood stuff and a couple of characters, but keep a lot of the really old models.  Just wondering what it means for us going forward and the future of the range.

Well if they would have thrown out all finecast/metal/ bad looking models, there wouldn’t be much left.

the range would literally consist of a Warlock bombardier, that isn't for sale yet, clanrats, Stormvermins, plague priest and on plague furnace, all Grey seer types (including thanqoul), those 4Verminlords, doomwheel, warplightning cannon, Stormfiends, clalword and hell pit abomination.

loosing basically 75%of the army would have been a massive hit to the skaven faction that  wouldn’t keep much of it’s original taste of madness and scientific horrific weapons.

I think gw decided  to keep them, because of the range that is made out of fail-cast etc. Is basically what makes the skaven so unique, losing them would basically mean loosing the skaven range.

 

 

[PiotrW]

15 minutes ago, TheWilddog said:

Quick question for you guys.  Since the tread with some of the new books seems to be to cut out a lot of the old metal and finecast models when the army gets updated to AOS 2.0 (Free cities being the big one of course and the rumors of the trimming of the Ogres line) why do you think Skaven kept so much of its older stuff?  We lost a few bits here and there, the Isle Of Blood stuff and a couple of characters, but keep a lot of the really old models.  Just wondering what it means for us going forward and the future of the range.

I definitely hope GW doesn't plan on jettisoning the Skaven... 😕

If I may go back go back to my question from earlier... I'm still trying to wrap my head around the Clanrats. I'm not sure why they'd be so great at holding objectives? Wouldn't a unit of Stormvermin be even better at it, with their better stats?

I understand that the Clanrats are cheap, so they can be used as this big swarm that can block the way of enemy units... but it seems to be a very squishy swarm. Wouldn't a smaller swarm of more-capable Stormvermin achieve the same result?

BTW. I did a simulated fight between 10 Stormvermin and 5 Sequitors today... the rats got dispatched in two turns without causing any damage to the SCE. I can only imagine that the Clanrats would do even worse..?

BTW 2. On a lighter note, here are my Stormvermin bravely facing the legendary behemoth-sized Celestial Dracoline, Blackpaw:

Edited August 17, 2019 by PiotrW

[TheWilddog]

3 minutes ago, Skreech Verminking said:

Well if they would have thrown out all finecast/metal/ bad looking models, there wouldn’t be much left.

the range would literally consist of a Warlock bombardier, that isn't for sale yet, clanrats, Stormvermins, plague priest and on plague furnace, all Grey seer types (including thanqoul), those 4Verminlords, doomwheel, warplightning cannon, Stormfiends, clalword and hell pit abomination.

loosing basically 75%of the army would have been a massive hit to the skaven faction that  wouldn’t keep much of it’s original taste of madness and scientific horrific weapons.

I think gw decided  to keep them, because of the range that is made out of fail-cast etc. Is basically what makes the skaven so unique, losing them would basically mean loosing the skaven range.

 

 

I agree it would have been too big a hit but what do you think it means for the future? Are they going to go in a new directions with Skaven conceptually or will they still stick to the clan model? Should we expect our next big model influx to be Eshin or Moulder or something in a totally new direction?

[Skreech Verminking]

41 minutes ago, PiotrW said:

I definitely hope GW doesn't plan on jettisoning the Skaven... 😕

If I may go back go back to my question from earlier... I'm still trying to wrap my head around the Clanrats. I'm not sure why they'd be so great at holding objectives? Wouldn't a unit of Stormvermin be even better at it, with their better stats?

I understand that the Clanrats are cheap, so they can be used as this big swarm that can block the way of enemy units... but it seems to be a very squishy swarm. Wouldn't a smaller swarm of more-capable Stormvermin achieve the same result?

BTW. I did a simulated fight between 10 Stormvermin and 5 Sequitors today... the rats got dispatched in two turns without causing any damage to the SCE. I can only imagine that the Clanrats would do even worse..?

BTW 2. On a lighter note, here are my Stormvermin bravely facing the legendary behemoth-sized Celestial Dracoline, Blackpaw:

Well I think yoir comparing stormvermins and clanrats per model.

sure Stormvermins have a slightly better stats, but what makes the clanrats much better objective grabbers is their points.

for a unit of 20Stormvermins you pay 240p, in comparison a max unit of clanrats costs 40points cheaper, gains the horde bonus of +1 to the hit and wound role till having lost 11 models and have more wounds then Stormvermins in total, meaning that they will keep the objective save for 2-3turns, if you’re lucky.

a unit of 20Stormvermins that have a 4+ save as long as they have 10 or more models can easily be dispatched in a single round of shooting or combat making them much worser than clanrats. If you compare them points wise.

Now dont get me wrong Stormvermins aren’t bad at all.

Taking them in units of 40 will mean, that they’ll kill units of with devastating result , as long as you charged with them and didnt get charged! 

Buffing stormvermins up will be great but unlike clanrats you don't want them to hold objective, especially if they are taken as a unit of 40, because those 450p really want to kill something, desperately, to make up for their cost.

so If you really want to take a unit of Stormvermin, then just take them.

I wouldnt go fully out on them because you really want some cheap units like clanrats to protect those 40very expensive Stormvermins from charges, and holding objectives.

 

anyways had a game today, with the same list I used against sylvaneth, with a slightly different choice of artifacts and traits. And well shortly put it was a blast (my warlock bombardier approves)

 

edit: will give you guys a report in a few minutes or maybe tomorrow.

Edited August 17, 2019 by Skreech Verminking

[Coyote]

FYI - 

At an unexpected local 1000k tourney today, 3 rounds depending on how many sign up.

Huge thanks to Gwendar for this list I’m fielding-

Arch Warlock - General

Deranged Inventor,

Vigordust Injector

Spell - More More Warp Power

Grey Seer - Screaming Bell -

Spell - Warpgale

Clanrats x 20 - Rusty Blade

Clanrats x 40 - Rusty Blade

Skrye Acolytes - x25

[Kirjava13]

1 hour ago, PiotrW said:

If I may go back go back to my question from earlier... I'm still trying to wrap my head around the Clanrats. I'm not sure why they'd be so great at holding objectives? Wouldn't a unit of Stormvermin be even better at it, with their better stats?

I understand that the Clanrats are cheap, so they can be used as this big swarm that can block the way of enemy units... but it seems to be a very squishy swarm. Wouldn't a smaller swarm of more-capable Stormvermin achieve the same result?

BTW. I did a simulated fight between 10 Stormvermin and 5 Sequitors today... the rats got dispatched in two turns without causing any damage to the SCE. I can only imagine that the Clanrats would do even worse..?

You've hit upon the answer yourself, really. The Stormvermin are much more expensive than the Clanrats, and any improvement in survival or killing power just isn't worth those extra points. Given that it's bodies that (usually) control objectives, screen for more important units and nobly sacrifice for the cause, you can afford more of those bodies by using Clanrats, ensuring you have a flood of them alongside things that can do more consistent damage than Stormvermin.

[Lord Krungharr]

I'm definitely gonna watch that video, with sound, while not at work.  I want to bring my cat to games now too.

 

[Skreech Verminking]

So i’ve played a game of aos 2000points in my local club, against a friends maggottkin of nurgle army.

My list consisted of:

Heroes:700p

1 Verminlord Warbringer:280 (general: Brutal fury)

1Clawlord:100 (mighty warlord trait: verminous value)

1Screaming bell:220 (deathfrenzy)

1Warlock bombardier:100 (mmmwp; vigordust injector)

Battleline:850p

2x40 Clanrats:400 (handweapons and shields)

40 Stormvermins:450 (halberds and shields)

others:400p

2x warpfire thrower weapon teams:140

3 Stormfiends:260 (warpfire brazziers; rattling; doomflayer)

endless spell:40p

Doom bell:40p

My opponent took had:

30plaguebearers (1unit), Gutrod Spume, a unit of 9Blightkings, a unit of 3blightkings, a great unclean one, 3Plague drones, a Poxbringer herald of nurgle, a lord of plagues and last but not least Bloab rot-spawned.

we were using the duality of death battle-plan, something I haven't played since it got changed.

Having somehow, set up my army first, I got to choose who would go first or second, having had a second look on the battleplan, I chose to go first since, it basically meant that any battleline unit or hero, of which i got plenty, would gain the control at the end of the movement phase, till it gets destroyed or moves away from the objective.

Basically my turn started with failing every single spell, and gaining a command-point.

in the movement I teleported my Stormvermins through a gnawhole up the board, trying to get as many bodies up there to hold the objective.

My clanrats ran and up as-well, gaining control of it on my left flank and right flank, The Skreek the destroyer my verminlord moved up a with my clanrats and stormfiends but staying a couple of inches away from the front line.

my first turn ended with scoring 2points in total and forgetting to move my screaming bell which was out of range of battleshock immunity for my clanrats amd stormvermins.

My opponent, cast a few spell, that mostly helped him to move his wheel.

anything that dealt some damage was dispelled by my warpstone sniffing warlock bombardier and grey seer.

he moved his unit of plague bearers and plague drones up while running them, whole gutrot spume, and his fellow crew came from my backline, trying to get some magnificent charges.

on his right flank, he moved his 9blightkings and rotspawn back.

In his charge phase his 5blighdtkings charged my warpfire thower weapon teams, annihilating them while doing so.

his plague drones who charged my Stormvermins, didn’t do as great as their mortal counterpart, killing only 6stormvermins, who in exchange gnawed one of his to death.

End of his turn he scored 0points.

we rolled of and as the great horned rat was pleased with me, I was able to take-steal the next turn, keeping it in the usual pattern.

so basically turn two started with me trying to cast mystic shield on my stormvermins with the screaming bell, failing of course. In hopes to gain something better I started rolling on the peal of doom table, getting a double one  and suffering d3mortal wounds on my bell (great start I guess) thankfully the horned rat protects.

my Verminlord tried to cast deathfrenzy onto himself and the bombardier (only units wholly within the bubble range) succeeding.

My warlock bombardier on the other hand chooses to not cast anything, since I really didn't wanted to loose a whole stormfiend yet (they were still needed)

I then tried to summon the doom bell with my Verminlord succeeding again, and able to place it directly next to my clanrats.

In my movement phase The verminlord decided to retreat a fe inches back, just to be able to teleport to my left flank should he be needed.

my Stormfiends in the other hand ran up the board trying to do the same thing.

my clanrats stayed at the objective, squeaking in triumph as they looked at the far away, retreaded blight kings (not knowing that the blightkings can be a fast hitting army).

on my left flank I retreaded my Stormvermins and clanrats, but still holding control  of the objective.

My screaming bell who was now within range of exactly 10  Stormvermins run up to give my units the so delicious battleshock immunity buff.

Having now support from my Screaming bell, my frenzied Stormvermins charged his blightkings, killing them of in a single round of combat, my clanrats on the other hand charged his plague drones, and bond his units of plague bearers to combat in such a way he was only able to attack with a single model, while still holding the objective (clanrats are great). as expected, my clanrats were unable to do any damag, but did their job as a harassing meat-shield unit great.

my turn ended with scoring another 4points.

on mu opponents turn, he cart a spell on my storm-fiends, halving their move, charge and run move.

he was also able to deal some mortal wounds onto my clanrats with plague wind, but didnt do much else.

in his movement phase he ran up his 9blightkings back towards the onjective and my clanrats on the rightflank.

rotspawn joined their happy pestilential march, and summoned a plague tree thingie, with his contagion points.

now able to charge as we his blightkings charge my clanrats, getting 5in and killing of a total of 13rats.

My glorious meathsields attacked back, wounding his champion a bit.

sadly unable to fully destroy any of my Battle-line holding the objective he scores another 0 points.

still nurgle favors those that will happily spread his gift of corruption.

And so my opponent was able to get the double turn.

dealing a few more wounds onto my clanrats and stormvermins with some magic, but failing to halve the move characterisitc of my stoemfiends (the warlock bombardier made sure of it).

he then attacked my clanrats on the left flank killing all but 3brave lonely clanrats (which still meant that I controlled it😋)  and decimated the others on my right flank, giving him the control of the objective.

on my third turn My warlock bombardier saw a glorious vision of explosions, succeeding to cast mmmwp onto my stormfiends while vigordusting them.

My Screaming bell rolled an 8on the peal of doom table, letting my enemy bleed poxes out of their ears, dealing a few mortal wounds. The rest of the magic-phase phase was a total-failure, but luckily not really needed anyways.

I moved my verminlord up, ready to charge a few blight-kings, while my stormfiends and bombardier did the same thing, while making their weapons ready for the shooting phase.

My stormvermins did the same thing moving a bit up.

in the shooting phase, my rattling gun who was finally in range of his blightkings rolled a 15for the number of attacks. With the extra damage buff from the bombardier and the buffs from vigordust injector and mmmwp, they were able to make swiss cheese out of 5blight kings.

unable to charge the blightkings, because of the signifcant crossfire my Verminlord stands steal looking mad at my opponents surviving models.

My Stormvermins on the left flank charge his sstill alive plague drones and bearers. Killing almost all of them but leaving 13plague bearers alive who rolled a one for battleshock and gained another 6back.

Having gained back live from the pestilential death he caused, nurgle granted him the next turn.

in his hero phase, he tried to cast a few things, which were literally all either dispelled by my own casters or  just didn't go off.

in his movement phase he moved rostspawn up trying to shot down my warlock bombardier, who thankfully scurried at the right time behind his bulky bodyguards.

his great unclean one, who was finally able too move up towards my stormvermins charged them, killing of another 7of them.

in response my the red guard attacked back, ignoring the greater daemon but killing 17plague bearers instead, of which the rest  fleet the battle.

in my 4th turn I successfully death-frenzied my Warbringer, moved him my buffed up but halve dead unit of stormvermins and the bombardier.

My stormvermins retreaded from combat with the greater unclean one, and charged his herald of nurgle later in the turn.

my Verminlord lashed his tail towards rotspawn dealing a wound, while my Stormfiends shot down another 2blightkings.

Having seen a vision of the great horend rat my mad scientist overloaded his rocket with more-more explosive  warpstonepowder, dealing a total of 11 wounds to rotspawn, and killing him of.

 My Verminlord now charged his summoned plague bearers keeping his lord of plagues save, who was controlling the objective. I popped his one per battle command ability (brutal fury) gaining another 3 attacks per weapon he has, kill-slaying not only the lord of plagues with his 3inch range glaive but also sending the warp creatures back to their deity.

a glorious turn for the skaven forces of clan mors.

we ended the battle there since he had basically no way of gaining more victory points then me.

 

So having used tons and tons of clanrats/Stormvermins in battle I’ve noticed a few things, not only that but have figured out how I can efficiently use  them.

my opinion on the stormvermins is still the same:

-they are a great unit as long as they get the charge of and don't get killed in the process.

-they are great as a backup unit should your meathsield unit die-die.

-they are definitely not meant to hold objective, since it would a bery inefficient way to use 450p of not very tanky rats. (Better of taking 80clanrats for that mission)

-would I use them in future events-tournaments, or all in all games?

Yes definitely.

clanrats are probably one of my favorites units (after Queek headtaker thanqoul and the stormvermins).

they are basically everything that stormvermins aren't.

they are cheap, great at harassing, fantastic objective holders, and the perfect meathsield unit able to protect your well expensive stuff.

-with the  allegiance ability and some small buffs they can even almost take down a few models of the board, although I wouldn't spend those cp on them, unless it is a desperate attempt to get rid of something.

Stormvermins are just better at that job.

There have been talks about Stormfiends, and well my oppinion changed a lot since I have used them a few times.

-with the right buffs even 3of them will be able to annihilate whole units in seconds, great against those players wjo believe Stormfiends to be a joke.

and in any other case they will be focused down, letting my Other thread of bloodcrazed Stormvermins to chip down his battleline, elites etc. With the max. Numbers of models. 

My list in total, isn’t meant to kill stuff right out, but basically was meant for a more defensive style of play, that can still deal some great damage should he consider charging my clanrats.

I think the mistake I made last time against the sylvaneth was literally trying to kill them of in seconds, instead of playing the waiting game, and gaining victory points.

 

 

 

 

[Gwendar]

@swarmofseals The only way I could feel "comfortable" in doing a list like that would be to have a Seer on Bell and foot along with a downgraded Bombardier. That gives you the 9 Fiends, 40 Monks and 100 Clanrats.... But 10 points over if you bring an extra CP which I think will be important.

Instead I've kinda settled for 6 Fiends and you can bring a more balanced setup. I don't think loading it with heavy characters is the way to go as there are more battleplans controlled by everything than ones that only heroes can control.

@Coyote How'd that go for you? As you can I've taken a bit of a hiatus from Jezzails + Acolytes but I love hearing how it works for people.

 

Edited August 18, 2019 by Gwendar

[swarmofseals]

2 hours ago, Gwendar said:

@swarmofseals The only way I could feel "comfortable" in doing a list like that would be to have a Seer on Bell and foot along with a downgraded Bombardier. That gives you the 9 Fiends, 40 Monks and 100 Clanrats.... But 10 points over if you bring an extra CP which I think will be important.

Instead I've kinda settled for 6 Fiends and you can bring a more balanced setup. I don't think loading it with heavy characters is the way to go as there are more battleplans controlled by everything than ones that only heroes can control.

Not sure that I follow the reasoning on having the seer on foot as well. I mean, I get why it's good -- Grey Seers are good -- just not why it'd be necessary in this context. If I take an Arch-Warlock I can get rerolls on MMMWP and bridge by using one spark, so I don't need the seer to cast bridge. So he'd mostly be there to cast Wither and either Plague or Warpgale... all good stuff, but seems more like a luxury than a necessity.

[Gwendar]

 

3 minutes ago, swarmofseals said:

Not sure that I follow the reasoning on having the seer on foot as well. I mean, I get why it's good -- Grey Seers are good -- just not why it'd be necessary in this context. If I take an Arch-Warlock I can get rerolls on MMMWP and bridge by using one spark, so I don't need the seer to cast bridge. So he'd mostly be there to cast Wither and either Plague or Warpgale... all good stuff, but seems more like a luxury than a necessity.

I mean, you don't have to bring that if you'd rather take someone else; I suppose the AW makes more sense but I wouldn't try to run this without at least 3 heroes. Just personal preference.

You've really made me think about the Bridge though, but dunno that I would prefer it to a Warp-Grinder and points-wise I could really only run 2 Heroes as I really would want 1 of them to be the Screaming Bell. Either way, I'm having trouble deciding between 6 and 9 Stormfiends. One would be a bit more balanced than the other but 9 Stormfiends combined with 40 Monks is just..

...Dumb, in most cases.

[Num]

Great thinking @swarmofseals

As 9 stormfiends is still uncommon and under tested, I'm not sure either about how to pair them.

I almost brought 9 to a local game until learning that it was going to be a 2v1. So I didn't want to bring a "all eggs in one basket" list with 2 opponents...

I had a Chaos Sorcerer Lord in this list, allied with a nurgle mark. I feel it doesn't look so great on paper for 160pts, but I brought it in nevertheless to babysit the stormfiends even more with a reroll saves of 1. It acts the same as for MMMWP/deranged inventor, in that the ability can be used to compensate for a failed spell.

In addition to a warlock/archwarlock and a warpseer/bell, that would make 3 babysitting heroes: 1 for save, 1 for damage and 1 for battle shock

 

[PiotrW]

23 hours ago, Kirjava13 said:

You've hit upon the answer yourself, really. The Stormvermin are much more expensive than the Clanrats, and any improvement in survival or killing power just isn't worth those extra points. Given that it's bodies that (usually) control objectives, screen for more important units and nobly sacrifice for the cause, you can afford more of those bodies by using Clanrats, ensuring you have a flood of them alongside things that can do more consistent damage than Stormvermin.

I see, thanks. Although now I wonder if I should've bought these Stormvermin at all...

On 8/17/2019 at 4:47 PM, Skreech Verminking said:

Now dont get me wrong Stormvermins aren’t bad at all.

Taking them in units of 40 will mean, that they’ll kill units of with devastating result , as long as you charged with them and didnt get charged!

Could you expand on the charge aspect? I'm new to AoS and I'm not sure why charging would be so important..?

[Skreech Verminking]

Just now, PiotrW said:

I see, thanks. Although now I wonder if I should've bought these Stormvermin at all...

Could you expand on the charge aspect? I'm new to AoS and I'm not sure why charging would be so important..?

Well basically You want to be able to attack with them before they get attacked.

also there are units out there that can deal tons of damage through a charge, which you really dint want the stormvermins to take.

[PiotrW]

36 minutes ago, Skreech Verminking said:

Well basically You want to be able to attack with them before they get attacked.

also there are units out there that can deal tons of damage through a charge, which you really dint want the stormvermins to take.

Okay, I see. That makes sense.

One more question: so, let's say I want to use both Clanrats and Stormvermin... how many should I have? 1x40 Stormvermin + 2x40 Clanrats? More, less?

[Kirjava13]

5 minutes ago, PiotrW said:

Okay, I see. That makes sense.

One more question: so, let's say I want to use both Clanrats and Stormvermin... how many should I have? 1x40 Stormvermin + 2x40 Clanrats? More, less?

I should stress that if you want to use Stormvermin, then by all means do so! They're just a different tool, one that is harder to get the most out of and much more specific in its use. If you're going to take them, then 40 is what you should go for and you need to make sure they survive and do a lot of killing. 

All that said, I have only ever used Stormvermin in a Skirmish game, so my advice is hardly gospel!

[Skreech Verminking]

28 minutes ago, PiotrW said:

Okay, I see. That makes sense.

One more question: so, let's say I want to use both Clanrats and Stormvermin... how many should I have? 1x40 Stormvermin + 2x40 Clanrats? More, less?

Like @Kirjava13 said, you’re best bet is to take what ever you like the most.

as for well efficiency I would go the 2x40calnrats and 1x40Stormvermin route, if you really want to go the verminus way.

it’s a bit more efficient than taking like 10 to 20stormvermins or 3 units of 10.

I had some success with having a core of 80clanrats and 40Stormvermins, and still had enough points to support my backline with some line-braking missile troops and heroes.

Still if you don't want to field that many bodies and are trying to go for a well less hordy style play you could easily take the stormvermins in a min. Size squad and use them that way, just know that they will do literally nothing.

10of those guys can’t really hold objective nor kill anything greatly.

Edited August 18, 2019 by Skreech Verminking

[swarmofseals]

3 hours ago, Gwendar said:

 

I mean, you don't have to bring that if you'd rather take someone else; I suppose the AW makes more sense but I wouldn't try to run this without at least 3 heroes. Just personal preference.

You've really made me think about the Bridge though, but dunno that I would prefer it to a Warp-Grinder and points-wise I could really only run 2 Heroes as I really would want 1 of them to be the Screaming Bell. Either way, I'm having trouble deciding between 6 and 9 Stormfiends. One would be a bit more balanced than the other but 9 Stormfiends combined with 40 Monks is just..

...Dumb, in most cases.

Not running WLV helps me make room for bridge. I think bridge vs Warp-grinder is a question worth considering, but for me it's pretty clearly bridge:

Pros for Warp-grinder:

• It can come in anywhere
• Stormfiends start off the table, protecting them from other deepstriking ranged units and/or from an alpha that can get through your screen
• Can't fail and doesn't require someone to cast it (the latter point being relatively minor, imo)

Pros for Soulscream:

• Reusable. Sometimes one round of shooting from the Stormfiends won't be enough, and mobile opponents might be able to keep their important pieces out of range, and bridge helps counter that.
• Reconfigurable. You can re-arrange your rats as needed, which is otherwise very awkward with the 60mm bases and low movement.
• Transports multiple units. You get to move your Stormfiends forward and move their screen and buffers with them
• Buffable. Your Stormfiends are present in your hero phase, and thus can be targeted with MMMWP and Vigordust Injector. With a Warp-grinder deployment they can only get Deranged Inventor, and even then only if you are able to set them up wholly within 13" of your general, which dramatically reduces your options of where to drop them. 
• Can be used to block enemy movement in a pinch
• If your opponent is close enough to block you, they are close enough for your Stormfiends to shoot them conventionally. A low-drop horde opponent can potentially prevent you from coming in via Warp-grinder at all -- a rare case, but utterly disastrous and completely avoidable with bridge.
• No self damage (a minor point)

Another possible 3 hero build would be:

2x Bombardier

Screaming Bell

9 Stormfiends

2x40 Clanrats

20 Clanrats

40 Plague Monks

 

Provides redundancy for MMMWP, splits Vigordust Injector and Deranged Inventor, and provides enough bodies that you can amply screen and not care too much if your opponent manages to battleshock one of your flanking units on turn 1. You can protect the units that matter and at least one unit of Clanrats with the bell and the unit of 20 as a throwaway screen.

 

[Gwendar]

@swarmofseals I suppose I could give that a try.. I do like your points on the bridge but may test without first. All in all, it's essentially just a mobile gnawhole which is pretty great.

Guess I'll grab one off eBay and just use an extra CP in the meantime. I play against a lot of armies that can do whatever they want T1 pretty easily depending on the battleplans and how comfortable I am deploying aggressively. The biggest debate for me there is between those extra 20 Clanrats or the CP as I find I generally do need it... Although Im typically given first turn, so, maybe not and I'm overthinking it.

[Obeisance]

Question.

What are you guys using/doing to objective grab, especially against hyper aggressive armies like fec?

[Gwendar]

21 minutes ago, Obeisance said:

Question.

What are you guys using/doing to objective grab, especially against hyper aggressive armies like fec?

Clanrats, since they can run 14". Or charge 1 unit, retreat and slingshot them by charging them into another unit.

Otherwise I don't really take anything in particular. Some people will say Doomwheels and I would agree but.. the random movement can let you down sometimes and it's only 1 model. Better suited at taking out heroes than objectives in my opinion. Gutter and Night Runners can be okay, but I think they're usually better for early objectives than late game snagging.

Aside from Clanrats, I would personally give my vote to Wolf Rats with their inherent 12" move and decent statline.

[Pejzub]

1 hour ago, Obeisance said:

Question.

What are you guys using/doing to objective grab, especially against hyper aggressive armies like fec?

FEC do not really leave anything behind (if we are talking gristlegore and bristleskin) so use the gnawholes to your adventage. Also run away with the little ratbois and just go for the objectives if you are sure you can finish the units with shooting or magic in your turn.

 

Spoiler

Allegiance: Skaventide
Thanquol on Boneripper (400)
- Lore of Ruin: Warpgale
Plague Priest on Plague Furnace (200)
Grey Seer (140)
- Lore of Ruin: Death Frenzy
Warlock Bombardier (100)
- General
- Trait: Deranged Inventor
- Artefact: Vigordust Injector
- Lore of Warpvolt Galvanism: More-more-more Warp Power!
20 x Clanrats (120)
- Rusty Spear
20 x Clanrats (120)
- Rusty Spear
20 x Clanrats (120)
- Rusty Spear
40 x Plague Monks (280)
- Woe-stave
6 x Stormfiends (520)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 172
 

Got a few games over the weekend with following list. Two of them againts weaker lists (tzeentch and nurgle) and one againts competitive Slaanesh. Overall the fiends were the heavylifters in all 3 games, evaporating everything that gets in their range. Sniping key targets with launchers, and once getting to close combat with ratling guns and clubs absolutely demolishing everything. I have got to get used moving these 6 big bases around as it is kinda clunky to get them in all the ranges, cant imagine playing 9 to be honest. One thing I noticed is that you dont ever want to be running with them because you want to shoot every turn, so they can get kinda sluggish. Also once you actually get to close combat it is impossible to hold the bombardier nearby for the buffs as they simply charge away. I was satisfied with monks, as they were either getting all the focus, leaving the fiends to go nuts, or left uncheck and wrecked chaos themselves.  Thanquol being Thanquol either being absolute beast and evaporating big units with his flamethrowers or being absolutely underwhelming and basically doing nothing whole game, depending solely on opponents list. Love him thematically, but I know that if I want to make this list competitive hes going to be the first one to go.  Furnace did surprisingly well, it is actually formidable opponent in close combat compared to bell, the prayers make monks extremely deadly and the great plagues can be a really nice bonus.

Going to get more games next week, might try more competitive list without Thanquol and furnace, but with Warpseer, WLV, more clanrats and maybe try the screaming bridge.

[TheWilddog]

Been slogging through some glow rats. First batch done.