[AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion]

In my efforts to collect em' all, Ive begun pursuing rat ogres, but it seems they're tough to come by. Island of Blood Ogres is ideal but generally way above my price point. As an alternative, I've begun brainstorming to kitbash some rat ogre heads onto something else. 

I'm in need of suggestions for other models to make me some rat ogre boyz. Any thoughts?

[AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion]

@Skreech Verminking I'll wait and see. The game as it is promotes models dying left and right and this interpretation would certainly be against that. I recently decided to give pure Eshin a try with Slinktalon and came across weird questions like that one. 

[AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion]

Question: Does the Shadow Master command trait for Eshin still allow them to be charged? I assume this trait is only for the purposes of mitigating spells and shooting as the core rules for charging does not specify you need line of sight. 

[AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion]

@Gwendar For Thanquol, instead of a magic centric list, try a command point farm list. His own ability allows for 3 extra command abilities to go off, combined with the Masterclan skilled manipulators trait. I've had success with Thanquol,  a Warpseer and 2 Grey Seers on foot to net command points. Give the Warpseer the Supreme Manipulator command trait and the Aetherquartz Brooch artifact from Hysh. I've used this setup as a shell to play around with the remaining points I have. So far, being able to run a unit of acolytes +6 every turn has been the beez kneez with just Thanquol and then getting at least 1 extra command point a turn makes the Warpseer's battleshock bubble a given for any horde unit I field. 

[AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion]

17 hours ago, Gwendar said:

I may try out a magic heavy list but I would have to bring in Thanquol... could be interesting.

I had such a tough time with that. I wanted to put the big boy rat up front and center. The list would have been a fun one-trick pony, but I opted for some skryre to balance it out. Thanquol is also not really a model that I want sitting on a Gnawhole for that +1, that seems like a waste to me. But getting him to +4 to cast is just so tempting. 

[AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion]

@gronnelg Its true it can't be both cast in one turn, however, I thought because of my low-ish model count, to compensate, I'd want to have a few tools to deal with larger blocks of enemies. The built in redundancy is great because of the chance I can't pull off my utility spells to get more range outta plague, I can instead rely on the spread out positions of my wizards. 

[AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion]

Hey Folks,   BatRep incoming: Skaventide Mix vs. Spiderfang; Ulgu; Shifting Objectives

I tried to push magic to the limit. I fielded not 1, not 2, but 3, yes, 3 Screaming Bells. So glorious. First, I had my greyseer on foot cast the Spellportal at my general's feet. Second, I maxed out at +4 to cast for my Lightning Vortex with my general's trait, having 2 bells hit the +1 casting bonus ( I just huddled my general next to a Gnawhole and had my bells all overlap each other). That was turn 1 from downtown (18'' spellportal + 26" vortex + approx 6'' of the other vortex models). Geez. I didn't really care to say too much about the rest of the game other than it being loads of fun. I did lose due to time constraints  and inability to capture points early at end of round 3 but I had almost my whole army and my opponent had 3 bracketed Big Mama Spiders. 

A few notes: 

1) Arch-Warlock +  3 units of skryre foot shooters is a beast. Very points efficient and mobile, especially behind an equally mobile unit of clanrat chaff. Dont underestimate the power of Acolytes with +1 damage. 

2) Jezzails are great with at least 6. Runs independent of the army. A great anti-caster-on-foot unit, so you can win those dispel wars at 30'' out.

3) Gnawholes+Screaming Bells are a great combo not just for the +1 cast but also the mobility. If you run your foot rats away you can always teleport your bells next to another bundle of rats at another Gnawhole so you can move the following turn.

4) Spellportal/Balewind + Plague works like a charm. Get those earlier casts of a short range spell. Recommend Spellportal with Splinter spell (will experiment later)

5) As with most magic lists, it will suffer round 1 if your opponent lets you go first. Lots of wasted damage output for a hero-phase centric army. I only did as well as I did because my opponent went first and ran the entire army towards me. 

6) My list is attached below, but I chose last minute to try Balewind instead of Cogs. 

Let me know what ya think. 

 

 

Masters_of_Magic.pdf

[AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion]

12 hours ago, Flood said:

Question. Does anyone see any value in the plague claw catapult? Is it ever worthwhile to take over a warp lightning cannon? 

Absolutely. I have a friend who loves to hide his necromancers behind buildings or other key heroes. I love taking the foulrain congregation battalion with three and hero snipe with them because of their range, and most importantly, their ability to target without Line of Sight. The congregation isn't necessary but its scary. Any catapult you field will be swingy but an effective psychological weapon against your opponent. 

Thats just what I use them for, but against any horde armies your friends are playing it'll do just fine. If you're playing moulder or skryre, I would recommend the PCC over the plagueclaw because those armies are better equipped with other units to take down big targets and so you will need to focus on your opponent's greater number of models perhaps. When you have the numbers, playing verminous for example, its nice to have the ranged punch of the WWC instead. 

[AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion]

1 hour ago, DaveMundo65 said:

Why the Deceiver over a Warpseer plus Warp Lightning Vortex? I'm pretty iffy on the Deceivers value at 300.

This list has two skitterleaps and two death frenzy spells available per turn. Built in redundancy is my response to the list not being entirely flexible otherwise. The skitterleap is for pinpoint deployment of my buffing heroes for the "wholly within" wording. The warpseer is good no doubt, but my monsters need to be aggressive early and it lacks both punch and mobility. Most importantly, I'm unsure how he helps with the deathstar strategy other than shock-proofing the 40 blocks. 

Warp lightning vortex was in my mind, especially putting it right on top of my stormvermin in combat so they die and pile in twice. Dirty. However, I couldn't squeeze the points. Potentially if I drop one of the verminlords or find I don't need the grinder team. 

[AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion]

So my storm-vermy deathstar list will be give a try this Wednesday.

Allegiance: Skaventide

LEADERS
Verminlord Warbringer (260)
- General
Grey Seer (120)
- Lore of Ruin : Death Frenzy
Grey Seer (120)
- Lore of Ruin : Skitterleap
Clawlord (100)
- Mighty Warlord Command Trait : Brutal Fury
Verminlord Deceiver (300)

UNITS
40 x Stormvermin (500)
- Halberd
40 x Clanrats (200)
- Rusty Spear
40 x Clanrats (200)
- Rusty Spear
1 x Warp-Grinder (80)

ENDLESS SPELLS
Chronomantic Cogs (60)

TOTAL: 1940/2000 EXTRA COMMAND POINTS: 1 WOUNDS: 162
LEADERS: 5/6 BATTLELINES: 3 (3+) BEHEMOTHS: 2/4 ARTILLERY: 0/4
ARTEFACTS: 0/1 ALLIES: 0/400

The Goal: Stormvermin at 4 attacks each 3+/2+, RR 1's for Hit and Wound, Double Pile-in on death. I forgot to add battlebrew in but thats how I get the fourth attack. Not gonna lie, its tough to pull off but I need my friends to fear stormies at this point. If theres any additional thing to stormies we can add let me know.

[AoS 2 - Skaventide Discussion]

I was thinking of a verminous stormvermin deathstar list and got a thinking. Can I cast "Dreaded Death Frenzy" from a verminlord AND "Death Frenzy" from spell lore on the same unit for shenanigans? The wording for both is as follows:

Dreaded Death Frenzy: Dreaded Death Frenzy has a casting value of 7. If successfully cast, pick up to D3 friendly Skaventide units wholly within 13" of the caster and visible to them. Until your next hero phase, when a model from any of those units is slain, before it is removed from play, it can make a pile-in move and then attack with all of the melee weapons it is armed with.

Death Frenzy: If successfully cast, pick 1 friendly Skaventide unit that is not a Hero, which is wholly within 13" of the caster and visible to them. Until your next Hero Phase, when a model from that unit is slain, before it is removed from play, it can make a Pile-in move and then attack with all of the Melee weapons it is armed with.

From the Core Rules....

SLAIN MODELS
Once the number of wounds allocated to a model during the battle equals its Wounds characteristic, the model is slain. Place a slain model to one side – it is
removed from play.

Just curious. What do you fine folks think?

[AoS 2 - Clan Skyre Discussion]

I was curious if anyone has seen the skryre battalion that came along with the carrion empire boxset? I'm currently not in the mood for spending points on the battletomes battalion. 

[AoS 2 - Clan Skyre Discussion]

So Doomwheels can fly over endless spells. They can move over (any) models with 3 HP or less. Endless spells have no HP. They are models. Uh, what?!

Thats a nice Palisade you've got there. Be'd a shame if someone VRrrroooOOOOMMMM *procedes to drive vertically up and over*

How many Doomwheels can I field because these sound more and more fun. 

[AoS 2 - Clan Verminus / Skaven Discussion]

@Skavelynn I'd give the beefy rat boys a chance. Don't forget, they did get another cost reduction. I like to think of it this way, they were gonna nerf shock gauntlet anyways so they went to unmodified re-roll making the packmaster buff irrelevant for that loadout. The mortar teams are now better represented in the stormfiends gas loadouts with better range, making them more active on the table from the get-go. The second biggest change is the warpfire, which in my mind fits better with their battlefield  role both before and after the change. That's subjective of course but I always supposed they're were able to go off somewhere and take care of themselves, otherwise whats the point of an expensive hammer unit not running into a huge block of enemies?

The biggest change obviously is the loadout restrictions, which I must admit is really bloated/wordy. However, the point of a completely uniform unit I thought was to min/max their potential with buffs. Without those synergies, why not diversify anyways?

[AoS 2 - Clan Skyre Discussion]

@Russrmc You're right. In fact the core rules outright define a 'normal move' as one that occurs in the movement phase, in addition the move must be using the move characteristic of the model. 

[AoS 2 - Clan Skyre Discussion]

Can we take a moment to appreciate how much fun the new Doomwheel is? 

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a "normal move" occur in any of the following: movement phase, charge phase, piling in? Is that not 3 chances to trigger the mortal wound engine? Even if its 'stuck' in combat, can't you declare it moves 3'' inches into then out of the same space as the nearest model to get a trigger?

I'm pretty sure this thing can do all sorts of shenanigans now. 

[AoS 2 - Clan Verminus / Skaven Discussion]

@Kramer Never trust us skaven players. Or should you? Trusting my advice is bad news. Or is it? 

By the way, where is everyone looking at these warscrolls? Was it the app? I don't have a smartphone but I have an android emulator on the pc. 

[AoS 2 - Clan Verminus / Skaven Discussion]

3 hours ago, Kramer said:

Also saw the biggest change by GW... rolling a 13 on the great bell doesn't auto win you the game!!!

Awh shucks.

[AoS 2 - Clan Verminus / Skaven Discussion]

sweet baby cheesus

dont forget to check out the flesh-eater court release, I'm happy for those players as well

[AoS 2 - Clan Verminus / Skaven Discussion]

@Skavelynn Frankly as much as you can. Clanrats are dirt cheap. Their cost efficiency is even more stark at the lower point games. Numbers are what take most objectives. In addition, with a single warlord in tow, opponents will underestimate a 40 block at +3/+3 with double attacks. If you would like an actual number, conservatively, 60 (40/20) rats, one unit to hold back objectives and another for offense. Personally, I like 100 (40/40/20). Its intimidating for your opponent and you push with rats in two directions now. 

[AoS 2 - Clan Verminus / Skaven Discussion]

Screaming Bell/Kairos Fateweaver BATREP

Same list as before except I freed up a chunk by leaving poor 'ol boneripper at home. Dropped engineer, slimmed the endless spells, added a Warpseer and 5 mortar teams.

Played Starstrike in Hysh against beasts of chaos. Committed to one side with everything. Turn 1, grey seer throws up a balewind, 32'' range vermintide hits for 8MW. Between turns 1 and 2, mortar teams put in the work, killed 24 beastmen outright plus battleshock. Free rats doin' there thing by keeping the ambush bestigors at bay. No 6's yet from the bells. By turn 3, every objective hit the opposite side. Ugh. I didn't fear though because mortar teams did their part. Oh Did I mention my opponent randomly allied in Skarbrand. Go figure. So he finally makes it across the board. 

Turn order, remained constant throughout, which helped the magic based pacing. Top of 3, roll natural box cars with my first bell. Well hot diggity. Summon myself a Deceiver, have Arch-warlock summon balewind, then skitterleap that bad boy (still atop the vortex mind you) clear across the board, on an objective and in cover. The only enemy in range is skarbrand. So I succesfully cast shackles with the archwarlock, right on top of him, land-locking him (in a triangle around the base because the sucker can't fly). I literally chained a demon. My opponent was livid as well as skarbrand who hadn't attacked yet the whole game (eventually on turn 5 would kill a mortar team hehe). 

All in all, I had a fun game but it came down to the wire as I was way outta position and barely kept my opponent from objectives by keeping points contested. It was heroes and demons in the end, just not where they should have been. Lost by 1 point.

Things I learned: Archwarlock is a bad ass but don't get cocky. He's performed well the last 3 games but his numbers will betray you soon enough. As for balewind, the greyseer is a casting monster with that. Not only is he more likely to actually summon it, but a double caster that re-rolls and starts at a 32'' threat range against hordes is filthy. If you're not worried about survive-ability that's your rat. Also shackles, its a frickin' wall. Ignore its abilities. Its filthy just as three bodies to get in the way. Try it out. For battlelines, don't engage, at all. Clanrats will die, you can't control that. But you can control WHEN they die. It worked in my favor to let the behemoths loose on weak chaff in those objective based games. Even Big Bird got to eat some ungor. Yum. 

 

[AoS 2 - Clan Skyre Discussion]

@Nikobot I would argue their stat line is just fine for 60 points. I have to believe that each weapon team, while not created equal, has a specific role to play. The mortar team is obviously designed to hit horde units. The +1 to hit a unit with an easy 10+ models is a great buff while also the first or even second hit does a straight 6 DMG to the same unit. Statistically, they are unreliable on their own, but why not run more than 1 anyways? When I run 4+, I've had great success doing 12 damage the first two turns catching battleshock prone units off-guard, especially with the surprise 30'' range. I would try framing them in terms of they're roles and give them a chance in your next few games. 

[AoS 2 - Clan Skyre Discussion]

I've been playing around with skryre for a while and I've grown to lean on them for magic centric builds. The warpstone token abilities are still good to re-roll spells, especially if you want that arch-warlock on top of a balewind vortex. The battalions mechanically are decent in my opinion but its the cost and unit requirements that ultimately make lists very 1-dimensional, and thus haven't used them. I agree with  @Nikobot that they're the elite troops and I enjoy not having to worry so much about battleshock, its a breath of fresh air. I like allies of Hellpits so packmasters can pull double-duty buffing stormfiends and the monster. 

Here's a debatable opinion: The mortar teams are the most useful units of skryre. Mind you, I have only found value in them when running 5 of them. Thats 300 hundred points! Here's how I use them: I'm paying 60 points each for a 18'' wide bubble of area denial, that can still hit things 30'' away turn 1. During deployment, I aggressively put them out in the open near my deployment zones knowing that ambushes or stormcast shenanigans will have to go farther away without committing my entire army. Its also disposable. I dont care if a single team dies early on. I treat it as bait for my counter-attacks next turn. 

[AoS 2 - Clan Verminus / Skaven Discussion]

I've got doomwheels coming outta my ears that need to hit the table. I need to know if they re-wrote that scroll for the box set. Please hurry.

 

[AoS 2 - Clan Verminus / Skaven Discussion]

@Num In smaller games at 1K, highly recommend a warlock engineer. At 100 points, he can potentially deal 1d6 wounds a turn with his spell that only needs a five at a 18'' range. If you want to cut a lightning cannon as mentioned above, this would be my replacement. It saves you enough points for a command point for spamming skritches ability.