AIdenNicol444

typing up the post as we speak my friend

My guy, Thanquol was viable at 450 points. He is one of the strongest named characters in the game, with a kit that lets him fulfill almost any role and do it well. He can smack down almost anything in a one on one fight across the phases of the turn with everything from guaranteed mortal wounds to a strong damage profile. That being said, he's a full 400pts, and i was keen to include more bodies instead of a massive hero. I'll use him in games where i take lots of bodies, but in this i need the troops.

yeah the only reason it's there is that nurgle hasnt taken off in the country yet and theres still quite a few armies like Khorne and Sylvaneth who get caked by the plagueclaw. Once that changes itll be replaced with more Censer Bearers and an endless spell most likely.

Gidday Skaven enthusiasts, I'm headed to a tournament in two weeks time and submitted my list last night, and I'd like to write a little about what has changed in AoS2 and how it affects our ist building. What's Changed for the Better? Realm Artefacts: These have been a total game changer, over 50 artifacts drawn from multiple realms to enhance lists or build lists around. Standouts for other factions like Lens of Refraction and Aetherial Amulet have already begun to change the game. For Pestilens, the Ulgu artefacts have given us an incredible boost. Sword of Judgement, Doppleganger's Cloak and Betrayer's Crown give us access to options we previously never had. Points Changes: Plague Furnace and Plagueclaw Catapult got needed reductions while the rest of our already very affordable and well costed units remained unchanged, no complaints there. Endless Spells: Finally the fact the Verminlord Corruptor can cast twice has relevance. Also makes allying an Arch Warlock even more of a god tier selection. Chronomantic Cogs and Aethervoid Pendulum do things for our army we couldn't previously do, unlocking new ways of playing the game. Turn One charges and long range threats were never something Pestilens could do, but now it's an option. Look out Sir!: With Plague Priests now able to tuck themselves in for -1 to being hit and Plague Furnaces recieving the same benefit due to lacking the MONSTER keyword, the only hero in our list vulnerable to shooting is the Verminlord Corruptor. What's Changed for the Worst? Endless Spells: OMG Take your stupid Purple Sun of whatever the hell and leave me alone. Gemenids are a massive pain in the censer and an Aethervoid Pendulum sweeping through the Plague Furnace and both monk units pusing it will give you type 2 Redmaw Plague. Magic Meta: Wizards, wizards as far as the eye can see. Every army that can take some will take several to make sure they have unbinding potential and the ability to get their endless spells on the table. With only the Verminlord Corruptor casting, he's going to get ganged up on. Endless Spells: oh cool man you put down a Prismatic Pallisade in front of the objective, guess I'll just fly over it OH WAIT List Building in AoS2 So for a start we need to ally a wizard, and take some endless spells. That's just the game right now. Yeah it'll change eventually and we'll be in some new and bizarre meta (fingers crossed for all Maggotkin meta personally, give me your wheel you loser) but until then we need to adapt to survive. Arch Warlock, Warlock Engineers, Screaming Bell and the Masterclan selection are great picks for the ally section and Thanquol has gotten a reduction to fir into 2k ally slots. Pick one or two that you like and suit your play style and put them in. The best endless spells for our army are of course the ChronoCogs, Aethervoid Pendulum and Pallisade. Mobility, long range threats and area deniability are important and these spells cover our backsides with them. End Product So below is my list for the Call to Arms tournament in Wellington New Zealand. This is expected to be the biggest tournament in the country for the year and will have a massive range of armies on display. I'd ask for feedback, but list submissions are final so it's too late to save me. Here she is. Allegiance: Pestilens Mortal Realm: Ulgu Leaders Verminlord Corruptor (220) - General - Trait: Master of Rot and Ruin - Artefact: Sword of Judgement Plague Furnace (180) - Artefact: Liber Bubonicus Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80) Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80) Lord Skreech Verminkin (300) - Allies Battleline 10 x Plague Censer Bearers (120) 30 x Plague Monks (210) - Foetid Blades 30 x Plague Monks (210) - Foetid Blades 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades War Machines Plagueclaw (160) Battalions Congregation of Filth (170) Endless Spells Chronomantic Cogs (60) Total: 2000 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 1 Allies: 300 / 400 Wounds: 152 So my plan basically is the same as always. Spam prayers with Priests who are safer than they once were, advance up quickly and sweep away priority targets with the monks. The catapult can force battleshock tests on hordes and the cogs can have lethal spellcaster Skreech Verminking being doubly survivable in the centre of the table, wiping away units and replacing them with Clanrats. The Plague Furnace fulfills its purpose as a buff engine while the Corruptor annhilates literally any hero without a mortal wound save (come get some Alarielle). There will be a follow up to this after the tournament so we can review what went well and where to improve. Let me know your thoughts below.

of course there is my friend, you literally just say its using the chaos allegiance. You don't have to take pestilens allegiance abilities to have battleline monks, your army just needs to be pestilens allegiance (all non allies have the PESTILENS keyword).

Pretty glad I didn't buy one when it was the god of skaven cheese tactics like stormvermin rope and plague monk bombs running through terrain features, always used my Warpseer as a counts-as. Rest in peace Warpgnaw Verminlord 2015 - 2018

simply, a lot of players see charging as a purely offensive move. At the worst, charging in the hero phase gives you two chances to make an all important charge. However a more tactical play is to use the charge a free move before promptly retreating off it in the subsequent movement phase to cover a great distance. Retreating is an underused tactic in this game, and a useful one for scoring objectives. Discretion is often the better part of valor.

I endorse it, as long as one of those Warbosses is painted to represent Warboss Stoneklaw

This blog by request, we'll be covering Stoneklaw's Gutstompas, an allegiance ability available in the Firestorm book. This isn't too undercover of a choice, it's popped up in the AOS 6 Nations tournament and it's gaining traction, so now would be the perfect time to hammer out a write up. Why Gutstompa's? So this allegiance's requirements are a lot less stringent than all the others. It basically allows all of the old warhammer fantasy Orks and Goblins, as well as the new Ironjawz and the Giant mixed in. So if you happened to build a Spiderfang army when the skirmish box came out, bought a lot of the Greenskinz Start Collecting or are jumping on the Moonclan HYPETRAIN and need something to transtition into once they nerf you into the floor, here is the place to be. Let's see what it offers. Confusion. What on earth are these strategems? What do they mean? Well think of these as two randomized allegiance abilities for your army (You had none beforehand and this costs nothing, so random is hardly a downside) that you roll for before each game. Here's a list of the stratagems. Some of these aren't amazing, and that's fair. Some of these are completely insane. ESPECIALLY considering the one that gives you a free unit back doesn't cost reinforcement points like it did when this was written. But how best to make a list that makes adequate use of these traits while not being directly tailored to them to compensate for randomosity? Let's take a swing. Allegiance: Stoneklaw's Gutstompas Leaders Orruk Warboss (140) - Great Waaagh Banner Grot Warboss (100) - Git Cuttas Arachnarok Spider With Grot Shaman (280) - General - Trait: Bellowing Tyrant Battleline 40 x Orruks (280) - Pair of Choppas 40 x Orruks (280) - Pair of Choppas 60 x Moonclan Grots (360) - Stabbas & Moon Shields Units 5 x Grot Spider Riders (100) 5 x Grot Spider Riders (100) 5 x Grot Spider Riders (100) War Machines Grot Spear Chukka (120) Grot Spear Chukka (120) Total: 1980 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 0 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 208 Ok so I definitely went in with the Moonclan combo where you double the damage of a Moonclan unit, because it's good and I'd be a fool not to. Backing that up are two max size units of Orruks to form a decent shield wall while the spider riders and their Arachnarok swarm objectives and push elite infantry off them with their mortal wound output. The three characters synergize well with the unit options taken, and the two artillery choices are great at taking out enemy heroes (great for Duality of Death). Let me know what you think and what you'd like to see next.

Let it be done

In my first hobby post of the blog I'd like to show the origins of my longest running project, my pirate themed Anvilgard Allegiance list. I was given an unopened box of Black Ark Corsairs almost 2 years ago, and from there I was interested in the idea. The aesthetic was something I really liked, but I was disheartened by the rules available (Allies were not yet a thing and the Free City rules were but a glint in GW's eye) so I shelved them, taking them out only occasionaly as a palette cleanser. Over time I acquired more models for this army, always second hand and pre painted, old and forgotten models put aside during the rollout of Age of Sigmar. I hoarded these away an told myself I would get to it, eventually. I dedicated my time largely to painting my Skaven Pestilens force, and took them to every tournament. At first I got utterly steamrolled, by good players with better armies. But over time I learned how to make the force work, I started to catch people off guard, play objectively and even win games. And I thought to myself "if I can win with this goofy army, surely I can make a mixed order pirate list work". So I promptly filled a bucket of detol and dumped half a hundred models straight into it. Some were caked thick with paint by inexperienced painters, some were simply a scheme i didnt like or want to paint over the top of. Some made it through the stripping process in tact, others went to the surgery table to be modified with spare bits from other dark elf kits to become servicable again. Here's a look at a few being drained of their detol before some light scrubbing. Not pretty, but they would be eventually. Check back next time to see what they would go on to be, more pictures below.

Ever wondered how cool the Saurus Knights would look if their mounts weren't goofy as hell? Step this way. The Order Serpentis represents a portion of the old Dark Elf line that has been bundled together to form a small elite army that's heavily themed on it's love for drakespawn and dark dragons. They're fast, mobile and very durable, and the low model count and awesome centrepiece model means it's easy to get started. Where do I start? As per the usual, we need a hero and two battleline choices at least before we look at anything else. Picking a hero is easy, after all you've only got one. The Dreadlord on Black Dragon is no joke however, the dragon's already deadly combat profile is accenuated by the character riding it, unlike the sorceress version this guy packs a mean punch. Your battleline options are both things we'll be taking anyway, the Drakespawn Knights and the Drakespawn Chariots, both charge focused, durable melee bruisers. Where to next? More chariots and knights, more more more. And to spice up the mix, lets throw in a War Hydra or two. These nasty behemoths are melee focused beasts with a decent shooting attack and a monster stat profile that doesn't get dramaticaly weaker as it takes wounds. But here's the kicker, the hydra heals itself for THREE wounds in each of your hero phase. Three wounds, not d3. This means it's frustratingly difficult to chip down and any enemy trying to whittle it down and tie it up with chaff will quickly discover it's not locked up with them, they're locked up with it. I would reccomend building around the Ebondrake Warhost batalliob, for the cost of a Dreadlord on Dragon, 2 - 3 Drakespawn, 1 - 2 Chariots and 1 - 3 Hydras you get to reroll all wound rolls of one, and once per game everything within 8 inches of the Dreadlord can charge in the hero phase. What to ally? In this, the age of magic, we need some spellcasters. The Order Serpentis can ally from any of the old dark elf model lines, as well as Stormcast Eternals and Idoneth Deepkin. We're going to stick with the cheaper stuff because Stormcast and Deepkin casters tend to be focused more towards their army's playstyle, a style we don't fit. The Sorceress is always a nice choice, and you can always take a Scourge Privateer Fleetmaster for 40 points to fill out your hero slots for certain scenarios. In that vein of thinking, a few cheap Black Ark Corsairs to hold objectives is rarely a bad thing. But wait, there's more I swear to god I plug the Firestorm Allegiance abilities so much Games Workshop should be paying me by the post, but seeing as you won't be allying Stormcast or Deepkin your army will fit the requirements for the fre city Anvilgard. Now this free city is my favorite (I'm building around it curently, post to come). With a highly mobile army you can rope around the enemy and cause the to just straight up die because they can't get far enough away from you. Better yet, this allows your Drakespawn Chariots to charge again and again, constantly refreshing their charge based bonuses. Let's take a look at what we can hammer out from this. Allegiance: Order Serpentis Mortal Realm: Ulgu Leaders Dreadlord On Black Dragon (320) - General - Lance of Spite & Shield - Trait: Inspiring Sorceress (100) - Allies Sorceress (100) - Allies Black Ark Fleetmaster (40) - Allies Battleline 5 x Drakespawn Knights (140) 5 x Drakespawn Knights (140) 5 x Drakespawn Knights (140) 2 x Drakespawn Chariots (160) 2 x Drakespawn Chariots (160) Units 10 x Black Ark Corsairs (80) - Vicious Blade & Repeater Handbow - Allies 10 x Black Ark Corsairs (80) - Vicious Blade & Repeater Handbow - Allies Behemoths War Hydra (180) War Hydra (180) Battalions Ebondrake Warhost (150) Total: 1970 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 1 Allies: 400 / 400 Wounds: 127 The plan here is simple, set up for a turn two charge into the enemy, and then from there hopefully get a few Anvilgard rolls off at the start of your hero phase before promptly using the batallion to charge into the enemies that just ran away from you. While this is going on, the corsairs make a break for the objectives while providing Look Out Sir protection to the Sorceresses, who focus on dispelling spells and using Word of Pain on big enemy units. The Fleetmaster is here purely for an extra hero to hold objectives, he's only 40pts so might as well pick him up. This list is a fun elite army to run with, I myself have a lot of the models to make it and plan to get started once I've finished my existing projects.

I agree, our access to unique spells that deal damage like unique spells on the Skryre Arch Warlock and Warlock Engineer, as well as some of the verminlords packing some decent spels leaves us unaffected by the arcan bolt nerf and so on. Also a good point on our shooting, he most infamous skaven shooting attacks (Stormfiends, Thanquol, Lightning Cannon) don't make conventional hit rolls which is a huge boost. Lastly we have Clan Pestilens and it's prayers that AREN'T subject to the rule of one, so AoE arcane bolts for everyone.

Basically the way I view the Screaming Bell is for 200pts you get a 12 wound wizard with a spell that's pretty good and a command ability that can come in handy if you're spamming minimum size units. Ringing the bell is just an extra. Its basically always passable, and sometimes its hella powerful. Basically you dont really lose a point investment from the randomosity

When Byron Orde gallivanted his way to immortality when he won the Grand Tournament with a mixed Order list that heavily featured a focus on phoenixes, I was curious. Would it be possible to build a list around these majestic, obnoxiously invincible and gorgeous models? Clearly. Could it be done while remaining in the Phoenix Temple allegiance? Probably harder but lets take a swing. Where to start? As ever, we need at least a single hero and two battleline. The heroes available to the Phoenix Temple are the two phoenix variants being ridden by Annoited, and the Annoited on foot. Now oddly, there's no price difference in points for mounting an Annoited on a phoenix, so there's no point magnetizing them. Both phoenixes have the ability to enhance their saves if a spell is cast near them, and the fire phoenix gets to deal mortal wounds if it glides over someone while the ice phoenix is harder to hit. I would start with the Frostheart, and add the Flamespire as the list develops. The only available battleline are the super elite Phoenix Guard. They get two saves and are immune to battleshock if hanging out near a hero from their allegiance. They're very expensive so stick with using them wisely, hold objectives and behave sensibly. Where to next? Phoenix Temple has one of those big batallions some armies were assigned in the opening days of the game. The Spyreheart Warhost is built from an Annoited on foot, 2 units of Phoenix Guard and between 2 and 4 of the Phoenixes with or without Annoited riding them. The benefit of this is the Phoenixes get to band together and shoot fire at a nearby enemy, growing stronger for every phoenix within 9 inches of said enemy unit. At 130 points, this batallion is cheap enough to justify taking two of for the extra relics and command points. What do we ally? Easiest question all day. Cheap, mobile spellcasters. If they have good spells, neat. But their real purpose is making the phoenixes imposible to harm with their save buff. The top picks here are the Loremaster (Hand of Glory is a great spell on a phoenix), the Wanderers Spellweaver (Auto-Unbind scroll for the win), anything from the recently open Sacrosanct Chamber for the Stormcast, and if you truly want to go balls to the wall, an Archmage mounted on a dragon. Being able to ally in cheap units to spam for objectives would be desirable, but we need the spellcasters so its hard to justify. Lets see what I managed to whip up. Allegiance: Phoenix Temple Leaders Anointed (80) Anointed Of Asuryan On Flamespyre Phoenix (380) - General - Trait: Tenacious Anointed Of Asuryan On Frostheart Phoenix (280) Anointed Of Asuryan On Frostheart Phoenix (280) Archmage (100) Loremaster (140) Battleline 10 x Phoenix Guard (140) 10 x Phoenix Guard (140) 10 x Phoenix Guard (140) 10 x Phoenix Guard (140) Battalions Spyreheart Warhost (130) Total: 1950 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 2 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 91 Already we can see this list's weakness, it's lack of bodies. We knew that going in, this is NOT a horde army. With every unit being super durable, it's at least a bit more forgiving in that regard. The goal here is to get the 3 Phoenixes up in the enemy's face while the mages keep them saved up and dangerous. The Phoenix Guard make use of those command points to roll 6s to run and take objectives quickly before the enemy can reach them. But wait, there's more! One last thing. If you've bothered to read my previous posts, I've talked about the Firestorm Allegiances. It just so happens this little list I've built happens to fit the requirements for one of said Free Cities... Yeah, take your magic and shove it where Sigmar's holy light doth not shine you wretched Maggotkin/Arcanite/Lord of Sacrement. Magic is going to be HUGE this edition. Quote me on that. Screenshot it if you must. Magic is going to be LETHAL. And this right here is what we might call an insurance policy. Better yet, it's just a free allegiance ability. This costs you nothing, you still get to keep the Grand Alliance Order rules and traits. Mix in the fact your temple is from Hysh (Hallowheart isn't in Hysh but just roll with it) and take that Lens of Refraction and your oponent just won't get a word in. Take it for a spin. As always, I am not responsible for your actions and don't tag me in your YouTube video where you barbecue your army.

Coming in HOT after a small points reduction to some key units it's Destruction's finest multi-wound, semi elite force. This faction is packed with solid, durable units and very few of them deal less than 2 damage with each swing of their weapon and some brutal syngergies. Where to start? Well obviously we need to get a hero and at least two battleline choices. Starting with the Hero choice, the Gutbusters have two of these. The Tyrant is a melee bruiser who can smack most other heroes into line, with a randomly generated bonus trait not unlike a command trait and a toasty command ability that lets him inflict D3 mortal wounds on a friendly Gutbuster unit to make it totally immune to battleshock. The Butcher is the wizard choice, usually taken with the optional Great Cauldron option that gives him a random ability that can heal or harm. Obviously with only two hero choices, we'll probably end up having some of each of these two. As battleline goes, you've got Ogors (generic battleline), and Leadbelchers and Ironguts (Gutbusters battleline). The Ogors are your rank and file, packing 4 wounds and decent damage. The Leadbelchers are more of the same but packing decent firearms as well. The Ironguts are your elite infantry, horrifyingly brutal in close combat and capable of taking down basically anything. Where to next? Now we have the foundation, we need to tack on some utility. Often overlooked in this allegiance are the Grots, these cheap little gobbos can net objectives and form decent screens to prevent your valuable troops being closed on by enemy assets. Furthermore, the Tyrant can make them permanently immune to battleshock, which is exceptionally useful. For shooting, Leadbelchers are already passable but to mix some artillery in we have the Grot Scraplauncher (good at dicing hordes) and the Ironblaster (high rend that does ok against numbers but is better served shooting at high wound single models. Also weirdly good at close combat). There's also Gorgers, a flanking option that's also relatively cheap. They are made from finecast however, so consider converting some out of Flesh Eater Crypt Haunters. Adding in Allies Keeping with the Ogor theme, both the Stonehorn and Thundertusk Beastriders can be allied in at 2k points, and the Frostlord on either mount can tag along at 2.5k. For less extravegant options consider the Maneaters, an elite Ogor unit which is both flexible and fun to convert up, and various trolls from the Troggoths units for some seriously durable units. The Finished Product Allegiance: Gutbusters Leaders Tyrant (160) - Massive Ogor Club Butcher (140) Butcher (140) Battleline 6 x Ogors (240) - Ogor Clubs or Blades with Iron Fists 6 x Ogors (240) - Ogor Clubs or Blades with Iron Fists 3 x Leadbelchers (140) 3 x Leadbelchers (140) 6 x Ironguts (360) Units 60 x Grots (270) 1 x Ironblaster (120) Total: 1950 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 1 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 187 In this list I opted out of any allies and doubled down hard on the powerful options already available to the faction. I left 50 points out to get an extra command point for a turn one Tyrant hits the grots and makes them immune to battleshock, then burn another command point if I dont roll a 6 on the grot run to get them right out in front of the army spread out. The slow moving Ogors can move up behind this grot phalanx (which will inevtiably die once sneezed on) until the enemy is within firing range. Their durability will allow the Ogors to hold the objecctives easily against the enemy. Any Gutbusters players reading, definitely comment if I've missed anything. You guys are the real heroes.

Sadly Clanrats have to be taken as a group of either 20 or 40, but they're super cheap so it isn't a bother. Ally 1 or 2 groups of 40, or 3 groups of 20. As for the bell, it should still be 200pts, same as last edition?

I find that with the exception of the 2 result on the Screaming Bell roll table, none of them are objectively bad. Ideally we want the +1 to attack or the summon a free Verminlord, but the 13 inch range mortal wounds will hurt.

Opening up this blog of unconventional picks and tactics, we're going to talk about the allegiance abilities released with the Firestorm Campaign. There's something for each of the Grand Alliances, though the vast majority of them are centred on the ORDER alliance (it was an expansion based on the new free cities, so that's just a given). What are the requirements? For a start, the Firestorm Allegiances recieved an errata where you can only take them as a supplement to being Grand Alliance allegiance. This was changed to prevent armies like Stormcast Eternals abusing the Anvilgard rules and armies like Sylvaneth abusing the Living City rules. As the Firestorm allegiance abilities don't replace your existing ones, and instead add on to them, this was a necessary change to prevent giving existing allegiances a considerable leg-up. Secondly, each allegiance has a list of factions it can include, it doesn't have to include all of them but it can only include choices from these factions. As an example, we'll take the Tempest's Eye free city. So to start, it's important to remember that if for example the army is a Swifthawk Agent's army and you'd like to take the Tempest's Eye allegiance to give yourself a bit of an edge, you still get to use your Shadow Warriors and Spireguard as battleline, because your army is still built entirely of units with the SWIFTHAWK AGENTS keyword. The tricky part is if you want to ally units. You may still ally in as usual, however you can only use the ally choices that are also in the Tempest's Eye requirements (in this case, only the Stormcast Eternals and Eldritch Council). This limits you somewhat, but both contribute well to what a Swifthawk army lacks anyway so it works out relatively well. Allegiance: Order (Tempest's Eye) Mortal Realm: Hysh Leaders High Warden (220) - General - Trait: Inspiring - Artefact: Lens of Refraction Skywarden (160) - Zephyr Trident Skywarden (160) - Zephyr Trident Loremaster (140) - Allies Knight-Azyros (100) - Allies Battleline 5 x Reavers (140) 5 x Reavers (140) 5 x Reavers (140) 5 x Reavers (140) Units 30 x Spireguard (300) 10 x Shadow Warriors (180) 10 x Shadow Warriors (180) Total: 2000 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 0 Allies: 240 / 400 Wounds: 126 So here's a list I've bashed up that I would enjoy playing with the Tempest's Eye allegiance. Straight away we can see it's an extremely mobile army. The army's deadly shooting is accentuated by the allied Knight-Azyros swooping down and providing rerolls, and the Loremaster is pretty much good in any army because he can turn any hero into a godly beatstick with the rerolls he hands out. The army utilizes it's extreme mobility to compete against armies it ordinarily wouldn't be able to deal with, using the small speedbost from Tempest's Eye to reach key positions before the enemy does, and gets the enemy into it's shooting range a turn ahead of when it normally would. When should I take Firestorm Allegiances? It almost feels like these armies were designed to give the old Fantasy Battle line that hasn't recieved a battletome a bit of a boost. For example, you'd be a fool to take this over the allegiance abilities provided by being Stormcast or Kharadron Overlords allegiant, but if you have a Dispossessed army and aren't a fan of the Grudge system they were given, or feel like starting a Swifthawk Agents army after going halves with a friend on the Spire of Dawn / Island of Blood kit, these are the rules for you. Comment your thoughts below guys, and if there's anything specific you want me to cover be it a Firestorm Allegiance or anything else, let me know.

Hey there mate, if I had to recomend my top 5 units to ally to Clan Pestilens id have to go with... Screaming Bell Arch Warlock Clanrats Clanrats Clanrats Clanrats do two things well. They form a wall to protect assets and they squat on objectives. As a pestilens player you should be playing to the strengths of your army (Plague Monks) and working to ally in choices that best compliment them. This is why i prefer not to ally Skryre weaponry and only take the Arch Warlock to tournaments rather than just general games. Clanrats will protect your Plague Monks and hold objectives while your monks run up the table and lay the pain. Give it a try sometime and let me know how you find it.

hey guys, the new GHb18 has listed it that he specifically summons clanrats now. I used to use it to summon a single Verminlord Warbringer in the middle of people's armies.

Something a little different this time, we're reaching out of the pestilent pond and talking about the model that literally made me want to play Skaven as an army (Pre AOS even), the dreaded lord of all Verminlords, Skreech the Verminking. Royal Introductions Skreech is the skaven named character that does a little bit of everything. He has a solid combat profile, he has a toolkit of abilities that let him recieve a small buff of yur choice each turn based on each skaven clan that switches up his utlity, and he's a spellcaster packing the infamous Dreaded Thirteenth Spell. He has a command ability that will be at least slightly useful no matter what type of skaven force you take and he's exceptionally reasonably costed at only 300pts. Boons of the Rat-King The reason to take Skreech in the old edition was his surprising kill capabilities in close combat and his unleashing the Dreaded Thirteenth Spell to chunck a unit for between 5 and 10 wounds on average. In this edition, said sell now summons free clanrats because I don't know, it wasn't strong enough before or something silly. He also went down in cost and contributes as a spellcaster to deal with the new Endless Spells. He no longer has to be the general to use his command ability, a relief considering he can't take a command trait or artifacts. Drawbacks of Monarchy I mean, Skreech's only reaal weaknesses are the same as all the other Verminlords. He only has 12 wounds and a 4+ save, which honestly isn't even awful. He can't take traits or artifacts being a named character, but given his comman ability isn't tethered to being the general that doesn't come into play. Beseeching the Lord Taking Skreech is a no brainer if you've made the call to not use Thanquol and Boneripper (don't use both, it's cool but its 700pts). The real dream however is not taking Skreech, taking a Screaming Bell and summoning him for free, then instantly using the Dreaded Thirteenth Spell to kill a bunch of enemy troops and throw down a line of Clanrats in front of Skreech to cover him from a charge. Mixed Skaven can awlays find a home for the Lord Skreech, do so often and without hesitation.

Welcome to Age of Sigmar second edition people. Lets kick off the first blog post for this edition with how mixed skaven measures up thanks to the chages to Grand Alliance: Chaos rules. Allegiance Ability The GA: Chaos allegiance ability is nothing too overpowered, par the course for the Grand Alliances. "Unbridled Malice" is a slight rework of the old ability they had, in this edition you roll a dice for a unit when you select it to fight in the combat phase if that unit is within 12 inches of your general or 3 inches of a hero, and on the roll of a 6 they add one to all their hit rolls. I like this one (on the event anyone remembers to actually roll for it) because Skaven field a lot of heroes and a lot of units that really benefit from +1 to hit like Clanrats, Plague Monks and Gutter Runners, and I'll be adding this to my reminder sheet. Command Traits Dark Avenger - This grants +1 to hit against order units for the general. Not great really. Spiteful Duelist - Reroll one wound roll per combat for the general. Somehow worse than the above. Cunning Deciever - Roll a dice at the start of your turn, with a 5+ netting you a free command point. This is pretty cool to be honest, great for a pasive long range force like a heavy Skryre or a Moulder force that needs all the command points it can get. Lord of War - Pick a unit within 3 inches and roll a dice, on a 4+ it gets +1 to hit. Definitely neat, this one will usually not ever be a waste especially considering Unbridled Malice as a rule. Terrifying Pressence - Enemies within 3 inches of the general suffer -1 to bravery. Not awful, definitely not better than Lord of War or Cunning Deciever. Malicious Conqueror - Add 1 to all Unbridled Malice rolls made within 12 inches of the general. I like this one, and in my army that runs a heavy amount of minimum size Plague Monk units i'll be taking this every time. Artifacts I literally have no interest in covering 5 out of the 6 artifacts in this list because they're absolutely worthless. However one of them is a classic from the last two editions of the GHB, and it got one HELL of a remake. The Crown of Conquest - Friendly CHAOS units within 6 inches of the bearer don't need to test for battleshock. I'm sorry, what? How on earth did this get past the design team? Did they think the new coherence rule somehow would make this not completely broken? I'm switching from Pestilens Allegiance for this. That's how big a deal this is. This takes Strength in Numbers and kicks it out the door. This thing on a Plaguesmog Congregation Plague Furnace pushed by clanrats for the Look Out Sir rule? Totally broken. This is now a 12 wound model with -2 to hit it providing a 6 inch bubble of NO BATTLESHOCK. This is stupid. I basically wrote this entire blog post to cover this ridiculous artifact.

absolutely, the plagueclaw catapult is the sole reason there are 3 Poisoned Wind Mortar teams chilling on my painting desk. The only reason I dont use them more is my need to ally 80 clanrats for dat screen

Skaven armies are famous for two things; the collosal numbers they slap on the table and the ramshackle war machines they drag behind them. The Plagueclaw is one such machine. You may be more familiar with this weapon of war from seeing it shoehorned into a Maggotkin list, or spamming them to win Mortal Empires in Total War Warhammer (I have no regrets, Mazdamundi had it coming). It isn't often fielded in any chaos list not of Pestilens or Nurgle, a distinction that seperates it from the Warp Lightning Cannon and Stormfiends. Shooting for the Moon This catapult outranges 90% of the units in Age of Sigmar, and doesn't even need to see those units to hit them. Furthermore, as appropriate for something that lore-wise just carpet bombs the enemy with sludge, it gets significant benefits for targeting units that have more than 10 models (Not 10 or more, MORE than 10). It's rend is -2, shockingly brutal for a ranged weapon, which compensates for not recieving the anti-horde bonus if targeting elite units with good armor saves like Stormcast Paladin units or Kurnoth Hunters. Landing in the Dumps Thank god this thing got a point reduction going into AOS2, or I wouldn't even be bothering to write this in the first place. Despite the above benefits, the thing just cost far too much to have more than 1 of as a token threat to hordes during AOS1. 160pts is much more bearable for it's often unreliable nature, and while it's unreliabilty can be directly combatted with the Foulrain Procession batallion, it's also a 700pt sink that will prevent you fielding a decently sized force, something critical to victory with Clan Pestilens. Plaguelord's Verdict I personally plan to be upping my catapult count to 2 heading into AOS2, the point reduction was nice and makes it easier to justify this unit as a support choice.