AIdenNicol444

Seeing as every man and his wolf-rat has done a breakdown of their favorite faction, I'm gonna put forward one of my own. The goal is to only make claims based on experience and playtesting here, not making claims built on untested math-hammer. This blog post will cover the battle traits of Clans Pestilens, which are called "Strength in Numbers" and "Echoes of the Great Plagues". Strength in Numbers No two ways about it, this is a solid battle trait. on average it'll net you an extra 2 bravery, and if your monks are near a furnace (they are) that's an extra 1 bravery again. Suddenly your plague monks are bravery 8. Is that braver than a Stormcast Paladin? It sure is. This is a fantastic battle trait and I would expect to see all skaven alleigances feature this (Skryre does too already). I would play Pestilens Alleigance over Maggotkin or Chaos Grand Alliance just for this, even without Echoes of the Great Plagues. Which brings us smoothly to... Echoes of the Great Plagues Ain't this a treat. Given you're already spamming prayers (What even is the Rule of 1 lmao) this is just icing on an already rotten and tasty cake. On an UNMODIFIED (don't even think about it Neverplague) roll of a 6 from a Plague Priest or Furnace when praying you get to pick one of 5 uberplagues to throw at your opponent. Almost all of these feature the clauses "within 13 inches" and "nearest possible" so don't go expecting to roll a 6 and win the game, you have to work for it Plague Priest. Let's take a look at the contenders. The Neverplague - For the rest of the game, add 1 to the prayer rolls of all PESTILENS PRIESTS in your army for the rest of the game. It's solid, non situational and best used early. The trick is to spam prayers in turn 1 with everything you have to get this. Nothing within range to debuff? Target the ground with the Pestilent Breath ability. A lucky 6 on turn one will have you praying like the pope the rest of the game. Don't be dumb however, if the enemy is nearby and you can damage them heavily with one of the other Great Plagues then TAKE THE SHOT. The Redmaw Plague - I want to love this one, but damn is it hard to get off. The nearest enemy hero within 3 inches of it's allies but not within 3 inches of you is yours during the combat phase. I've pulled it off one or two times, but the wording on it is super limiting. Maybe this will go off once in a while and be a game changer, but it's mostly just super situational jank. The Bubonic Blightplague - This one is probably my favorite. It's short sweet and to the point. The nearest enemy within 13 inches takes d6 mortal wounds, and if they die the nearest enemy to them takes d3, if they die, nearest enemy takes d3 ad infinitum. Don't expect the combo chain to happen, but that isn't what makes this good. D6 mortal wounds is a hell of a lovetap, never understimate it. The Undulant Scourge - I like this one. Kind of odd and very unique, the Undulent Scourge (or as i affectionately refer to it, Pestilens Nuke) is a tasty wee plague that lets you select a MODEL in the nearest unit within 13 inches. Yes, select a model, this prayer is one of less than a handful in the game that lets YOU decide where the wound goes, not the enemy. Anyway, the assigned model takes a wound. The fun doesn't stop there however, now every model in the unit within 3 inches takes a mortal wound too. Did you just blow a hole in a mystic shielded unit of Dreadspears sitting on an objective with 17 mortal wounds? Yes, yes you did. This isn't situationally good, it's situationally insane. The Crimsonweal Curse - Sadly GW kind of phoned it in on the last ability. The nearest unit with 13 inches takes a single mortal wound. They proceed, as well as every enemy unit within an inch of them, to take one in each of your hero phases for the rest of the game. Would be ok if the range was 3 inches, but it isn't. Use it if nothing else applies, and that's about it. Hope this helps out if you're just getting into Pestilens or you're just here to know thy enemy. Up next will be an analysis of the Command Traits and Artifacts of Clan Pestilens.

Thanks Dan, always cool to get feedback from one of the bigger names in our community. Hopefully we can talk more about it when I win the 2018 Masters Tournament eh?

I've been tinkering with the idea of using Censer Bearers in my lists (I never really have due to finecast model / no real place in the army) and I think I've figured out how to make good use of them. Allegiance: Skaven Pestilens Leaders Verminlord Corruptor (220) - General - Trait: Master of Rot and Ruin - Artefact: Blistrevous the Living Cyst Plague Furnace (200) - Artefact: Vexler's Shroud Plague Furnace (200) - Artefact: Liber Bubonicus Battleline 20 x Plague Monks (140) - Foetid Blades - Pestilens Battleline 20 x Plague Monks (140) - Foetid Blades - Pestilens Battleline 20 x Plague Monks (140) - Foetid Blades - Pestilens Battleline 20 x Plague Monks (140) - Foetid Blades - Pestilens Battleline 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades - Pestilens Battleline 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades - Pestilens Battleline 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades - Pestilens Battleline 10 x Plague Monks (70) - Foetid Blades - Pestilens Battleline 5 x Plague Censer Bearers (60) - Pestilens Battleline 5 x Plague Censer Bearers (60) - Pestilens Battleline 5 x Plague Censer Bearers (60) - Pestilens Battleline 5 x Plague Censer Bearers (60) - Pestilens Battleline Battalions Congregation of Filth (140) Plaguesmog Congregation (160) Total: 2000 / 2000 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 176 Nothing super fancy or complicated on display here. This army sacrifices a few bodies for being a 3 drop list, which is important as having the power to decide who moves first is super important when playing pestilens. The Verminlord is the general, an obvious choice as he is the only model in the battletome with a command ability. He takes The Living Cist to enhance his mobility and combat ability slightly as the other artifacts aren't very useful, and his trait lets him pray like a priest. All around a solid if forgettable loudout. One of the furnaces takes Liber Bubonicus for extra prayer power., and this is the furnace part of the Congrgation of Filth, so he'll be deep in a nest of rats at all times. The most interesting choice here is the Furnace part of the Plaguesmog Congregation. He already recieves -1 to hit in the shooting phase beacuse of his batallion, and the Vexler's Shroud enhances that to -2. This should keep him nice and healthy at the front of my army. Eight groups in total of plague monks mean eight groups using their Book of Woes to shoot a mortal wound at the enemy once per game. Sounds neglible right? Imagine on average about 6 of those mortal wounds hit everything in a 13 inch bubble. You just halved on average all their character's health and chunked a section of troops off each unit, guaranteeing a battleshock test all BEFORE they get hit by the monk avalanche, tasty. The censer bearers are here for one reason, their enhanced Nocious Fumes from the batallion (instead of 4+ chance to deal 1 mortal wound to all enemies within 3" it's not a 2+ chance to deal d3 mortals, nice) and their ability to swing over the top of a line of plague monks. Coupled with the -1 chance to hit them with shooting they should do respecatably. I will be testing the list next week and will follow up with a report of the battle and any changes I plan to make (for there will always be ways to improve a list).

Hello and welcome to the first entry in my Pestilens blog. Everyone who knows me knows I more or less exclusively play skaven armies, predominantly Pestilens and have played the Clan Pestilens since I started playing Age of Sigmar, right after the release of their battletome way back at the start of the game. I've played them in numerous tournaments, first at Wellington Warhost 2016, where i came a dazzling last place out of 16 or so contenders (got Best Sports however, being a good loser and all) and since then have earned a reputation as a back of the pack player who just doesn't know when to give up and start playing a top tier army. Since the Generals Handbook 2017 I've seen a stark improvement, winning over half of my games at each tournament since (NICon, Inepticon and the NZ 2017 Masters) and after the kind words of some of the best in the NZ scene I've decided to keep at it with my beloved rats. This blog will follow the repainting of my Skaven Pestilens (I started playing on them, they are less than impressive currently), all results from games I play, interesting happenings in the NZ scene and of course, a place for skaven players to hide from the roving gangs on Tzeentch players crushing our hordes and stealing our warpstone. For the Horned Rat, and the Withered Word! Aiden Nicol