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AIdenNicol444

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  1. AIdenNicol444
    Skaventide Warscroll Changes

    All Clans Covered


     
    Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls. Presented here for you, by popular demand, is a total recap of the changed to all the Skaven scrolls laid out by Games Workshop. To the regular readers you will notice the Pestilens scrolls are in here despite already having been covered in a separate article. This is so anyone seeking a total guide doesn’t have to jump between the two. If you’re Pestilens supremacist or an enterprising Nurgle Maggotkin player perusing new options, go check out the separate article if you like. Now on to the meat of things.


     
    Masterclan

    Seeing a few significant changes to the head honchos, and most if not all of them good. Let’s get stuck in with the rulers of the Rat-Race.

    Grey Seer – increased to 120pts from 100

    ·       Unique spell replaced with Wither, a powerful short range debuff.
    ·       Warpstone mechanic reworked to be more risk/reward.
    ·       Can cast 2 spells now.
    ·       Command ability has been removed.
    Finally the Grey Seer actually behaves like the erratic uber-caster he is meant to be. 2 spells is a great buff considering the Lore specifically for Grey Seers and the Warpstone mechanic is neat and thematic.

    Screaming Bell – Remained at 200pts

    ·       Confers battleshock immunity to nearby units.
    ·       Can’t move without being pushed now.
    ·       Same 2 spell buff as the Grey Seer on foot.
    ·       Peal of Doom reworked slightly.
    ·       Cracks Call range shortened.
    ·       Now has a 5+ ward save
     I was sold from the first point and this thing just gets better as you go down. Everything about the bell is neat and it’s thematic and most importantly, powerful.

    Verminlord Warpseer – Remained at 260pts

    ·       Doom Glaive damage is d3 instead of 3 but attacks 6 times instead of 4.
    ·       Now has a 5+ ward save.
    ·       Has the ability to accrue extra Command Points.
    ·       Command Ability now confers Battleshock Immunity.
    ·       Unique spell does d6 damage to target, rather than d3 or 3 to a flyer.
    ·       Received the new Verminlord bravery debuff effect.
    Another big winner, the Warpseer will find himself in a similar position to the Fungoid Cave Shaman, a powerful utility character that can farm command points and therefore get allied to everything that can take him ideally.

    Lord Skreech Vermining – Remained at 300pts

    ·       Same Doom Glaive change as Warpseer.
    ·       Thirteen Headed One mechanic reworked so all options are viable.
    ·       Now can cast 2 spells instead of one.
    ·       Verminlord bravery debuff effect added.
    ·       Thirteenth Dreaded Spell unchanged.
    My favorite Skaven character, Verminking received only a handful of changes specific to himself but they’re highly impactful. His access to 2 spells instead of 1 works well with his Knowledge of the Arcane rule to let him really lay the magical pain. Otherwise Skreech remains a reasonable option for Mixed Skaven, and a bit outclassed by the Warpseer for ally potential.

    Thanquol and Boneripper – Remained at 400pts

    ·       Warpflame mechanic changed to anti-horde focus.
    ·       Can mix and match whichever weapon options he wants per arm.
    ·       Command ability changed.
    ·       Received the Monster keyword.
    ·       Unique spell changed to anti-hero spell.
    ·       Arkhan the Black level casting buff from Staff of the Horned Rat.
    The cockroach of the Skaven clans, no amount of stepping on this little monster will ever keep him down. Thanquol emerges in the new book as one of the strongest named characters in the game with a swathe of devastating abilities that keep him strong in all phases of the game. Looking good, Prophet of the Horned One.

    Masterclan Verdict

    The Masterclan are looking fantastic after their changes. Im definitely convinced these guys are the undisputed masters of Blight City. There are two big Skaven players in NZ, myself and Mr Mitch Harty (twitter handle is bitch_party), and he’s always been a Thanquol man while I’ve been an adherent of Skreech Verminking. We both came out well from this but Mitch is definitely laughing his way to the bank.


     
    The Clans Verminus

    The soldiery of the rat clans, Verminus bring cheap chaff infantry and heavy hitting elites supported by small affordable leaders and the dread Verminlord Warbringer. Let’s dig in.

    Verminlord Warbringer – Decreased from 280pts to 260pts

    ·       Standard Doom Glaive change.
    ·       Verminlord bravery debuff added.
    ·       5+ ward save added.
    ·       Punch Dagger has the chance to massively increase damage on a 6 to wound.
    ·       Receives combat bonuses for nearby rats rather than for charging.
    ·       Command ability is now wholly within.
    ·       Can now cast 2 spells.
    ·       Death Frenzy spell upgraded to target d3 units instead of just one.
    This guy saunters in and single-handedly makes Verminus Allegiance viable. We don’t even have the full picture and I can safely, SAFELY say this is a thing and this guy will lead it. Fantastic changes across the board that turn this lad from a brutal close combat sledgehammer to a powerful leader and support character… and a brutal close combat sledgehammer.

    Clawlord – Remains at 100pts (Renamed from Skaven Warlord)

    ·       Scurry Away mechanic replaces original retreat after fighting ability.
    ·       May only take the Warpforged weapon option now.
    ·       Command ability unchanged.
    Losing the other weapon options isn’t exactly a big deal as no one ran them anyway. Scurry Away isn’t as good as the old ability where he would fight then have a chance to run immediately after, but at least Scurry Away isn’t on a dice roll. In Verminus armies this guy can take a command trait along with every other Clawlord, so that should be quite interesting.

    Clanrats – Remains at 120/200pts

    ·       No longer receives combat buffs for being a large unit.
    ·       Shields now work against any damage rather than turning off against damage higher than 1.
    Changes to these guys are more in the Allegiance Abilities for the army than on their scroll. They still retreat and charge which is all anyone ever wanted from them anyway. Stay golden pony boy.

    Stormvermin – Remains at 140/500pts

    ·       Exact same shield change as Clanrats.
    ·       No longer get buffs for outnumbering their opponents.
    The changes to these are more in line with the fact that they are receiving so much else from the rest of the army with battleshock immunity, buffs to hit and wound and rerolls being thrown around hard and fast. Stormvermin are an expensive unit that require support to be good, but when they are supported there won’t be much this deadly utility unit can’t do.

    Clan Verminus Verdict

    A solid, well rounded series of warscrolls that are now believable as their own real, tactical force rather than just that time I took 1600pts of Clanrats and Warlords with 2 Screaming Bells allied to cheese a local store event. I look forward to seeing people crying on twitter as they realize how much detail their 89th Stormvermin actually has on the model.


     
    The Clans Pestilens

    My once and future army. My hard-cover Pestilens battletome was bought a week after their release, and it’s no secret my desire to play and win the army borders on the fanatical and unhealthy. I’ve annoyed many a person with constant deranged rants about why its fair the Plague Monk warscroll has more words than the Old Testament and I feel not just qualified but entitled to review and break down this section of the clans.

    Verminlord Corruptor – Increased to 260pts from 220pts

    ·       Unique Spell changed so that it does more damage, but no longer spreads.
    ·       Plaguereapers don’t reroll all their hits anymore but inflict mortal wounds on unmodified 6s to hit.
    ·       Plaguemaster now does AoE mortals around the Verminlord rather than tick off creatures that have already been hurt by it.
    ·       Received a 5+ ward save.
    ·       Received a passive bravery debuff to nearby enemies.
    ·       Command ability now grants rerolls rather than additional attacks.
    Big Cheese himself came out looking pretty good. Can’t help but feel that Plaguereaper change will have an FAQ saying he can’t take the Sword of Judgement on top of that ability so goodbye to that. His prior weaknesses (no rend, terrible survivability) have been fixed, and his strengths (two casts, high attack volume) made it through unscathed. Good changes, though I will miss his old unique spell even if it wasn’t exactly good.

    Plague Furnace – Remained at 180pts

    ·       Altar of the Horned Rat now just makes anything wholly within 13 inches ignore Battleshock.
    ·       The wrecking ball does far more damage but is a single target instead of AoE now.
    ·       The Plague Monk crew actually have attacks now.
    ·       It has the same ward save as the Verminlord Corruptor.
    ·       It has keywords that prevent it from receiving Look Out Sir now.
    Good lord GW the Plague Furnace didn’t actually need to be stronger. Yeah it can’t benefit from look out sir anymore, but they give it mini Crown of Conquest and a ward save? Like what? This thing only got better. Thank the Horned Rat I have 4.

    Plague Priest (Both Variants) – Remained at 80pts

    ·       Tumbled into one warscroll.
    ·       Gained the attack profiles of both original priests.
    ·       The Plague Tome once per game activation is gone.
    ·       Pestilent Prayers are all reworked (addressed at the bottom of the post)
    This was always going to happen. Plague Tome + Wither was one of the strongest combos in the Chaos grand alliance, and people were starting to wake up to it. A shame that they had to change him, but it makes sense why they did. A small price to pay for the rest of the changes, as Iskandar Khayon said in Black Legion, a sacrifice is only a sacrifice if it diminishes the giver.

    Plague Monks – Remained at 70/240pts

    ·       All once per game effects removed from command options.
    ·       Improved Rend on 6s and rats doing damage when they die left untouched.
    ·       Banner now causes 6s to wound to do double damage.
    ·       Doom Gong now boosts running and charge rolls.
    ·       Rerolls for two swords is still here, as is +1 attack for charging.
    The meat and bones of the army. This one was always going to get changed due to it being a troop unit with more rules than Kairos Fateweaver. But the changes are for the good… or so it seems. All the changes are really strong and benefit the unit. HOWEVER the warscroll specifies 1 in 20 for it’s command options, which likely means the minimum unit size has been upped to 20. Squashes a few of my tactics and will mean some changes. I will however roll with these changes and no doubt actually be better off with them (ideally).

    Plague Censer Bearers – Remained at 60pts

    ·       Aura of damage effect is slightly better.
    ·       They receive bonuses for being near monks at a slightly larger range now.
    I expected nothing and wasn’t disappointed. I was terrified these guys would be the recipient of random buffing that meant I would need to convert another 20 ****** Stormvermin into these, thanks for actually having my back there GW.

    Plagueclaw Catapult – Remains at 160pts

    ·       Receives artillery bonuses if there is 10 or more models in the unit, instead of more than 10.
    ·       Does a bravery debuff to victims.
    I was afraid this thing would get worse not because I use it (I have 3 fully panted to a high standard and they sit in a drawer somewhere) but because I’ve already ragged on it so hard, I wasn’t sure how I would somehow step that up. Pleased to say… that won’t be necessary. It’s slightly better.

    Changes to Pestilent Prayers and Noxious Prayers

    The original prayers on the warscrolls of the Plague Priest and Plague Furnace are now gone. They’ve been replaced with new effects that are fundamentally different with bizarre names.

    ·       Disease-Disease! (Formerly Wither): So instead of making it easier to wound the victim ala Wither, this is ow the Gaunt Summoner unique spell on a 6. Boo hiss.
    ·       Pestilence-Pestilence! (Formerly Plague Breath): It’s the same as before but the bubble is 3” not 2”. It also doesn’t affect Pestilens units, rather than Nurgle units. Neat.
    ·       Filth-Filth (Formerly Bless with Filth): Thank Christ it’s still the same. No changes here, and what a boon that is.
    ·       Rabid-Rabid! (Formerly Rabid Fever): Add 1 to the attacks of something nearby. So this is where they shoved the Verminlord command ability. I’ll forever miss the old one of this, my monks fighting after death is a MASSIVE part of my army’s reputation in NZ due to me taking 2 Furnaces and making sure it was always active. Pouring one out for you my lad.
    Clan Pestilens Verdict

    With widespread buffs to everything in the army and very few points increases, none of which could be called unjustified, Clan Pestilens is shaping up as the big winner of the clans so far. Saddle up lads, I will be your captain for this journey and the destination is, indeed, the podium.


     
    The Clans Skryre

    Blegh, really wanted to not do this one because of the sheer amount of reading and writing involved. I’ll save you some reading if you’re just here for Stormfiends: Yes, they got nerfed and no, nobody has any sympathy.

    Arch Warlock – Increased to 160pts from 140pts

    ·       Warpflame Gauntlet hits on a 2+ rather than being auto hit.
    ·       Can increase the damage of his melee weapon and spell at a risk.
    This could have gone a lot worse for Skryre players given the popularity of this lad. He’s still an excellent caster and his ability to take risk death to churn more damage is purely optional so really he plays the same as he did before. Also Skryre have their own whole table of spells for this guy to reap. 20pts isn’t much of an increase considering that.

    Warlock Engineer – Remained at 100pts

    ·       Slight rework to risk/reward spell mechanic.
    Almost entirely the same guy. As ever the devil is in the details and the devil here is Skryre’s new warp lore table. It will be interesting to see if other clans take him purely for that given his affordability.

    Stormfiends – Decreased from 290pts to 260pts

    ·       Can now only take squads of mixed weapons, what the box provides.
    ·       Warpflame reworked, see Thanquol and Boneripper.
    ·       6+ triggers are now Unmodified 6 triggers.
    Damn Games Workshop, I’m not even sure if this was necessary. You could have just changed how warpflame works so a unit of only warpflame wouldn’t be hilariously devastating but sadly, new warpflame on a whole unit of these would be blatantly unfair. I’m hoping this leads to greater variety and interaction with Clan Skryre, but it will be a shame if people hang up their fiends for other options.

    Skryre Acolytes

    ·       Can run and shoot now.
    ·       Can’t shoot things they can’t see anymore.
    You were worthless cheap Skryre battleline before Acolytes and that is EXACTLY where you will remain unless the Skryre Battalion brings you fresh spice. No one would take these in mixed Skaven over Gutter Runners, and no one would play Skryre just to have these as battleline. Hopefully you catch this hard pass better than you throw globes.

    The Weapon Teams (Doomflayer 60pts, Warpgrinder 80pts, Warpflame 70pts, Ratling Gun 80pts)

    ·       All overload mechanics guarantee the death of the unit after its attacks are resolved now.
    ·       The drill comes up whenever you want but can inflict mortal wounds on the units tunnelling up.
    ·       Warpflamer changed to be in line with other warpflame weapons.
    The only one of these that will see any use outside of being mandatory for battalions is the drill, which now is a lot better given the risk of my 500pt unit of Stormvermin simply never surfacing isn’t a thing anymore.

    Warp Lightning Cannon – Remains at 180pts

    ·       Can double the dice for shooting at the risk of blowing the weapon up.
    ·       Now has 8 wounds instead of 6.
    Being able to choose to double the dice to fire the cannon is pretty awesome, even with the risk it entails. Just remember you have to choose to do it before rolling the power dice… pray you don’t roll a 6.

    Doomwheel – Increased from 120pts to 160pts

    ·       Can double it’s shooting attack at a risk.
    ·       Hurts every unit it roams over rather than just one.
    ·       Still a chance the enemy can move it instead of you.
    Look GW you made it better but you didn’t make it 40pts better. I was sold till I saw it can still run over and kill my own things on a bad dice roll and no matter how Skaven that may be, it gets a pass.

    Warplock Jezzails – Remained at 140pts

    ·       6+ is now Unmodified 6 to hit.
    No real changes. Convert some up and drop them out a Gnawhole into shooting range. Not much else to say, they’re still good and they will see use.

    Clans Skryre Verdict

    Wow Skryre, you are tonight’s biggest loser. All I see here is a faction better suited to being allied than ran by itself. Acolytes are trash, Stormfiends require (shudder) actual skill now rather than just a silly battalion and some dice rolls and the weapon teams will just straight up disappear with one turn of bad luck. The only thing that can salvage this is a solid Allegiance ability and their spell lore to be really good. It’s thematic, but don’t expect pure Skryre on the top tables anymore.


     
    The Clans Moulder

    Ah Moulder, I’ve been looking forward to this. Every Skaven player (and every Skaven player reading this knows this to be true) wants Moulder to be good. And wit an Allegiance ability of their own and a new Battalion, this may not be far from the truth. Let’s see how they fare.

    Master Moulder – 100pts (New Warscroll)

    ·       Whole new unit.
    ·       Has the Packmaster whip ability.
    ·       Has a command ability that summons destroyed Moulder units to the table.
    ·       Powerful range of attacks.
    Games Workshop you magnificent ******. This with the Packmaster change is exactly what Moulder needed. A powerful support hero that can hold his own with a command ability tailored the clan he belongs to. 10/10, great work.

    Packmasters – Remained at 60pts, now per Packmaster due to being a unit.

    ·       Can now be taken in groups of up to 3.
    ·       Same whip effect as the Master Moulder.
    ·       Lost a few weapon options.
    Packmasters now come in… packs? Neat and fun, I like it. A neat and expendable option to roam the table following Ogors and Abominations while the Master Moulder does Master Moulder things.

    Rat Ogors – Remained at 100pts

    ·       6+ changed to unmodified 6 to hit.
    ·       Attacks generate additional hits rather than additional attacks.
    Nothing significant changed, just rules tweaks for consistency. Hopefully see more use with buffs and their own allegiance rules. If I catch anyone taking these because they have a shooting attack their house is getting shot with a Plagueclaw.

    Giant Rats – Remained at 60/200pts

    ·       Horde bonus now increases weapon range rather than attack bonus.
    This change makes sense and it’s thematic, and I suppose it’s a good thing that we won’t be seeing Moulder armies with nothing but Giant Rats. That being said, they were always a quiet favourite of mine though I rarely if ever ran them. I see them still seeing a lot of use as an annoying battleshock immune objective camper.

    Rat Swarms – Decreased to 60pts from 110pts

    ·       Rules updated to be similar to restoring dead models to a unit.
    Was cutting the cost of this unit so dramatically potentially a disaster that will see Moulder players catapulting to the top tables as they drown us in 40mm bases covered in plastic rats they bought from their local Pestilens player? God I hope so.

    Hell-Pit Abomination – Remained at 220pts

    ·       Avalanche of Flesh attack similar to Slaanesh Chariots impact but has a 3” range over their 1”
    ·       Warpstone Spikes enable the model to have a chance to straight up ignore magic.
    Solid changes to a severely underutilized unit. A powerful centrepiece of any Moulder army, I will be shocked if there isn’t at least one in all the Moulder lists to come.

    Clans Moudler Verdict

    Damn Moudler, they tweak a few of your scrolls and give you one character and suddenly you’re a real army that poses a real threat. We haven’t even seen their allegiance abilities yet. We will watch your career with great interest, Moulder players.


     
    The Clans Eshin

    The sneakiest come last as ever, but no one will call them the least of the lot once they’ve read these changes.

    Verminlord Deceiver – Remained at 300pts

    ·       5+ ward save added.
    ·       Verminlord bravery debuff added.
    ·       Can cast 2 spells instead of 1.
    ·       Skitterleap is no longer a global teleport and can’t target models with more than 12 wounds.
    Necessary changes. Deceiver enthusiasts should just be grateful they came out without a point increase. Further increased survivability ensures that this master assassin continues to do what he does best, assassinate.

    Deathmaster – Remained at 100pts (Renamed from Skaven Assassin)

    ·       Throwing stars pop into multiple hits on 6s.
    ·       Has a LOT more attacks with Fighting Claws.
    Largely the same old boy by a different name. He does his job a little better now and with so many attacks with his Fighting Claws, the smart Eshin player will close this guide and start digging through the Realm Artefacts. I recommend starting with Ulgu…

    Gutter Runners – Remained at 60/200pts

    ·       Throwing stars pop into multiple hits on 6s.

    They remain the once and future premium ally choice as far as Skaven units go. No changes made, no changes necessary. Stay awesome.

    Night Runners – Decreased from 100pts to 80/280pts

    ·       Throwing stars pop into multiple hits on 6s.
    ·       They make a 2d6 move now after deployment rather than just a free move.
    Same as Gutter Runners, the only change necessary was to stop them moving 20+ inches turn one. Otherwise they’re still what they were before, a niche option but a good one.

    Clans Eshin Verdict

    Without knowing the Allegiance Abilities of Clan Eshin I’d call these the least stand-alone army with no specific spell lore. They’re niche, but I may yet be proven wrong when the rules are shown.


     
    Jesus that was a lot of typing. Tell me your thoughts, yell at me, whine that Acolytes aren’t that bad (they are that bad, shut up). All feedback is welcome as always.
  2. AIdenNicol444
    Building a Skaven List

    Clan Pestilens


     
    The only Skaven clan with a “battletome” (it doesn’t feature any of the stuff modern tomes do, only warscrolls and a small handful of battalions, you need the General’s Handbook for the rest), Clan Pestilens were one of the first armies in the game to receive a book and their line repackaged into the new boxes with round bases and so on. Pestilens takes the existing theme of Skaven being mostly high damage, low durability and escalates it severely. Everything in the book is a melee powerhouse but lacks any form of self-defence.


     
    What Makes the Perfect Virus

    Plague Monks. Everything about this army hinges on and builds around it’s most numerous battleline option. The army features a whole SEVEN warscrolls (people with other armies will think this is a joke, but only Clan Skryre has more options than Pestilens), and all of these bar one are either Plague Monks, or something that makes Plague Monks more useful. It’s unsurprising that the exception, the Plagueclaw, is awful and almost never sees use. Plague Furnace and Plague Priests have access to prayers that buff Pestilens units, or debuff the enemy to make your army more effective at harming them. These prayers are also integrated into the army’s allegiance abilities in a key way.


     
    Allegiance to the Great Corruptor

    Pestilens have 2 allegiance abilities, one is extraordinarily simple and the other is somewhat more complex. Strength in Numbers gives 2 bravery for every 10 models in a unit instead of 1, which makes I far more viable to take 40 stacks of Plague Monks. Echoes of the Great Plagues is where the thinking comes in. Every natural roll of a 6 when praying allows a once per turn use of one of a selection of super plagues. Bar one, all of the Great Plagues hit the nearest target within 13 inches and have devastating effects like body blows of mortal wounds or even making enemies pile into each other. As your army will usually feature a stack of priests who will all be praying their maximum amount every turn, the odds of receiving these are good.


     
    MC Corruptor, Straight outta Ulgu

    Malign Sorcery gave us new artefact tables to draw from, and these come in handy as only 2 of the Pestilens artefacts (Liber Bubonicus and Vexler’s Shroud) are useful. My personal favourite is the Sword of Judgement from Ulgu, which causes d6 mortal wounds on every hit roll of a 6 or more, which single-handedly makes the Verminlord Corruptor the best Hero/Behemoth hunter in the game. Play around with these tables and find what suits you best. Ghur and Ghyran have some gems as well.


     
    Unfurling the Plague Scroll

    Given I’ve actually played well over 100 games with Clan Pestilens and started playing AoS with them, I feel somewhat confident in writing an example list. Over the course of my time in the NZ scene, I meant from 5 Major Defeats with this army to maintaining a win-rate of 3/5 games or better. While most wouldn’t consider this an impressive brag by any stretch, I feel it’s pretty good in a meta that mostly only features the battletome armies.


     
    Allegiance: Pestilens
    Mortal Realm: Ulgu

    Leaders
    Verminlord Corruptor (220)
    - General
    - Trait: Master of Rot and Ruin
    - Artefact: Sword of Judgement
    Plaguesmog Furnace (180)
    Plague Furnace
    - Artefact: Liber Bubonicus
    Congregation Furnace (180)
    Plague Furnace
    - Artefact: Doppelganger Cloak
    Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80)
    Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80)

    Battleline
    5 x Plague Censer Bearers (60)
    5 x Plague Censer Bearers (60)
    40 x Plague Monks (240)
    - Foetid Blades
    10 x Plague Monks (70)
    - Foetid Blades
    10 x Plague Monks (70)
    - Foetid Blades
    10 x Plague Monks (70)
    - Foetid Blades
    10 x Plague Monks (70)
    - Foetid Blades
    10 x Plague Monks (70)
    - Foetid Blades

    Units
    10 x Gutter Runners (120)
    - Allies
    10 x Gutter Runners (120)
    - Allies

    Battalions
    Congregation of Filth (170)
    Plaguesmog Congregation (140)

    Total: 2000 / 2000
    Extra Command Points: 2
    Allies: 240 / 400
    Wounds: 166




    Plan here is simple. Charge the enemy with the 40-man unit of Plague Monks with both the Bless with Filth and Rabid Fever buffs active. This unit will likely die to counter charges, but the active buffs will ensure it takes well over its own point cost with it. This is followed up in the next turn by both Furnaces hitting the enemy. Both will get full chance to fight as the one activated second has Doppelganger’s Cloak and so can’t be fought till it’s activated. The small units of Plague Monks and the Censer Bearers are there to follow up aggression and take objectives, and the Gutter Runners coming on behind the enemy force them to split their deployment, so they can’t present 100% of their defence against the front charge.



    I myself have ran this list several times and can confirm it will have no trouble taking down combat armies, but has trouble against heavy magic lists. To counteract this, utilize Gutter Runners to harass backfield mages and split the enemy’s focus. Don’t forget to remember the Plague Monk’s once per game activations and the radiant mortal wounds on the censers and furnaces. Go forth, and embrace the 3/2 glory that only an army getting absolutely murdered by Tzeentch can know.
  3. AIdenNicol444
    Building a Skaven List

    Clan Skryre


     

     
    Gautfyre Skorch. Done. Go away.

    Ok fine, I’ll do this properly. First up in my series on building Skaven armies to a specific allegiance will be Clan Skryre. I chose Skryre because so far, they’re the most popular Skaven clan and actually see a lot of exposure in the percentages of tournaments. They’re also a relatively easy army to build, given most of the thinking is done for you with the Clan Skryre Enginecoven system.


     
    Allegiance to the Skryre Clans

    The Skryre ability gives you a bunch of tokens you can use to either reroll casting rolls, reroll hit and wound rolls, or add 1 to the damage characteristic of an attack. Essentially, they let you reroll casting rolls. The other two options are almost entirely pointless. As for traits and artefacts, the Cunning Creature trait will keep the Arch Warlock alive and Vigordust Injector will let you buff the Stormfiends, who by now you will understand are the army’s poster child.


     
    Start Your Enginecovens

    Clan Skryre features a battalion that is unique amongst the battalions of the game. It’s composed of one battalion, Clan Skryre, and 2 “Enginecovens”, which are sub battalions. A Clan Skryre battalion must be composed of at least 2 of these.


     



    As we can see from the image, the battalion requires at the very least an Arch Warlock and two Warlock Engineers. You’ll also need some Stormfiends and probably a Warp Lightning Cannon. From there you decide what kind of army you want to go with.


     
    Clan Skryre

    The Arch Warlock gets to reroll any one dice for himself each turn. He can however pass on this to give it to a Warlock Engineer on the table, who can in turn use it on any model in his Enginecoven. Handy for Arkhspark and Gautfyre who can hurt themselves with bad rolls.


     
    Whyrlblade Threshik

    Pick a Doomwheel or one of the Doomflayers and roll 2 dice, it moves that distance. If it’s a double, it also takes D3 wounds. Meh.


     
    Arkhspark Voltik

    Popular because it’s the cheapest Enginecoven. You shoot the Warp Lightning Cannon in the hero phase and roll a dice, on a 4+ it hurts itself. Pretty decent as you get more uses out of the cannon and its stats don’t decline with damage. It probably won’t die the first or second time, so you can get 4 shots out of 2 turns easily.


     
    Gascloud Chokelung

    The acolytes / wind-mortar battalion. This lets you throw a warpstone nuke at the enemy each hero phase, dealing D6 mortal wounds with a chance to fail and deal D3 wounds to the thrower.


     
    Rattleguage Warplock

    The dakka battalion. Lets a unit in the battalion fire during the hero phase, then take D3 wounds which can’t be avoided. Good on the Stormfiends as they won’t die to D3 mortal wounds.


     
    Gautfyre Skorch


    Hooooh boy, it’s the big bad wolf of Skaven competitive lists. This is the battalion that takes the concept of winning or losing the game on a single cheese strategy and just runs with it. The Warp Grinder can be set up anywhere on the table and then everything else gets to come up within 8 inches, with everything within 3 inches of the enemy taking wounds. Basically, this lets you drop a full unit of Warpfire Thrower Stormfiends right in front of the enemy, hose whatever you want with 18d3 mortal wounds, and then leave whatever happens to even survive boxed in with fiends. You can use this to kill every single hero in the enemy army. You can use this to obliterate everything in the enemy army via shooting, charging then the battleshock phase. Essentially, this gives your opponent cancer.


     
    Adding Allies

    Clan Skryre is the Skaven clan that doesn’t need to ally wizards, already having the best wizards in the Skaven line-up. Usually what Skryre needs is objective holders as the most effective Skryre build is the Gautfyre + Arkhspark build. Consider Clanrats, Gutter Runners and Plague Monks. A melee focused Stormfiend army will roll around on the enemy if you ally in Packmasters (Stormfiends have both the Skryre and Moudler keywords).


     
    Assemble the Doom Machine

    Here’s my take on Clan Skryre. I’ve gone for the most meta build, but have swapped out the usual 20 Clanrats for 2 units of 5 Gutter Runners. Their mobility and the fact they appear in the movement phase means they’re deployed after the Gautfyre comes down enabling you to better position them for taking objectives. The Acolytes are only there to take backfield objectives.


     
    Allegiance: Skryre

    Leaders
    Arch Warlock (140)
    - General
    - Trait: Cunning Creature
    - Artefact: Esoteric Warp Resonator
    Warlock Engineer (100)
    - Artefact: Vigordust Injector
    Warlock Engineer (100)

    Battleline
    9 x Stormfiends (870)
    5 x Skryre Acolytes (60)
    5 x Skryre Acolytes (60)

    Units
    1 x Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team (70)
    5 x Gutter Runners (60)
    5 x Gutter Runners (60)

    War Machines
    Warp Lightning Cannon (180)

    Battalions
    Clan Skryre (80)
    Arkhspark Voltik (70)
    Gautfyre Skorch (150)

    Total: 2000 / 2000
    Extra Command Points: 1
    Allies: 0 / 400
    Wounds: 99




    This was a really long way of typing out Gautfyre Skorch is da best. Seriously, it’s super flexible and good in a meta where you don’t need to roll to hit with the Warpflame (get rekt look out sir). You will win or lose the game depending on how your hotdrop on top of the enemy goes. If they’re a static elite army like Stormcast or Sylvaneth, GGEZ. If they’re a bubblewrapping horde army like Moonclan or any chaos horde army with Crown of Conquest, touch luck buddy. Go with the Horned Rat and cheese in his name.


     
  4. AIdenNicol444
    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.  
  5. AIdenNicol444
    NZ Masters Tournament 2018

    Road to the Top


     

     
    Overview

    With the New Zealand Masters Tournament 3 weeks away, and list submissions due in 6 days, I figure it’s close enough to talk about my preparation for this tournament. Unsurprisingly, I’ll be running the Pestilens allegiance and going for the top, with the goal yet again of being the first Clan Pestilens player to win or place a major event. Over the last 2 months my list has gone through a heavy amount of changes, and I ran a version of the list at the recent Notorious Hammer tournament to test the waters as well as countless practice games with close friends to streamline the list and reach a standard of consistent performance I’m happy with.

    The NZ Masters tournament is an invitational tournament, where the top 20 players n the NZ rankings are offered places at the event and then the invites work there way up from 20 if people decline. The New Zealand tournament meta is relatively consistent and features roughly 20 consistent contenders at most tournaments with a few more players that make the odd tournament here and there, and most people are known clearly for the lists they take and change them rarely. The most popular armies currently are Stormcast Eternals, Nurgle and Legions of Nagash, with the rest of the players displaying a wide variety of forces from all Grand Alliances. This being the case, for anyone to be a contender for the top spots they have to pack tools that let their force deal with decent armor saves, long-range magic and large numbers. All the recent winners of local tournaments will be attending the Masters, and with every player being in the tier of rankings where they on average win 3 or more games in a 5-game event the competition is guaranteed to be fierce.


     
    The Event

    The tournament follows the same pattern as most tournaments, 5 games with 3 on day 1 and 2 more on the second day. Realm Artefacts are available for list building, but the Realm Spells and Realmscape effects will not be. While most NZ tournaments have relaxed painting standards, 3 color minimum at most with the incentive to paint your army being bonus hobby points for the soft scores, at the Masters a model that is not painted to a degree that demonstrates completion (based, highlighted, washed etc) will simply not be allowed to be used. The tournament is in the Kapiti Coast region of NZ, a 45 minute drive from the capital city hosted by the local wargaming club there, who hosted the event last year as well to great success.


     
    My List

    So without further ado, here is the list I’ll be taking in the tournament.

    Allegiance: Pestilens
    Mortal Realm: Aqshy

    Leaders
    Verminlord Corruptor (220)
    - General
    - Trait: Master of Rot and Ruin
    - Artefact: Magmaforged Blade
    Plague Furnace (180)
    - Artefact: Liber Bubonicus
    Plague Furnace (180)
    - Artefact: Thermalrider Cloak
    Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80)
    Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80)
    Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80)

    Battleline
    40 x Plague Monks (240)
    - Foetid Blades
    10 x Plague Monks (70)
    - Foetid Blades
    10 x Plague Monks (70)
    - Foetid Blades
    10 x Plague Monks (70)
    - Foetid Blades
    10 x Plague Monks (70)
    - Foetid Blades

    Units
    5 x Gutter Runners (60)
    - Allies
    5 x Gutter Runners (60)
    - Allies
    40 x Clanrats (200)
    - Rusty Spear
    - Allies

    Battalions
    Congregation of Filth (170)
    Congregation of Filth (170)

    Total: 2000 / 2000
    Extra Command Points: 2
    Allies: 320 / 400
    Wounds: 181

    So to start from the top. The general of the list is the Verminlord Corruptor. I chose the Verminlord because him being the general means I can give him Master of Rot and Ruin, which means he can pray in the same manner as a Plague Priest (and as of AoS2, also generate Great Plagues on a 6 to pray), as well as him being incredibly mobile so his 12” range auto-pass battleshock range can get where it needs to go. While I would rather give him Sword of Judgement over the Magmaforged Blade, I needed to pick Aqshy for another artefact in the list so I reached a compromise.


     
    The twin Plague Furnaces each fulfil a different role. One has been given Liber Bubonicus, shoring up it’s prayer capabilities so it can follow the large unit of Plague Monks around and keep them buffed up. The second has been given the Thermalrider Cloak, a devastatingly useful artefact for a Plague Furnace by giving it an extra 4” move as well as granting it the ability to FLY. By snaking 10 rats around the furnace you can fire the thing out of the deployment zone and halfway up the table, potentially into a devastating charge onto an objective.


     
    The 3 Plague Priests are here to spam their breath prayer on turn 1 to get the Neverplague Great Plague nice and early, then spend the rest of the game harassing unit clumps with their breath and stacking debuffs on vital targets. Keeping one of these lads near the two 40-man units ensures battleshock tests won’t ruin them utterly.


     
    The Plague Monks are the life of the party. One unit of 40 that can have buffs stacked on it easily and refuse to get off objectives and four units of 10 to run around and suicide into targets and harass flanks. Plague Monks really aren’t something opponents can afford to ignore, but spending time killing them is time spent not targeting the enormous 12 wound threats in the leader slots. If the 40-rat unit isn’t bled down in the early game, the opponent has to deal with an enormous footprint that will tear a hole in anything that can’t commit to destroying it in a single turn, and even then, the Rabid Fever prayer means they’ll still get to take a swing before they die.


     
    Gutter Runners are, for lack of any better description, a pain in the ass. They pop up behind the enemy ranks and throw a bunch of throwing knives into them before running in and shanking them. The shooting attack isn’t exactly Skyfire tier but their melee attacks are nasty with decent hit and wound chances and innate -1 rend. Their main strength is that the enemy needs to spend troops on zoning these bad boys out, while dealing with the massed Plague Monks hurtling towards them from the front. Caught between a rock and a very stabby place, such as it were.


     
    Clanrats, god bless them, rarely need any kind of explanation why they’re in a list. They’ll run, they’ll charge, they’ll run away and they’ll do it all again. Retreat and Charge is a crazy feature of a very cheap unit, meaning they won’t get tied up fighting other chaff and their big unit size means getting rid of them means a hefty commitment. The only weakness of Clanrats is their propensity to cut and run the moment they start taking casualties. Well, it would be, if we weren’t living in glorious AoS2 and a battleshock test is one Command Point to get out of jail free.

    The battalions in this list are 2 Congregations of Filth, each comprised of 1 Plague Furnace and 2 or more units of Plague Monks. The only reason I’m taking this is to shave the list drops down to less than 10 to out-drop other armies that don’t take battalions and for the big unit of 40 getting to reroll its charges. Also I needed a bunch of artefacts and command points. Cheers congregation.


     
    List Building Process

    The list above is actually no less than the 17th Pestilens list I’ve ran, with the goal of creating the ideal list for my meta. After every tournament and serious practice game I have gone over what works, what doesn’t, and made the necessary adjustments. The list has gone from no less than 240 wounds at the start of the year, to running multiple endless spells and allied wizards with the Malign Sorcery drop, and for about 2 weeks dropping it completely and angrily painting my Gautfyre Scorch. The end result is unlikely to be a perfect list but is the most streamlined for my current situation and hopefully will prove as much at the masters.


     
    Conclusion

    I’m hoping this will be the even where I at last bring in the big win for my Clan and the group of very scary people breathing down my neck expecting results. If I win or at least podium, I will have completed the goal I set for myself 2 years ago when I finished the second tournament I’d attended with 0 victories and risen to the top of the highly talented NZ Warhammer scene. If I lose I’ll probably nuke my army from orbit and start an Eshin army for the memes.

    Anyhoo, see you all after Masters in my new blog Clan Eshin Best Clan!

  6. AIdenNicol444
    Building a Skaven List

    Clan Moulder


     
    Rats on rats. Moudler is the Skaven clan characterised by two things; the massive weight of monsters and numbers it can bring to the table, and the staple reliance it’s players have on Forgeworld. A cursory look at the Moulder GW line will give you an entire Online Order Only army, most of which has lacklustre rules. Fortunately, daddy Forgeworld has our back. Brood Horrors and Wolf Rats are massively underutilized Skaven units but are both absolutely fantastic units, and very strong in the current meta.


     
    Building a Better Rat

    Moulder have no battalions since the gutting of the clawpacks, and no allegiance abilities either. This means we’re going high drop counts, and we’re going in with one artefact. A Moulder list hinges on it’s Packmasters, a specialized hero who provides a swathe of buffs to nearby Moulder monsters. He can whip a nearby unit to make it charge further and hit harder, and Moulder units near him double their bravery during the battleshock phase. Their battleline options are the cheap swarms of Giant Rats that get better the more there are, and the hard hitting Rat Ogors.


     
    Go Big or Go Home

    You have 4 behemoth slots at 2k games, and we need to fill all 4. The best unit for the job is the Brood Horror, a Forgeworld warscroll who boasts an impressive combat profile and the ability to heal itself for d3 wounds every turn. The Hellpit Abomination is also a contender for this slot, but their higher points cost, lack of durability and random modifiers tend to make them subpar compared to the Brood Horror. You’ll need speedy units for objectives, and again Forgeworld provides with the Wolf Rats. These fast moving units hit hard on the charge and are great targets for Packmaster buffs. The final piece of the puzzle is something that can tie the enemy up and keep them from counter-charging your Horrors and Wolves, and what better for this than massive units of Giant Rats. Their stats decline horrifically as they lose models, but at their best these things will slam hard into enemy infantry.


     
    Imperfect Monsters

    The army’s weaknesses lie in it’s vulnerability to battleshock and bravery shenanigans, it’s lack of wizards and absence of reliable shooting. Strong units to ally can be the Verminlord Corruptor, who’s command ability will aid your army while also providing a valuable wizard, and the Gutter Runners of Eshin who flank behind your horde and harass support heroes. Pestilens Plague Priests can buff the army’s wound rolls and allow rerolls to wound, making Giant Rats and Wolf Rats even more lethal on impact.


     
    The Horde Unleashed

    Here I’ve constructed a list designed to capitalize on the impact of the army. Given the enemy will be deciding who goes first more than likely, the best case scenario is going second and setting up a double turn. Praying for Wither on the enemy and then hitting them with the Giant Rats, as well as flashing the same enemy with the Plague Tome, will ensure the Giant Rats annihilate the front row. This leaves the Brood Horrors free to advance and take hit buffs from the Packmasters.


     
    Allegiance: Moulder

    Leaders
    Packmaster (60)
    - General
    - Herding Whip & Blade
    - Trait: Malicious Conqueror
    - Artefact: Crown of Conquest
    Packmaster (60)
    - Herding Whip & Blade
    Packmaster (60)
    - Herding Whip & Blade
    Verminlord Corruptor (220)
    - Allies
    Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80)
    - Allies
    Plague Priest with Plague Censer (80)
    - Allies

    Battleline
    40 x Giant Rats (200)
    40 x Giant Rats (200)
    10 x Giant Rats (60)
    10 x Giant Rats (60)

    Units
    10 x Wolf Rats (200)
    10 x Wolf Rats (200)

    Behemoths
    Brood Horror (160)
    Brood Horror (160)
    Brood Horror (160)

    Total: 1960 / 2000
    Extra Command Points: 0
    Allies: 380 / 400
    Wounds: 195




    This is one hell of a lot of bodies. Hit up your local Pestilens player for their spare decorative rats to get a lot of Giant Rats quickly. Purchase a can of Mournfang Brown and a small bucket of Agrax Earthshade. And finally, develop both an intimate understanding of the British Pound exchange rate and the virtue of patience as you deal with our Forgeworld Overlords.
  7. AIdenNicol444
    Alrght up next on my overview of the Skaven Pestilens overview, we're lloking at the Command Traits available as well as Artifacts Skaven Pestilens characters have the option of taking. No need for fanfare, lets get stuck in.
    Command Traits
    Malevolent - The general gets to reroll wound rolls of 1. Not great, if you're putting your hopes on a Verminlord Corruptor to face down the enemy army and sweep it aside you're in the wrong army, Clan Verminus has it's dens further down the street. Only ever going to come into effect on a Plague Furnace, and there are better options. NEXT.
    Diseased - I like the thematic nature of this one. Basically, you roll a dice in the hero phase and on a 5+ someone within 3 inches of the general gets smacked with d3 mortal wounds. Not terrible, just remember to actually do it if you chose it.
    Master of Rot and Ruin - Hello hello, this is the one you want. If they're a Plague Priest, reroll to prayers. If not, they get to the Pestilent Prayers rule from the Plague Priest scroll. Neat ona Verminlord, and cool on a Plague Furnace too. Hard to go wrong with this one.
    Fanatical Leader- Add 1 to the attacks characteristic of all the general's melee weapons. Jesus, the Verminlord already hits 10 damn times adding 1 more isn't going to suddenly make him a Warbringer. Funny on a Furnace, useless everywhere else.
    Verminous Valor - You'd be hard pressed to find a more thematic ability in the entire game. On a dice roll of 4+, the general hands off any normal or mortal wounds suffered onto a hapless group of rats nearby. This is fantastic ona furnace because it's always surrounded by rats anyway.
    Architect of Death - Pestilens shooting missile units near the general get to reroll their wound rolls of 1. Obviously designed for the Plagueclaw Catapults, unless the Verminlord's tail has finally become a weapon to surpass Metal Gear.
    Artifacts of Clan Pestilens
    The Fumigatous - In the combat phase, someone within 6 inches of the bearer takes a mortal wound on a dice roll of 3+. Not bad on the Corruptor, his Plaguemaster ability is triggered by all damage he deals regardless of the source. Not quite an auto take, but not worthless.
    Brooding Blade - You pick one of the weapons of your general, and any model that took a wound from that weapon but didn't die takes d3 mortal wounds at the end of combat on a dice roll of 6. If you're a clever cookie who splits his attacks between multiple units this isn't half bad.
    Billious Bell - In your hero phase roll a D6 for all enemies within 12 inches of the holder, on a 4+ they subtract 1 from their bravery. Pretty cool on a Plague Furnace given they're usually in the thick of things.
    Blistervious, the Living Cyst - Jesus this one is fun. Gives a small buff, reroll 1s to hit and move 2 extra inches, not bad. If you're within 12 inches of a pestilens character in yoursecond or later hero phase however, it jumps to them. Give it to a dud character, then have it jump to the Verminlord who already is running about with his Vexler's Shroud. Godspeed you rabies infested murder monster.
    The Liber Bubonicus - Well well, the only artifact with massive lore behind it. Plaguemaster Skrolk's old book lets it's bearer be a Plague Priest if they ain't one, and pray twice if they are. This plus Master of Rot and Ruin on  a generic Plague Priest makes for a nasty little rat with a chip on his shoulder, and probably the funniest general this army can field in casual or 1k games,
    The Vexler's Shroud - Enemies subtract 1 from hit rolls when targeting the bearer in the shooting phase. Simple, clean and always useful.
     
    That's it for the Pestilens Traits and Artifacts. Next I'll do a unit analysis of the HQ characters, and follow it with the rest.
  8. AIdenNicol444
    Thought on the Maggotkin of Nurgle
    As a preface, this blog post isn't how I feel about Maggotkin as a whole, that's been done god knows hw many times already by smarter men than me. Want i want to talk about is how Maggotkin of Nurgle relates to Skaven Pestilens, as both armies entirely share the Nurgle keyword.
    Initially, I was quite excited. My faith was low with the Corruptor, and like all wargamers the allure of new shinys was indeed a potent lure. I weighed up dusting off my 30 Plaguebearers and using them as a generic battleline while stuffing the rest of the list with Pestilens under the Maggotkin alleigance. I liked the idea of the terrain, being able to run and charge, and having the benefits of the random effect clock thing they get.
    However time eroded my concerns and restored my faith. Alleigance abilities often exist to shore up the weaknesses armies have, and there's no denying Maggotkin helps Nurgle with theirs. However, Pestilens absolutely do not share the Nurgle weaknesses, and have their own to deal with. Pestilens are much more mobile than nurgle, they'll easily engage the eney army turn 1/2 circumstance depending, not 2/3 like Nurgle. The cycle heals all Nurgle models and that's cool because the army is jam packed with multi-wound models like blightkings etc, again something Pestilens lacks mostly. Finally, if you've read my Pestilens Battle Traits overview you'll know I am very fond of Strength in Numbers. Can I live without the Great Plagues? Probably. Can I live with my army getting sneezed on by a Dracoth and deciding to abandon the ship? Absolutely not. If Strength in Numbers was an inate effect shared across all Pestilens warscrolls I'd probably be cutting the cover off my battletome and pasting the Maggotkin one inside. But the battleshock phase is a thing and I play skaven so no can do.
    Interestingly however, there is a point of interest that people haven't noticed. You know all those Maggotkin spells that do horrible amounts of mortal wounds but if the victim is nurgle it does nothing or straight up heals them, desiged as a multipurpose spell for them to heal themselves or smack the enemy? Pestilens has army wide Nurgle keyword, so not happening Maggotkin. You know the Maggotkin wheel of fortune they have for a battle trait? Doesn't specify allied nurgle, just nurgle in general. Pestilens has army wide Nurgle keyword. If you, a hardworking, blue collar Pestilens player gets matched against one of these high and mighty, has-an-actual-battletome Maggotkin preeners, they're in for a smacking. Their strengths are our strengths too, and their multipurpose utility spells are worse than useless against us. That lovely terrain feature that let's Nurgle models run and charge? Those blightkings just took a turn 1, fully buffed Plague Monk charge and exploded.
    In the end if asked whether Maggotkin changes Pestilens, not at all. They might take the odd Pestilens unit as a damage bomb, but as we all know a single bit of damage splashed on that will see it cut and run. Maggotkin has a lot of strengths, but all Pestilens need to succeed is grit, a dice bucket and some good old fashioned strength in numbers.
     
     
  9. AIdenNicol444
    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.
     
  10. AIdenNicol444
    Today we're going to talk about the strategies available to the enterprising Clan Pestilens player and the tricks and tools of the disease trade. Some of these aren't exactly unique to Pestilens, but all of them are useful to them.
    The Prayers of a Righteous Rat
    Did you know you can cast the damage prayer on the Plague Priest scroll without an actual target? It targets an area, not a unit. Interesting info, but not really useful right? Wrong. Spam this turn 1 with no valid target and go for a great plague, and select the Neverplague. The only excuse to not be spamming plague breath on empty spaces is of there's actual targets available or you already have the Neverplague.
    Weather the Storm
    So the enemy is unpacking his Beastclaw/Khorne/Daughters of Khaine. Our rats don't have a chance against such famous combat geared armies right? Wrong, they're as good as dead already. When the enemy is running an all charging minimum shooting list there is but one answer. Lines of single file plague monks across the edge of the deployment. Ideally 2 or 3 groups of 10, 6" gaps between them to stop the enemy squeezing past. Behind this line, 6" back (for safety) is a gigantic blob of plague monks. The first line will gey hit like an avalanche and they will almost certainly die. The enemy is now within range of a fully buffed, fully packed Plague Monk swarm. Chuck on some prayers of Wither on the enemy, move forward into range and charge (taking the Congregation of Filth will prevent double 1 rolls). Doesn't matter what they're running, they're dead.
    Conga Line of Death
    Never move your rats around in squares, this isn't fantasy battle. Squeeze as much use out of the rat squads as possible, form a long line and hold an objective while also screening for a priest and keeping an enemy tied up in a dud fight. Form circles around objectives, wrap monks around furnaces to prevent units with 1" range weapons bringing the furnace to battle. It's not dirty, it's alternative tactics.
    Discretion is the Better Part of Murder
    Retreat, it's the golden move no one ever uses to their advantage. Charge an enemy, then retreat around the side of them the next turn. Your enemy is likely to know he can't actually beat plague monks in a fight and won't charge them, so if you're already holding an objective don't charge off it. There isn't always a nees to fight. Know when to fight, and when to wait.
    Below are some pictures of silly rat movements that would win me the game. Doesn't matter if it looks stupid, as long as you win.


  11. AIdenNicol444
    Event Preparation: ChariCon Upper Hutt
    First event with "New Skaven"
     
    This coming weekend the Wellington Region in New Zealand (The Capital Region, the Best Region, the Once-and-Future Region) is playing host to a new style of event called ChariCon. The astute among you will notice this word is a mash-up of the words "Charity" and "Convention", which believe it or not is no mere coincidence. 100% of the proceeds and revenue generated by registrations and various charity raffles and the like over the weekend will go towards Cancer research, and the tournament doesn't count towards the National Rankings so a huge portion of new players are coming along to get their feet wet and the established players are treating it as an excuse to run fun, non-optimized lists and have a good time just socializing. What better opportunity to take my new army for a spin in a tournament style event without causing my ranking to suffer when I inevitably crash and burn?
    The list I'm taking is largely things that I already have painted, given my work and home lives have been extremely hectic the last few weeks I didn't want to gamble on having painting time. I got my Gnawholes purchased and I have will need all of the roughly 12 minutes spare time I get each week to get them at least drybrushed. With the next few events being only 1250pts till Notorious Grand Tournament in May my stock of 100 Plague Monks painted to a high standard will get me through painting rubrics, but I'm working on the remaining 60 for the big event. I padded the numbers in the list with some Plague Censer Bearers, which aren't exactly top tier but I converted my own out of Stormvermin and so help me I will run them at least once this year. Without further ado, I present the list:
    Allegiance: Pestilens
    Mortal Realm: Ulgu

    Leaders
    Plague Furnace (180)
    - General
    - Trait: Master of Rot and Ruin 
    - Artefact: Liber Bubonicus 
    Plague Priest (80)
    - Artefact: The Foul Pendant
    Plague Priest (80)

    Battleline
    30 x Plague Monks (210)
    - Foetid Blades
    30 x Plague Monks (210)
    - Foetid Blades
    30 x Plague Monks (210)
    - Foetid Blades
    5 x Plague Censer Bearers (60)
    5 x Plague Censer Bearers (60)

    Battalions
    Congregation of Filth (160)

    Total: 1250 / 1250
    Extra Command Points: 1
    Allies: 0 / 200
    Wounds: 122
     
    Before anyone asks, no Warscroll Builder hasn't been updated with the Skaven stuff yet I just tweaked it in a word document, I imagine it could be a while before it's updated. 
    To start, one can clearly see the absence of the Verminlord Corruptor. I opted to take the Plague Furnace kitted out with both the Artefact and Command Trait that boost it's prayer effectiveness, in the hopes of getting an early Neverplague. The issue with taking the Corruptor is a small scale game is you need to give him a lot just to make him capable of praying, while the Plague Furnace benefits much more from it at this game size. The two priests on foot are there for two reasons; Hero models for Three Places of Power, and absolutely abusing the prayer mechanic (as always). I've given one The Foul Pendant to deal with non-optimized casting given the event is running Realmsphere rules and each army with a wizard will have access to an extra spell.
    Three units of 30 Plague Monks are just plain here to party and not go anywhere thanks to Altar of the Horned Rat + Plague Altar making sure they don't take casualties from Battleshock and have a bit more durability. Given they aren't units of 40 I had to select command options rather than just taking them all like the good old days, and opted for Banner of Contagion (6's to wound inflict 2 damage instead of 1) and Bale-Chimes (6's to hit are resolved at -1 rend). I opted not to take the Doom Gongs (+1 to Run and Charge) as i'll need to spend my excess Command Points on SOMETHING, or the Icon of Pestilence (roll a dice when a model is slain in combat, on a 6 the cause takes 1 mortal wound) as I plan to hit first and inflict massive casualties, rather than putting efficiency into being on the back foot.
    The Plague Censer Bearers are here, good for them. They'll either get set up in bubbles around the Plague Priests to keep them alive or used to push the Plague Furnace around. Perhaps used as a wall or some other suicidal task befitting a unit of their... pedigree.
    Congregation of Filth remains the mainstay Clan Pestilens battalion, even without providing re-rolls to charge. The 6+ ward save (a save that works against both unsaved wounds AND mortal wounds) is neat and it's wholly within 18" requirement is nothing to worry about. This combined with the fact Plague monks now have a 6+ armor save makes them doubly durable against no-rend attacks. I may be taking a risk taking it at 1250pts given it's 160pts not being spent on more bodies, but risk is the only way to test results.
     
    The plan with the army is relatively straightforward. Surround the Plague Furnace with two flanks of Plague Monks heavily buffed up and charging forward forcing the enemy's attention, while the rest of the army pushes up the other part of the board and forces them to split their forces. The Plague Priests will get stuck in on the front lines using Lead from the Back to remain healthy despite being in the thick of it, and the Furnace will (ideally) hang close enough to it's units of Monks that it doesn't awkwardly come to a halt.
    Looking forward to really stress-testing the list and having a great weekend rolling dice and pushing toy soldiers around for charity, see all of my NZ peeps there. 
  12. AIdenNicol444
    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.
  13. AIdenNicol444
    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.
     
  14. AIdenNicol444
    Striding above the lesser rats as they charge screaming into battle is a monster the skaven fear more than any other. Verminlords are the truest incarnation of the Horned Rat, be they ascended champions rewarded for excellence, shards of the Horned Rat given form and function, or the hideous Lord Skreech Verminking, an abomination formed from the essence of the entire original Council of Thirteen. These entities lead the skaven, from the front and from the shadows, and of their number none are fouler than the Verminlord Corruptor.
    A Nurgle Daemon Unlike Any Other 
    The Verminlord Corruptor is the centrepiece model of a Clan Pestilens army. As the only unit in the book with a command ability, if they're in the list they'll be the general. Before Pestilens recoeved alleigance abilities this guy didn't see much use, he was an awkward out of place model that simply cost too much. Now, with a point reduction and command traits and artifacts that bring him into line with the rest of the army this chittering monstrosity makes for a formidable leader indeed.
    Disease Strides the Battlefield
    The Corruptor is best played thematically. He stalks behind a line of plague monks, casting his command ability on them while casting mystic shield to preserve nearby Plague Furnaces and unleashes his unique Plague spell on anything close, or anything close to his nearby expendable and targetable swarm. He only fights in close combat when victory is assured, and given his game changing command ability is willing to expend every last rat to preserve his own well-being. Equipped with the Blistervious, the Living Cyst and bearing the Master of Rot and Ruin trait this potent support general will stay alive on the back field, casting prayers and spells to support his minions and dealing with any enterprising assassins foolish enough to come close.
    Points to Remember
    12 wounds and a 4+ save is not that durable. If the Corruptor tries to trade blows with anything bigger than a support hero, he will lose. The idea of this mighty creature cutting down hated Allariele the Everqueen is pleasant, until her beetle takes him out in literally one round of combat.
    Prayers used by a Corruptor who has Master of Rot and Ruin or the Liber Bubonicus cannot trigger Great Plagues. Can't fathom why, but rules as written he doesn't. Don't try it. We might be scum skaven players, but we aren't cheats.
    His unique spell can be chained through your own troops to reach the enemy. Not always smart, but always funny when it goes off and causes the enemy even more casualties.
    Parting Shots (With a Prehensile Tail)
    I've begun the hard task of repainting my corruptor, shown here in his original, if somewhat rough glory, and halfway through his new paint job with lovely crystalline horns.


  15. AIdenNicol444
    Notorious Hammer
     
     
     
    Just got home from the Notorious Hammer event in Johnsonville, Wellington and I’m here to let everyone know how it went. The tournament went overall exceptionally well, big props to Shaun from Notorious AOS (https://notoriousaos.podbean.com/) for T.O’ing the event and running a tight ship. Once again, the New Zealand Warhammer scene is better for your efforts. Everyone had a great time and there was a great field present for 2 days of great games.
     
     

     
    Game 1: Shaun T – Daughters of Khaine
    Scenario: Focal Points
    Outcome: Major Defeat 720 Kill Points
    Wow. Set up my army with a Clanrat screen 40 long and 4 lines deep to brunt the massive Witch Aelf assault and Shaun just wasn’t having it. Smoothly punching through my lines and delivering a powerful follow up punch making use of the army’s ability to pile in effectively, and supporting his front line with the Cauldron of Blood and Morathi herself, Shaun schooled me hard on playing an all melee army. This tips the balance towards Shaun in our ongoing tug of war for supremacy, and I’ll absolutely be gunning for him next tournament.
     
     

    Game 2: Shaun B – Stormcast Eternals
    Scenario: Better Part of Valor
    Outcome: Major Victory 2000 Kill Points
    Shaun (Big Shaun for Notorious listeners) opened with the same strategy he used to wipe the floor with me at Call to Arms 2 months ago. Deploying his Sequitors and Evocators along the line ready to charge in after absolutely smacking the hell out of me with an Everblaze Comet, Shaun lined my head up on the block from the start of the game. Unfortunately, his comet failed to cast and his alpha-strike play was unable to clear me off the objectives due to burning a command point to pass battleshock (cheers battalion people said not to take). This prevent Shaun burning my objectives on turn 1, and I retaliated with a lethal counter-surge with Plague Monks that saw Shaun pushed backward and eventually cleared away.
     
     

    Game 3: Regan – Stormcast Eternals
    Scenario: Shifting Objectives
    Outcome: Major Victory 2000 Kill Points
    The Realmscape rules here saw units unable to fly banned from run moves, forcing myself and Regan to aggressively footslog towards the objectives shooting each other nasty glares. Regan arrived first, scoring an early lead and building a wall out of Anvils of the Heldenhammer, but my counter-offensive benefitted from some choice dice rolls and superior mobility with the Clanrats retreating and charging around their slower, more powerful opponents. With the points under lock, I turned my focus to exterminating the lethal Anvils before they could use their formidable command ability in conjunction with their Evocators to send me packing.
     
     

    Game 4: Cameron – Seraphon
    Scenario: Starstrike
    Outcome: Major Victory 2000 Kill Points
    Cameron and his 3 Engines of the Gods opened the game by summoning 60 Skinks to the table to shore up his middle position while I spread my army out without committing to any one side. This proved to be a wise move, with the centre and enemy objectives being in the left board side and my own on the far right (appropriate). My Clanrats on the right retreated immediately to secure the home point while the rest of my army slammed into his endless ranks of Skinks and set about punching through them. With a gap formed, the Verminlord darted through and artfully brought the Astrolith Bearer and an Engine to the ground, while blocking the summoning range of the other engines and the Slann. With all objectives tightly in my grip and staring down the barrel of a slow and steady death at the hands of pestilence, my opponent conceded to save time.
     
     

    Game 5: Lee – Sylvaneth
    Scenario: Total Conquest
    Outcome: Major Defeat 1450 Kill Points
    Match of the century at the top table, with the winner set to win the whole tournament, nothing about this match was carefree. Me and Lee are actually neighbours and play each other more regularly than any other opponents, so this was set to be a great game. Lee artfully matched my playstyle of massive aggression followed by retreats and more aggression with his defensive, never committing to any one area till late-game style. The points were neck to neck with the leader changing each battle round, each of us making counter-moves we’ve practised against one another a dozen times to throw the other back and upset their plans. Highlights were Lee committing allied Idoneth eels on a suicide mission to kill a lone Plague Priest who was actually a core component of my left flank strategy (Lee never throws units away, so he knew he could set this up without me expecting it) and the would-be assassination of the outlaw Verminlord Corruptor by the Treelord Ancient into that scene from Avengers where Captain America tears a log in half. Lee won with a clever last-minute commitment to my crippled left flank and took the game, a well-earned victory.
     
     
    Final Placings
     
    1st Place: Lee W – Sylvaneth
    2nd Place: Shaun T – Daughters of Khaine
    3rd Place: Matt B – Legion of Blood
    Best Sports – Regan
    Best Painted – Sloane D
     
     
    Everyone had a great time and there were no dramas or last-minute point corrections. I ended up 4th, almost clinching the title of first Pestilens player in the world to podium at a registered event, and learned a lot on how to improve my play. Looking forward to the next events of the year, and to the upcoming Notorious AOS GT coming next year. If it’s as good as this event, it’ll be one I can’t afford to miss.
  16. AIdenNicol444
    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.
  17. AIdenNicol444
    Skaven Elites

    Premier Troops of the Skaven Clans


     

     
    Across the 5 Great Clans of the Skaven, there are a variety of powerful and varied units that when combined allow a Skaven army to manage itself against various threats. Among these units, each clan has an “elite unit”, a costly and specialized warscroll that best represents the strength of the clan they hail from.


     
    Stormvermin

    Specialization: Damage Focused Support Infantry


     
    Starting with the most recognizable, Stormvermin are the clenched fist of the Verminus Clans, forming the centre of their sizable infantry force. They come with a respectable attack profile that features both rend and decent range, and their 5+ save that grows stronger against attacks that are only 1 damage.


     
    Pros

    ·        A powerful attack profile that heavily rewards being buffed by command abilities like Gnash Gnaw Their Bones and Tyrants of Battle.

    ·        2 Inch range allows large clusters of Stormvermin to all fight or even fight over the top of lines of Clanrats.

    ·        Their ability to retreat and still charge, as well as the +2 to run and retreat rolls make them insanely manoeuvrable for elite horde infantry.

    ·        Murderous Ferocity gives them a bonus if they outnumber their victim, which they almost always do.


     
    Cons

    ·        140pts for 10 rats is a very hefty price tag. They receive a discount for a full-size regiment but that weighs in at 500pts.

    ·        Other elite infantry will smash them aside with their poor save and single wound each if they don’t fight them first.

    ·        No protection from being shot at and no resistance to battleshock built in.


     

     
    Plague Censer Bearers

    Specialization: Objective Holding and Harassment


     
    The glass cannon version of Stormvermin, they pack the same attack profile but also receive bonus attacks for charging and rerolls for being near Plague Monks. Their presence is deadly, radiating mortal wounds on nearby opponents.


     
    Pros

    ·        2 Inch range weapons on a 32mm base unit makes for a very large footprint capable of tying up multiple units.

    ·        One of the few sources Clan Pestilens has of guaranteed, unconditional rend.

    ·        Can be taken in a Plaguesmog Congregation, further boosting their damage output with their radiant damage and giving them a protection against being shot at.

    ·        60pts for 5 is a very affordable cost, especially for their purpose as harassers and objective holders.


     
    Cons

    ·        No armor save means any successful attack against them, no matter how lowly, will kill them.

    ·        No mobility steroids means a very slow, expensive unit.

    ·        Must be selected first in combat or they won’t likely fight at all.


     

     
    Stormfiends

    Specialization: Wound Output and Game Closing


     
    The big baddies of the Skaven roster. People who know nothing about the Clans know what Stormfiends are and what they do. The centrepiece of many comp lists, nothing about this unit is subtle. They’re big, they’re nasty and they put out one hell of a beating.


     
    Pros

    ·        The most powerful weaponry in all the Skaven Clans. Warpfire Throwers that fountain mortal wounds on the enemy, Ratling Guns that mow down infantry and a range of brutal and horrific melee weapons are just mere options for the Stormfiends.

    ·        Massive durability, packing both a 4+ save and 6 wounds as well as decent bravery.

    ·        Synergy with Clan Moulder Packmasters to further enhance their damage capabilities.


     
    Cons

    ·        290pts for 3. Maximum firepower isn’t cheap, and every loss will be severely felt.

    ·        Large unit footprint but slow moving, it is easy for the enemy to tie these up with cheap chaff.

    ·        Poor choice for allying from other clans due to their prohibitive cost and lack of utility. This is a luxury unit, not a support one.


     

     
    Gutter Runners

    Specialization: Flanking and Harassment


     
    Ninja rats that emerge from the board edge and drown the enemy in a storm of throwing stars and poisoned knives. Mobility, speed, shooting and utility are just the order of business for the lethal foot soldiers of Clan Eshin.


     
    Pros

    ·        Emerging from any board edge on turn 1 is massive for an army that has no flying or high movement units.

    ·        A powerful combat profile that benefits well from being allied into other armies, synergizing well with Pestilens to-wound buffs and Verminus command abilities.

    ·        Running and shooting makes them a very fast and mobile harassment unit.

    ·        60ps for 5 is very cheap. 200pts for 20 is even better.


     
    Cons

    ·        Not the most survivable, the armor save won’t save them from much and low bravery means large unit sizes are easily punished.

    ·        Requires buff assistance from units like Plague Priests or Skaven Warlords to be effective.

    ·        Little to no synergy with their own heroes, Skaven Assassins don’t help them, and they will often be out of range of the Verminlord Deciever’s command ability.


     

     
    Rat Ogors

    Specialization: Line Breakers


     
    The hulking masterworks of Clan Moulder throw themselves savagely at the enemy, using their superior durability and destructive strength to bat aside enemy chaff. Synergizing strongly with both their own clan and others, Rat Ogors are a force to be feared.


     
    Pros

    ·        Benefitting from Packmasters, Plague Priests, Skaven Warlords and more, their basic stats are a solid foundation to buff and build on.

    ·        Under the effects of buffs, their ability to gain bonus attacks will see them laying the pain.

    ·        Chaff will have trouble chipping them down due to multiple wounds, and won’t stand up to their 2 damage attacks.


     
    Cons

    ·        Too expensive and bought in lots of 2. Not good enough to warrant allying.

    ·        Awful bravery means if a Packmaster isn’t near, one casualty will see them buckle.

    ·        Shooting attack looks good on paper but will rarely come into play.


     
  18. AIdenNicol444
    Most armies have their dedicated elite infantry, and from the Freeguild Greatswords to the Kharadron Grundstock Thunderers they bear an infamous reputation on the battlefield.  Each of the Skaven Clans have their own as well, and those fielded by the Clans Pestilens are known as Plague Censer Bearers.
    Swinging High
    The standout strengths of the Censer Bearers are evident. Unlike Plague Monks their weapon range is 2 inches, meaning they can actually swing over the top of themselves when taken in large groups. Their base rend on their weapons is -1, above the Plague Monks who need wound rolls of 6 to compete with that. Topping this off, in the hero phase each unit near them has a chance to take a mortal wound on the side.  They also reroll all failed hits and battleshock outcomes as long as they hang close to a unit of Plague Monks, which in any smart list they'll have at least 2 or 3 units nearby.
    Falling Short
    No save, and unlike Plague Monks, no way of acquiring one. Furthermore, they're 60pts for 5 models, and that's 60pts that can be erased by merely average shooting. This is an elite unit that cannot withstand ANY level of pressure, so they need a stack of buffs to hit their full potential.
    Plaguelord's Verdict
    With the Verminlord Corruptor's command ability, the Plague Furnace's Rabid Fever and Bless with Filth, and maybe an enemy debuffed with Wither for good measure, these guys will literally EAT anything they go up against. A unit of 10 swinging for 40 attacks rerolling all of it's failed hit and wound rolls is going to blitz ANYTHING short of a 2+ save rerolling fails. Taken in the Plaguesmog Congregation they will be -1 to hit with shooting and putting out far more proximity mortal wounds in the hero phase. However without these buffs, they'll get swatted turn 1 or 2 and you'll lose your high cost point sink. Take them in a group of 10 and a group of 5 as part of a Plaguesmog for the extra artifact and command point or don't take them at all.
  19. AIdenNicol444
    In this blog entry I'd like to explain the best options we have for ally choices when running the Clan Pestilens alleigance. As a Skaven army, we can ally with all the other Skaven factions (Clans Verminus, Eshin, Skryre, Moulder and the Masterclan) as well as Nurgle Daemons. Obviously covering every single model we can ally in is a bit fruitless, so I'll just be talking the best options for matched play.
    Clanrats (Clan Verminus)
    Oh Clanrats, don't you ever go changing on me. These guys really just pull their weight in any list they're in. 200pts for 40 bodies with a buffable armor save. Sit these blokes on an objective, screen your army with them, or just run them forward and let the plague monks flank and smack the enemy from the side. Clanrats retreat and charge, and add 2 to their run and charge rules, making them shockingly mobile for getting in the way of the enemy. I will never not recommend these, and every pestilens player should have at least 40 painted and ready to go.
    Arch Warlock (Clan Skryre)
    140pts for a caster that knows 2 spells, I still feel a little dirty taking this guy because surely his costing is a typo. Factor in his unique spell is 3 Arcane Bolts to fire at your leisue, and you've got a sneaky, durable and brutal hero skulking around the back line obliterating any enemy that dares to come at you and forcing battleshock tests on 3-4 enemy infantry blocks every damn turn.
    Screaming Bell (The Masterclan)
    The bell tolls for FREE SUMMONING. I mean sure, it's on the roll of a 12, but imagine spending 200pts on a versatile mobile buff/debuff/damage output machine and accidentally summoning the Lord Skreech Verminking 100% free of charge and him dropping the Thirteenth Dreaded Spell on some poor unsuspecting elite infantry block. But I digress, even without the free Verminlord gimmick this is the bell for you, random damage output, a unique spell that puts stormcast in the oven and sets it to fanbake, and a command ability that can pretty much always be at least slightly useful.
    Lord Skreech Verminking (The Masterclan)
    Getting your ass royally beat? Reach for the king. Verminking does everything you'd expect from the lord of all Verminlords, he'll duel any character in the game and shred them (if he fights first, but that's just the Verminlord deal), he'll move across the board with incredible speed to lock down objectives, he'll heal himself if he has to and if anyone even DARES to come at him without a reliable dispell, the Dreaded Thirteenth Spell will blast a hole in anything it hits and then replace the casualties with FREE clanrats.  His command ability will always be useful in any skaven army (Skaven units reroll wound rolls when near Verminking) so that's nice.
    Gutter Runners (Clan Eshin)
    These guys weigh in at 60 for 5, or 200 for 20. Cheeky backfield bombers that pop in from a board edge in your movement phase and get to run and shot where necessary. Essentially what Gutter Runners are is the only reliable backfield mobility skaven has, given everything else has a dice roll or too many conditions. They're a niche, meta dependent pick but having a full strength unit of 20 in your list is basically never a waste. They're average when they're not needed, and amazing when they are.
    Verminlord Warpseer (The Masterclan)
    This lad wouldn't have made the list during General's Handbook 2017, but free summonig made his command ability at least not pointless, and being the Verminlord dedicated to being a wizard he's going to come in handy during the hype phase of Endless Spells. Also, watching his unique spell burn holes in the unique named characters that can fly (Pro Tip, all of them except ours) is always satisfying. He can rip through infantry with his Warp-Glaive, and he's surprisingly survivable getting to reroll all his failed save. A niche pick, but not a bad one.
    Warpgrinder Weapon Team (Clan Skryre)
    Fresh off the assembly line with a points drop for Generals Hanbook 2018, this beast can put 40 plague monks directly behind the enemy and essentially force the opponent to adjust their plans or get rammed by 240 points of absolutely balanced, totally fair and family friendly foetid blades. Which for reference will wind up being around 120 attacks.
    And lucky last...
    THANQUOL AND THE BONERIPPER
    You read that right, Mr Chosen of the Horned Rat himself just got yet another point reduction, 400pts for the greatest and most clever seer to ever live and his walking, chittering battering ram. Thanquol is an absolute unit, he does everything and he does it well. His unique spell is Arcane Bolt at greater range (before it got gimped), he heals himself every turn with no condition, he knows the spells of every skaven wizard near him (oh hey Arch Warlock) and casts those spells better, because he has the warpstone token rule the Grey Seer model has but with absolutely no negative consequences should it fail. His command ability is the AOS equivilent of an invulnerable save on any unit of skaven that gets better if there's more than 13 models in the unit, absolutely insane. And all these benefits are just the bloke on the top, lets talk about the four armed gentleman down bottom. Boneripper is one HELL of a beatstick, he comes with two weapon loadouts, one is a melee attack that outshines any weapon in the entire Skaven line. The other option is a ranged attack that does 2D6 mortal wounds to anything within 8inches. No aiming, no hit rolls, no mercy. Whichever you choose, he has a second melee attack that's respectable as hell. These two will consume your entire ally choice points at 2k, but ****** he will do work.
  20. AIdenNicol444
    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.  
     
  21. AIdenNicol444
    Won't lie to you fellow ratkin I actually forgot that the warscrolls get revealed a week before the book itself due to how the retail website works so waking up here in NZ to all these changes was like Christmas. But the kind of Christmas where you're not sure if the gifts are cool or terrible. Without further ado, let us get stuck into the warscrolls and talk about what’s different, what’s better, and what’s worse. As ever, we still don’t have points so a lot of this is potentially subjective.


     
    Verminlord Corruptor

    ·        Unique Spell changed so that it does more damage, but no longer spreads.
    ·        Plaguereapers don’t reroll all their hits anymore but inflict mortal wounds on unmodified 6s to hit.
    ·        Plaguemaster now does AoE mortals around the Verminlord rather than tick off creatures that have already been hurt by it.
    ·        Received a 5+ ward save.
    ·        Received a passive bravery debuff to nearby enemies.
    ·        Command ability now grants rerolls rather than additional attacks.
    Big Cheese himself came out looking pretty good. Can’t help but feel that Plaguereaper change will have an FAQ saying he can’t take the Sword of Judgement on top of that ability so goodbye to that. His prior weaknesses (no rend, terrible survivability) have been fixed, and his strengths (two casts, high attack volume) made it through unscathed. Good changes, though I will miss his old unique spell even if it wasn’t exactly good.


     
    Plague Furnace

    ·        Altar of the Horned Rat now just makes anything wholly within 13 inches ignore Battleshock.
    ·        The wrecking ball does far more damage but is a single target instead of AoE now.
    ·        The Plague Monk crew actually have attacks now.
    ·        It has the same ward save as the Verminlord Corruptor.
    ·        It has keywords that prevent it from receiving Look Out Sir now.
    Good lord GW the Plague Furnace didn’t actually need to be stronger. Yeah it can’t benefit from look out sir anymore, but they give it mini Crown of Conquest and a ward save? Like what? This thing only got better. Thank the Horned Rat I have 4.


     
    Plague Priest (Both Variants)

    ·        Tumbled into one warscroll.
    ·        Gained the attack profiles of both original priests.
    ·        The Plague Tome once per game activation is gone.
    ·        Pestilent Prayers are all reworked (addressed at the bottom of the post)
    This was always going to happen. Plague Tome + Wither was one of the strongest combos in the Chaos grand alliance, and people were starting to wake up to it. A shame that they had to change him, but it makes sense why they did. A small price to pay for the rest of the changes, as Iskandar Khayon said in Black Legion, a sacrifice is only a sacrifice if it diminishes the giver.


     
    Plague Monks

    ·        All once per game effects removed from command options.
    ·        Improved Rend on 6s and rats doing damage when they die left untouched.
    ·        Banner now causes 6s to wound to do double damage.
    ·        Doom Gong now boosts running and charge rolls.
    ·        Rerolls for two swords is still here, as is +1 attack for charging.
    The meat and bones of the army. This one was always going to get changed due to it being a troop unit with more rules than Kairos Fateweaver. But the changes are for the good… or so it seems. All the changes are really strong and benefit the unit. HOWEVER the warscroll specifies 1 in 20 for it’s command options, which likely means the minimum unit size has been upped to 20. Squashes a few of my tactics and will mean some changes. I will however roll with these changes and no doubt actually be better off with them (ideally).


     
    Plague Censer Bearers

    ·        Aura of damage effect is slightly better.
    ·        They receive bonuses for being near monks at a slightly larger range now.
    I expected nothing and wasn’t disappointed. I was terrified these guys would be the recipient of random buffing that meant I would need to convert another 20 ****** Stormvermin into these, thanks for actually having my back there GW.


     
    Plagueclaw Catapult

    ·        Receives artillery bonuses if there is 10 or more models in the unit, instead of more than 10.
    ·        Does a bravery debuff to victims.
    I was afraid this thing would get worse not because I use it (I have 3 fully panted to a high standard and they sit in a drawer somewhere) but because I’ve already ragged on it so hard, I wasn’t sure how I would somehow step that up. Pleased to say… that won’t be necessary. It’s slightly better.


     
    Changes to Pestilent Prayers and Noxious Prayers

    The original prayers on the warscrolls of the Plague Priest and Plague Furnace are now gone. They’ve been replaced with new effects that are fundamentally different with bizarre names.

    Disease-Disease! (Formerly Wither): So instead of making it easier to wound the victim ala Wither, this is ow the Gaunt Summoner unique spell on a 6. Boo hiss.

    Pestilence-Pestilence! (Formerly Plague Breath): It’s the same as before but the bubble is 3” not 2”. It also doesn’t affect Pestilens units, rather than Nurgle units. Neat.

    Filth-Filth (Formerly Bless with Filth): Thank Christ it’s still the same. No changes here, and what a boon that is.

    Rabid-Rabid! (Formerly Rabid Fever): Add 1 to the attacks of something nearby. So this is where they shoved the Verminlord command ability. I’ll forever miss the old one of this, my monks fighting after death is a MASSIVE part of my army’s reputation in NZ due to me taking 2 Furnaces and making sure it was always active. Pouring one out for you my lad.


     
    The Battalions

    Well, the book isn’t out yet so we can’t really say. I can however say that I know all the Pestilens battalions made it through in some form or another, so all I need to see now is what they actually do. Worry not, I will make another one of these posts as leaks emerge.


     
    Well, a lot to take in. Most of it really good news too. Let me know your thoughts and let’s talk pestilence in the Mortal Realms.

  22. 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.
  23. AIdenNicol444
    Acolytes of the Withered Word

    The Fecund Hordes of the Ashen Wastes


     

     
    The Skaven Clans, and most particularly the teeming hordes of Clan Pestilens, are infamous for their Gnawholes, unstable tunnel-gates that run between the realms chiselled into being by the twisted claws and sorcery of the rat-men and guided by their insidious Verminlords. They can be seen dotting the realms, particularly great sites of battle during the Realmgate War, leaving warping and twisted effects upon the nearby landscape. However despite their repeated attempts to achieve such, the clans have yet to successfully penetrate the dark and mysterious realm of Ulgu, the infamous realm of shadow.


     
    The Roiling Basin

    Deep within the twisting ash-storms of Aspiria in the fiery realm of Aqshy lies the realmgate known as the Shadowhame. One of the few stable realmgates that runs to the realm of Ulgu, it sits deep in the centre of a shattered volcano in what appears to be ancient azyrite ruins. The crater, known as the Roiling Basin due to the ash storms that whip around it’s interior walls as they blow in from the eastern plains before churning out over the western seas, has been settled by an enormous contingent of Skaven Great Clans hailing directly from the Blight City itself. Towering and haphazard Skaven constructions are piled atop ancient Azyrite heritage sites as the industrious Skaven claw the skies with their fell machinery, their destructive and corrupting presence going so far as to warp the nearby landscape and even the weather. Wealthier members of the clans have their residences and bases of operations in the high towers, with Skryre and Pestilens holding dominion over their respective supporters from on high. Moulder Clan members prefer to practise their disgusting bio-science in the depths of the crater and Clan Eshin’s base naturally remains a mystery as to its location. The lowest members of the system such as Skavenslaves and lowly Clanrats eek out an existence in the Depths, killing one another for scraps that fall from above and mysteriously disappearing into the Moulder surgery-labs. The Shadowhame realmgate itself lies in the Pestilent Knave known as the Prior Vermalanx, deep in the structure and well-guarded by acolytes and the Plague Guard.


     
    The Church of Contagion

    Skaven city-warrens are usually inhabited by clans belonging to a single Great Clan or an uneasy alliance of multiple clans present for their own interests. While the Roiling Basin is inhabited by representatives of all the Great Clans, Clan Pestilens is currently ascendant amongst the group due to the overwhelming ranks they currently count in their faithful throng. No mere no-name virulent procession, Clan Morbidus of the Pestilens are an ancient and wealthy clan that proudly boast of heritage that dates back to the World-That-Was. Faithful to their god and mindless in their devotion to his ascension, Morbidus offers it’s prayers up to the Verminlord known as Vermalanx, a legend among the pestilent clans who lead the Pestilens Clans during the Realmgate Wars and dared to scheme against the Glott Brothers and Nurgle himself, all while seeming to aid them in their goals. Allegedly defeated by the Stormcast Eternals at Rotwater Swill, Vermalanx has since arisen once more by the Corruptor’s claw to lead his most faithful of children. Bearing twin Plaguereapers forged from raw warpstone dipped in the filth of the Horned One itself, plague monks gladly throw themselves to a gory death at the orders of the dark servant of The Great Witherer itself. The dominance of Morbidus has forced the other Great Clans to toe the line against them feebly for now, with them offering up gifts of arcane ingenuity, shadow operatives and hordes of lowly rats to break against the ranks of the enemy before the Plague Monks destroy all opposition.


     
    Ruler of the Rat-Race

    Ruling over the Church of Contagion and by extension the Roiling Basin itself, Archdeacon Skirik Vileclaw presides over his “beloved” flock with sharp claws and a tendency to hurl those who oppose him from the high points down into the Depths. Quite unlike most rulers of his race, Skirik has little in the way of cunning or subtlety. Prone to fits of deranged madness due to the fever in his brain and the poison in his veins, Skirik’s temperament veers wildly between the faithful servant of the Great Corruptor and behaving like a rabid animal. Riding an enormous Plague Furnace into battle known as the Altar of the Redmaw, named for the Great Plague Skirik so famously brought back to the faithful long decades ago. His lifetime long enhanced by the righteous fury in his body and the ministrations of the absolute pinnacle of Skryre and Moulder sciences, Skirik has plagued Aqshy for as long as many in Aspiria can recall.


     
    The Shadowhame Gate

    The focal point of the entire settlement, deep within the Pestilent Knave lies the Shadowhame Gate. One of only a mere handful of stable gateways to Ulgu, and one of the scant few held by the forces of Chaos, this gateway represents an incredible potential advantage to the chaos forces as Malerion and Morathi’s machinations are kept secret beyond the twisting fold of the realm they rule over. Forces from the Roiling Basin have established a foothold on the other side of the gate, a continuous supply of troops marching through to man the defences and fortify the location further. Known as the Rotted Claw warren, Malerion has been forced to drop his façade of bored contempt for the Skaven to actively destroy the gateaway, knowing that while he faces Plague Monks and baying Clanrats today, tomorrow it could well be the Varangard riding through the mists.


     
    Schemes Within Schemes

    With Malerion and Morathi throwing their forces into the fortification of the Rotted Claw bastion and increasing aggression from the resurgent forces of Order in Aqshy, the Roiling Basin’s constant threat may yet be dealt with by the allied forces of Order. However, while the fighting forces of the rats hold back their aggressors Clan Skryre has begun a grand undertaking in the Warpstorm Tower, the only tower to rise higher than the Prior Vermalanx (a fact that Skirik has hurled many a warlock engineer to their doom over when reminded), with their research into the construction of a stable Gnawhole built using the arcane secrets gleaned from the Shadowhame Gate that will lead directly to the Blight City, enabling an enormous horde of Skaven without number to storm through. The completion of this gate will see all of Aspiria brought to it’s knees by the Skaven, and Ulgu flooded with resurgent forces to bring an end to the God of Shadow’s dominion.


     
  24. AIdenNicol444
    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.
  25. AIdenNicol444
    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.
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