Thursday, October 7, 2010

Skaven Army update.

*Squeek*


Due to the responsibilities that come with being immersed in  Real Life 2.0 I haven't done any painting this week. With that in mind, I thought I would take a moment to simply put down how far I have progressed with painting my Skaven army - and to ask for your help!


Below is a visual thumbnail guide to my units painted so far. Can you tell me roughly how many points this it, and what I should paint next? If I had to fight a battle in one week from now and I needed to have a legal army on the table, what size of battle (points) would I be able to play? What do I need to do/ paint to get a game?


At the bottom is a list of units I have that I haven't painted yet...


Units painted so far:
x40 Clanrats with Full command  




x40 Clanrats with Full command 

30 Skaven Slaves

30 Plague Monks with full command  

x1 Plague Priest

x2 Rat Ogres 

x12 Giant Rats 
x2 Rat Swarms 

x1 Doomwheel
x1 Warplightning cannon
x1 Jezzail 
x1 Chieftain


























































































































































Units unpainted:


x20 Stormvermin
x1 Greyseer
x2 Island of Blood Warlords
x40 Island of Blood Clanrats
x30 Plague Monks
x30 Skaven Slaves
x1Plague Furnace
x4 Handlers

On the one hand I feel like I have painted a fair amount so far, on the other thinking about all those unpainted models gives me a headache!

Now, I know that I can't field Rat Ogres or Giant Rats without handlers, so I have to paint them. But what would YOU paint next and why?

Thanks!

*Squeek*
















7 comments:

  1. Alright, if you paint just 4 more models you could have a 1750 point army! That's your grey seer and 3 handlers.

    1750 Pts - Skaven Roster

    Grey Seer
    1 Grey Seer (General; Hand Weapon)
    1 Warpstone Tokens
    1 Talisman of Preservation

    This is your plague priest model. He gets a 4+ ward and D3+1 warpstone tokens which is great for those dry magic phases. Take all lore of ruin and try to get skitterleap + cracks call. You can teleport around zapping low initiative things like warmachines, hellcannons and hydras. I really like doing that... haha.

    Warlock Engineer
    1 Warlock Engineer (Level 2 Wizard; Hand Weapon)
    1 Doomrocket
    1 Warp-Energy Condenser

    Maybe paint up your grey seer for him? Or use the grey seer as the grey seer and put the plague priest here. Another spell caster, try to get death frenzy and warplightning. If you don't get it, take warplighting (you can just pick that one). With the condenser you get D6+2 hits at strength 5 with that spell. Also, he channels a dice on a 6 but the condenser gives you another power dice on a 5+. The doomrocket is fun, but I can never get it to work. Lots of people like it though.

    Chieftan
    1 Chieftain (Battle Standard Bearer) (Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield; Battle Standard Bearer)
    1 Warlock-Augmented Weapon
    1 Ironcurse Icon

    Warlock-augmented weapons are great for Skaven. 4 strength 5 attacks? Awesome! BSB are nigh mandatory.

    Clanrats
    40 Clanrats (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Light Armour; Shield)

    Block for a character to go into. They get a 5+ armor save and with steadfast they will really hold up the enemy.

    Clanrats
    40 Clanrats (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Light Armour; Shield)

    Another block for characters.

    Clanrat Slaves
    30 Skavenslaves (Musician Mus; Hand Weapon; Spear)

    Run these guys 5x6 so that you can get the most out of steadfast. They are great for holding up things too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Plague Monks
    30 Plague Monks (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon; Extra Attack; Frenzy)
    1 Plague Banner

    These guys have no armor and low initiative, so be careful how you use them. They would be great flankers. The plague banner is for taste... so if you like something better by all means try it out. I've never used these guys personally... but this is where I'd start with them.

    Rat Ogres
    2 Rat Ogres (Causes Fear; Frenzy)
    1 Master Moulder (Hand Weapon; Whip; Light Armour)
    1 Electro-Whip

    This is really your hardest hitting unit. Use them well because everything else is an anvil... If they are far away from the general don't expect to control who they charge. The master moulder can challenge or be put in the back after refusing... and fight from there I think!

    Giant Rats
    12 Giant Rats
    2 Packmaster (Hand Weapon; Whip; Light Armour)

    Consider running these 1 packmaster and 6 rats. They would be AWESOME redirectors, they'd run up in front of your units and delay things. Turn them so that your opponent has to expose a flank. A good tactic is to run things up within charge range of your opponent. When they charge, flee with everything except 1 or 2 units so that you pull your opponent out of position. If they reform, they're way out in front of all the failed chargers. If they're frenzied, they have to stumble directly forward 2D6 inches... use it to get the flanks.

    Rat Swarm
    2 Rat Swarm (Swarm; Unbreakable)

    More cheapo redirectors. Form a screen of small rats in front of your army so that you can get the bigger rats into position.

    Doomwheel
    1 Doomwheel (Causes Terror; Immune to Psychology; Large Target)
    1 Crew (Warlock & Rats)

    This is what will win you the game. Put him on a flank and then use him to smash people. Usually, flank units are the weakest in the army. Or they put something like a steam tank which is incredibly vulnerable to a doomwheel. Remember to shoot it when you can, then just roll up the flank. Charge this in with something with steadfast and you'll win combats I think.

    Warp-Lightning Cannon
    1 Warp-Lightning Cannon
    1 Engineer & Crew

    Pick a target for this thing. If you try to "flock shoot" his army buy shooting at a different unit each turn it won't do what you want it to do. For instance, pick a warmachine you want dead. Or, if it's beastmen, shoot the giant minotaur characters which will undoubtedly be hanging out of the side of gor units. Try your hand at character sniping.

    I always place the shot 13 inches in front of where I want it to go... so characterful and it actually works quite well.

    Validation Report:
    Army Subtype: Skaven Army; Edition: 8th Edition; Game Type: Normal Game
    Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules

    Total Roster Cost: 1750

    Created with Army Builder® - Try it for free at http://www.wolflair.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Plague Monks
    30 Plague Monks (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon; Extra Attack; Frenzy)
    1 Plague Banner

    These guys have no armor and low initiative, so be careful how you use them. They would be great flankers. The plague banner is for taste... so if you like something better by all means try it out. I've never used these guys personally... but this is where I'd start with them.

    Rat Ogres
    2 Rat Ogres (Causes Fear; Frenzy)
    1 Master Moulder (Hand Weapon; Whip; Light Armour)
    1 Electro-Whip

    This is really your hardest hitting unit. Use them well because everything else is an anvil... If they are far away from the general don't expect to control who they charge. The master moulder can challenge or be put in the back after refusing... and fight from there I think!

    Giant Rats
    12 Giant Rats
    2 Packmaster (Hand Weapon; Whip; Light Armour)

    Consider running these 1 packmaster and 6 rats. They would be AWESOME redirectors, they'd run up in front of your units and delay things. Turn them so that your opponent has to expose a flank. A good tactic is to run things up within charge range of your opponent. When they charge, flee with everything except 1 or 2 units so that you pull your opponent out of position. If they reform, they're way out in front of all the failed chargers. If they're frenzied, they have to stumble directly forward 2D6 inches... use it to get the flanks.

    Rat Swarm
    2 Rat Swarm (Swarm; Unbreakable)

    More cheapo redirectors. Form a screen of small rats in front of your army so that you can get the bigger rats into position.

    Doomwheel
    1 Doomwheel (Causes Terror; Immune to Psychology; Large Target)
    1 Crew (Warlock & Rats)

    This is what will win you the game. Put him on a flank and then use him to smash people. Usually, flank units are the weakest in the army. Or they put something like a steam tank which is incredibly vulnerable to a doomwheel. Remember to shoot it when you can, then just roll up the flank. Charge this in with something with steadfast and you'll win combats I think.

    Warp-Lightning Cannon
    1 Warp-Lightning Cannon
    1 Engineer & Crew

    Pick a target for this thing. If you try to "flock shoot" his army buy shooting at a different unit each turn it won't do what you want it to do. For instance, pick a warmachine you want dead. Or, if it's beastmen, shoot the giant minotaur characters which will undoubtedly be hanging out of the side of gor units. Try your hand at character sniping.

    I always place the shot 13 inches in front of where I want it to go... so characterful and it actually works quite well.

    Validation Report:
    Army Subtype: Skaven Army; Edition: 8th Edition; Game Type: Normal Game
    Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules

    Total Roster Cost: 1750

    Created with Army Builder® - Try it for free at http://www.wolflair.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ultimately, you want to try to get the flanks as much as possible. You have a lot of units so take advantage of them.
    A horde of 50 spearmen only has 5 attacks to the flanks...

    Use your big blocks of rats to hold things up, then use your magic to buff them as much as possible.

    I really want to try 1750 points in the scenarios because it seems like lower points would make for more exciting games. Try it out and see what you like.


    Hope this helps you as much as your guides have been helping me ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice work. They look great together, really nice work. And you are quite quick at getting them painted, as well as doing them to a decent level. Keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  6. @SonicBenton:
    WOW! thanks for the info - that is really, really helpful and just what I was looking for. As it turns out I wanted to work on my Warlock Engineers and I know I've got to get those Packmasters done. Really appreciate the long post.:-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Kuffeh.
    Cheers! I don't think I really want to do another 50 in such a hurry because it is quite mind-numbing. But at least it CAN be done if necessary. ...eyes last 40 Clanrats on the shelf...
    >_<

    ReplyDelete