Having never played at less than 1,500 points, when I heard that last weekend everyone would be bringing 1,000 point armies I was quite excited. What would fit in? What could I use that would be different? Would I win anything at all??
In what I plan to be a series of three posts, I'll take a look at my list, then my first and second battles respectively.
Let's have a look at the models and the list, then I will share some thoughts:
 |
| The leadership team: (L-R) Chieftain, Warlord, Warlock Engineer |
 |
| The 1,000 point army (L-R) Slaves, Slaves, Clanrats, PCC, WLC, Clanrats |
..and here is the list (with names).
Skaven 1000 dual war machines (999pts)
Lords:
x1 Warlord - Squeek Vermintide
Halberd, Warlock-augmented Weapon, Armour of Destiny, Ironcurse Icon
EDIT: thanks to reader Lionel Sonnette, I now know that the combination above is illegal. As the Warlock-augmented weapon counts in itself as a weapon, I cannot combine it with the Halberd (because the Halberd counts as a two-handed weapon). I would have to take one or the other. My mistake was to think that this device "Augments the weapon" being carried with +1Str/ +1Attack, and that is wrong. I will be contacting my opponents to apologise!
EDIT: thanks to reader Lionel Sonnette, I now know that the combination above is illegal. As the Warlock-augmented weapon counts in itself as a weapon, I cannot combine it with the Halberd (because the Halberd counts as a two-handed weapon). I would have to take one or the other. My mistake was to think that this device "Augments the weapon" being carried with +1Str/ +1Attack, and that is wrong. I will be contacting my opponents to apologise!
Heroes:
x1 Chieftain (BSB) - Faderife of Black Chasm
Halberd, Charmed Shield, Talisman of Protection
x1 Warlock Engineer - Creak "Boom Boom" Vilekin
(Level 1 Wizard), Skitterleap, Doomrocket
Core
x30 Clanrats - Kreep Kraktooth's Kritters (Full command) Shields
x20 Clanrats - Pungnail's Plunderers (Full command) Shields
x40 (Goblin) Skavenslaves - Tos Bonegibber's Ladz (Musician)
x40 Skavenslaves (Musician) - Those about to die (and if you don't...we shall eat you.)
Rare
Plagueclaw Catapult - "The Muk Spredda"
Warp Lightning Cannon
List-building thoughts:
What's the same?
It was fun to think about and experiment with a smaller list, but in some ways, it isn't too different for Skaven, even when you aren't sure what armies you will meet on the day.- You can fit in multiple Rare choices (Cannon and Plagueclaw are still super cheap right?).
- You can of course take more bodies than your opponents and meet or exceed the "1 model per 10 points average" guideline for a Skaven army. I had 130 rats in my core selection on the table.
- We have some silly cheap units (Giant rats, Warlock Engineers, slaves etc.)
What's different?
On the other hand, you can make it a lot more interesting for yourself by avoiding the tenets of Skaven list building, which offers a lot of fun and challenge (if you are playing in a casual group as I do):- I didn't take a Grey Seer.
- This limits your magic phase obviously. I had a Warlock Engineer (level 1). Only having one spell is interesting!
- This also meant different leadership - a Warlord (I never use a Warlord at 2,000 points).
- No Screaming Bell etc.
- Avoided "Dual-Cannon", instead opting to try a Plague Claw catapult for the first time.
- Didn't use any specials. No Plague Monks, no Gutter Runners.
- I didn't take a Plague Wind Mortar with my Clanrats (more money to spend on Warlord but still keep my core numbers...)
- No "Chaff" to run interference on the flanks or screen my war-machines for a turn.
- No Doomwheel...
One big question was how to run my leadership?
As I have never used Warlords in larger games I'm not very experienced for tooling them up. Reading around, was I going to go for "Defensive" or "Killy"? In either case I'm sure many people would argue that I spent too many points on him (around 180)
I ended with a bit of defense (magic armour with Ward Save), and x5 Str 6 attacks (thanks to the Halberd and Warlock Augmented Weapon). I'm sure more experienced Skaven players out there can give me more advice on how many points I wasted in this guy!
(The other choice was to "Sword of Bloodshed", giving him more attacks but at his regular strength, possibly buffed by a Potion of Strength ...for one round).
Before anyone asks, I don't have a Warlitter kit-bash done yet. The extra bodies and attacks would have been nice though.
In part II and III of this report, I'll answer:
...what armies did I face?
...how did my warlord build work out on the day?
...without hard-hitters (like Plague Monks) would I be able to defeat anything at all?
...what stupid mistakes did I make? (and what can I learn from them?)
...what was it like to use the Plague Claw Catapult?
...is having only one wizard a recipe for disaster?
Cheers,
*Squeek*
p.s. If you are interested in Skaven name generators (I feel they add the requisite flavour!) then check out:
