Three Things to remember in the Fog of War

*Squeek*

Following "The Battle of Big (Warp)stone" the other day (in which my verminous Skaven horde sque-eked out a victory) I thought it might be an idea to share the things that I forgot, so you don't have to!

More experienced generals will laugh at these, but I'm not an experienced general, so readily admit to making these stupid mistakes. 

1. Banners. Remember to USE them!

Now, this may sound totally laughable, but as a new player, when close combat is joined and you are throwing a lot of dice around (not to mention taking handfuls of your own dead out of a unit) it is all to easy to forget to use your banners when it comes to combat resolution.

In this case, in a pivotal close combat in center field, I forgot to use my Grand Banner of Clan Superiority.

Carried by my Chieftain, this banner would have added +D3 combat resolution per complete rank more than the enemy. VERY useful as a Skaven, because you are often likely to have at least a couple more ranks than the foe.

To add insult to injury, in the fun of charging my Plague furnace into a unit of Empire Knights, I forgot to use my Plague Banner.

This beauty would have allowed my Plague Monks to reroll all failed To Hit an To Wound rolls that turn. Tasty! (Make it even more annoying that I would forget it.)

Two banners, 60 points. Wasted!

Doh!

2. Remember to Protect your Characters from Enemy Scouts.

I thought I would place one of my lone Warplock Engineers out of a unit, but nearby my Grey Seer, ready for a bit of Skitterleaping. 

OOops!

I didn't count on the Empire Huntsmen being placed on my flank, ready to pick off the engineer with bow fire...

Perhaps it is safer to just start with all Heroes safely embedded in a nice big unit? After all, they can always detach from the unit later (or be Skitterleapt directly out of the unit!)

As a Skaven, you love your scouts because they sneak around, harassing lone characters and war-machines (Gutter Runners with poison slingshots anyone)...

...but remember, your opponent loves his Scouts too, and for the same reasons.

Yes, there is the "Look out sir" rule, but I wouldn't rely on this too much if I was you.

3. Remember, think like a Cowardly Rat Lord at all times.

Grey Seer - Monster Wizard, hopeless close combatant

When playing your first game, it is easy to be "trapped in the moment", by which I mean, the current turn or phase. There is a lot going on, and most of it is exciting, making it easy to forget stuff.

However, it seems to me that thinking ahead is a real necessity (and opportunity) for Skaven, again because of one of our easy-to-cast, but flexible and powerful spells. You guessed it...

...Skitterleap.

If you know that a unit with a Hero is going to be charged, how about Skitterleaping that vulnerable Grey Seer or Engineer out of the front row to a safe place?

Once combat is joined, unless the enemy engages you in a challenge (which you can refuse using the Verminous Valour rule, handily placing you in the back of the unit), your hero/ lord is going to get trapped in the combat at the front of the unit. Unless you have a tooled-up combat character, it is likely that the enemy will concentrate on your hero, and they will likely die pretty quickly. 

Now all you veterans out there are of course saying "how could you possibly let your bunker unit and Grey Seer get into combat in the first place?"

Good question, but it can happen right?

To help me remember these things, I have setup a memo on my mobile phone that collates these mistakes, and the rules that I forgot to use. I can read them before a battle to refresh my memory in the future, hopefully to help me remember them next game.

Are there any rules that you always forget in the heat of battle?

Cheers,

*Squeek*

p.s. Here is my current painting project, a tower/ stronghold from GW. Buildings always take longer than I think. I have put most of the base coats down now, so next up I will have some fun with washes.

8 Skaven Battlefield Tips for Beginners...

...learned the hard way!

*Squeek*

As it may take me some time to finish up my most recent battle report, I thought I would cut to the chase here! 

These are a few things that came to mind after my most recent battle. They aren't all of benefit to the Skaven Warlord, but in the interests of fairness in a friendly game these things are important! (in my gaming group, friendly players will often offer you a chance to take a forgotten role etc. This is lovely, but makes me feel even more guilty of I then roll well!)

These are things that I think in the excitement of a game with other inexperienced players if it's easy to forget (and I did!) 

1. You rocked your painting (and your budget) to bring a Screaming Bell... 

... so don't forget to ring it! Remember that it gets rung at a very specific time (sorry, don't have my Army Book with me at the moment). More than once I forgot to ring it at the right time (if at all!)

2. Plague Monks are awesome in Close Combat because they have Frenzy... 

...but Frenzy doesn't only apply in CC! Remember that (if I have it right) they have to try to charge the nearest eligible enemy unit in the charge phase, even you don't want them too! (Or something!)

3. Plague Monks are awesome in Close Combat because they have Frenzy...

...until they don't have Frenzy anymore. 

Situations include: losing CC, not being in the attacking front ranks etc. (or something!)

4. Fear and Terror are great...

...and you have them, not only on models that would obviously terrify anyone (e.g. Hell Pit Abomination) but also on high comedy value warmachines such as your Doomwheel. 

Also, don't forget that the effects of these rules apply in Close Combat too (is that right?). 

Don't forget to do a check each turn of CC. Your Doomwheel is precious, and it may last longer if you get it out of CC with enemy Chaff units (yeah, yeah, I know I shouldn't have been stupid enough to let it get caught by enemy infantry in the first place!)

5. If the enemy is a cannon-toting, black-powder lovin' kinda guy or gal, (I'm looking at you Dwarves and Empire)... 

...consider not taking a Screaming Bell!

Instead of rockin' up to the party with mega large juicy cannon-bait, instead consider putting your Grey-Seer in a block of infantry.
(thanks to an anonymous poster for this tip previously - very true!).

6. If they dropped an Organ-gun on the table, don't setup anything within 24 inches (I think that is the range). 

These will be auto-hit. Forgetting this is a dead easy way to lose scouts (such as Gutter Runners). As in dead, dead, dead.

7. Excited by finally getting that block of 50 "counts - as" Goblin Skaven Slaves into combat for the first time?

 ...don't forget then that you can blast/ burn and gas that block of slaves with your warmachines and weapons teams in order to take out the unit it is fighting. You will take casualties, but so will they.
 (*hangs head in shame* yes, I forgot to sacrifice their lives several times)

8. "Oooooooo, look at all my lovely rats lined up for war...

... now, how am I going to get them across the table in an orderly fashion!?"

Skaven armies MUST bring a lot of bodies to the table (a strength) but "with great numbers of troops comes great responsibility for deployment planning" (or something). With even a few bits of terrain on the table, you could well get into a tragic traffic jam, delaying the arrival of your best troops, or hampering charges etc.
So think carefully in your head about not only who will fight where, but how are they going to get there, and in what order?
Literally, good deployment could win you the battle and bad deployment could almost certainly help you lose it!

To all you experienced Skaven Warlords out there, what lessons would you pass on from your own experiences to your comrades?

(I know of course that no TRUE Skaven would ever pass on a winning tip to even another Skaven, but think of the greater future of our race!)

Cheers,
 *SQUEEK*

 P. S. Sorry if the post is formatted poorly, but I'm writing and posting this on blogger mobile.

Speed Painting Skaven Clanrats

*Squeek*

Having recovered from the exhaustion of painting x50 Clanrats in the space of week (you can see how they turned out here...) I can now use this brief lull between painting units  to provide some insight for other aspiring Skaven warlords who need to paint a large number of troops relatively quickly.


++WARNING+ +WARNING+ +WARNING+
The main goal here is to get a large number of models to the table-top, painted to an acceptable standard, in a relatively short time. The models won't look as good as if you spent hours on each one, or if you spent time detailing each model - but they WILL look good enough to be on a gaming table. (And you can always revisit the unit later anyway.)

This single-minded approach might not work for everyone, but it worked for me by helping me to paint faster than I usually could because I accepted this as my goal. Finally, the hints below come from my first experience of painting 50 models in a week. Some of them I tried, and some of them are things I didn't do, but I would try in the future. I hope they will all be useful!

PAINTING ORDER:

1. Assemble (glue parts and file away any flash)
2. Basing Part 1.
1. PVA glue and dip in sand.
3. Undercoat whole model Chaos Black Spray - including bases.
4. Basing Part 2. 
1. Overbrush Calthan Brown (or another dark brown)
2. Drybrush lighter brown (Calthan Brown/ Chaos White mix)
3. Lightly drybrush Fortress Grey.
4. Paint base edges in your preferred colour.
5. x1 basecoat colour in a sitting on all models. I could do 1 colour on 50 in two hours. (Just!)
1. All metal areas using Boltgun Metal.
2. All cloth areas using the army colour your choice (Ice Blue for me) in the next 2 hour sitting 
3. All furs using the basecoat colour of choice. (Vermin Brown?)  in the next 2 hour sitting 
4. etc.
6. Repeat step 5 until each model is completely base-coated.
7. Wash each model in Devlan Mud.
8. Admire how much you have managed to get done, then immediately start looking for mistakes and things to improve!  ;-)

10 TIPS:

1. Make a commitment...
• ...somewhere, somehow that will force you to keep going. On an earlier project (Doomwheel) I promised I would put the results of my painting up after a specific weekend. This helped me to keep going, even if I didn't quite make my deadline.
2. Set yourself a time limit... 
• Write it down somewhere visible in way that makes sense. (A calendar counting down the days in front of you?)
3. Promise yourself a reward for completion of the unit. 
• A bottle of Bugman's? Or a new unit to paint next?
4. Be iron-willed about the time you will allocate each day (or night in my case...)
• I said 2 hours max each night, so 2 hours it was.
5. Arrange your workspace in a way that is logical and removes thought from the process. For example...
• Arrange all models in a block on your left on a piece of card or movement tray. 
• Take the one closest to you.
• Paint.
• Set down on another piece of card/ movement tray to your right.
• Once all done with one basecoat, pick up the tray to your right and move it back to the left and begin again (if you can take another round!)
• Make your workspace portable so it is easy to put away and get out without taking a lot of time to prep or tidy up. (Not relevant if you paint in your own room, but in my case I'm working in the kitchen...)
6. Don't allow yourself to be distracted into working on details. No, no, no! If you do, before you know it you'll have wasted an hour doing the armour buckles on a few models. Remember, the goal here is to get as many models as possible onto the table. You could have painted a basecoat colour on x25-30 models in that time!
7. Take shortcuts and compromise to get the units to the battle on time.
• Not every Clanrat has to have the same fur colour. To save time, have 20-30% of your Clanrats with "black fur" (i.e. black undercoat only.) This adds variety to your unit and saves you some painting time. You can always drybrush a touch of grey later to add some flavor
• Don't bother with "Effects" - no rust, verdigris, sharp edge effects on weapons etc. (You can always do that later.)
• Don't waste time trying to get into the really difficult to reach bits under arms, in crevices etc. Someone looking at the model from above wouldn't see that anyway. Natural shadow and a black undercoat will fill the spaces anyway!
• Only drybrush the wood grain on shields.
8. That includes bases...
• Good bases make an average unit look better... 
• Great bases make a good unit look awesome... 
• but Basic bases get you into battle quicker. (Basecoat, overbrush, drybrush only. No flock, flowers or fluffy details are necessary.)
9. Good music makes the time go by...
10. Use confident, long brush strokes where you can... 
• Confidence is the key - if you make a mistake don't worry, Devlan Mud wash will cover most small errors and they won't be visible in a unit of 50 rats viewed from a couple of feet away. Don't be tempted to fix it.
• Good areas to use this technique on Skaven are tails, spears and robes. 

*Squeek*

NOTE:

a.) ...there will of course be faster ways than described above (using spray guns or only having 1 or 2 colours in the unit for example). I'm not claiming that this the fastest way (or the only way.)

b.) ...the beady-eyed among you (which is most, if you truly are Skaven Warlords!) will notice that the clanrat units in these images are different. That's because I didn't take any pictures of these specific Clanrats before I painted them. Nothing shifty going on - I promise. (On my honour as a Skaven Warlord. Cough, cough.)

Painting a Skaven Warp Lightning Cannon!

*Neek, Neek*
Yes, yes, the Warp Lightning Cannon is much feared by our enemies!

I haven't been able to work on any painting this weekend, so instead thought I would put up another item that I did while I was waiting for the bulk of my army to arrive a couple of weeks ago. This time, a Warp Lighting Cannon.
As I haven't yet used the army I am working on, I haven't used this weird and wonderful weapon of war, but from what I hear (and the army book) it is a classic Skaven item: potentially devastating - often to the Skaven crew themselves!
Here is the finished item (Click image to enlarge and view on Picasa).
(Below the pics I will add some info on what Games Workshop paints I used.)

From Skaven

From Skaven

Warp Lightning Cannon Painting Guide:

EDIT: Following the launch of the latest Citadel Paint range in 2012, please note that the colours listed below are from the previous range. I hope to have time to rewrite in the future, but for the time being, you can use the conversion chart/ list I made here or use the official Citadel Conversion chart here.

Step 1:
- Chaos Black undercoat. (Spray painted.)
Step 2: Basic Colours
- Calthan Brown (All wood)
- Snakebite Leather (Some wood sections on the carriage to provide variety.)
- Boltgun Metal (Bolts, metallic pieces on gun carriage, bands on cannon barrel.)
- Dwarf Bronze (Cannon barrel)
- Dark Angels Green (Warpstone)
- Skull White (Cannon Dials)
- Blood Red (Cannon Dials)
Step 3: Washes
- Thrakka Green (Warpstone)
- Devlan Mud (All gun carriage, metallic parts, gun barrel etc.)
- Thrakka Green (Around gun barrel bolts and metallic pieces to add a mouldy, old look)
Step 4: Drybrushing
- Chainmail (all metallics, bolts etc.)
- Snot Green (Warpstone)...leading up to a Skull White drybrushing on the warpstone edges when done.)

Crew: 
Same basic scheme as the Skaven in the Jezzail team, here! 

And you are done! (OK, not quite done, as I still have to base the cannon and make a final attachment of the crew.) 

Comments of course welcome! 

eBay...the ups and downs.

*Vreep* Greeting fellow commanders... Yes, yes, eBay truly is a wonder of the modern world! No doubt created by the great Horned Rat (Hallowed by Thy Name) to assist warlords-in-waiting to put together a verminous horde! However, to truly benefit from this most wondrous of resources, Skaven cunning and sneaky speed are essential! Being new to eBay myself, the things that I found most exciting about this powerful site are: + Lots of wargame and WFB related content. + Good deals abound (if you are careful). + Some sellers will ship internationally if you ask them. + Lots of "Bitz" for sale. + Fun to browse. + Really fun when you win something that you have bid on at a price that you wanted. + A well developed system with a relatively long history (in internet terms) and good infrastructure. ...and some of the most annoying things are: - Many of the photos posted by sellers are terrible so it is difficult to see what is on sale. - If you like "Fresh" (unassembled) models choice can be limited. (A lot of the secondhand items are already assembled or painted.) - If you get a couple of good deals it can be addictive - resist brothers and sisters - RESIST! - PayPal can be confusing and frustrating to use at first. - It can be pretty depressing to lose out to another bidder at the last second, especially on an item that you feel you really need for your army! So, is there anything useful that I learned from my first forays into the eBay battlefield of bidding? 1. Be true unto your Skaven heart and ye shall WIN! - Bide your time...watch the bidding carefully and strike at the last moment! - Watch and wait from the shadows...search regularly, and then search regularly again. You never know when something might turn up on the scavenge pile. - Wait until your (financial) strength is gathered. Don't bid at a level you can't afford. - Forget about it when you lose - it must have been a deliberate fault in the system engineered by your (Skaven?) opponent? The road to world domination is looooonnnnggg...but we have time... - Research carefully before getting involved. Is this EXACTLY the model you want? This is particularly important with so many different generations of Skaven models around. 2. Use the tools that Clan Skryre engineers provide you... - If so inclined, approach eBay with all the electromechanical assistance that your devious Clan Skryre engineers can muster...a variety of tools exist to help you sell and bid. (Note, I have never used these nor can I recommend them as fit for purpose. Some - but not a true Skaven - might call them cheating.) - Your mobile phone isn't just for signaling your lieutenants or arranging skirmishes...install a decent eBay app on your phone to keep yourself in touch with what is going on... 3. Research the merchant you buy from... Those eBay seller ratings are there for a reason. A healthy dose of skepticism is important but hey, they are better than nothing. 4. Respect the merchant you brought from... Who knows when they will have something for you in the future! And isn't the world a better place when people are polite? (Not a very Skaven-like attitude I know...) 5. Winning is only half the battle... Think through the process mentally from start to finish, what do you need to do to ensure that the goods you have won appear safely at your underground lair? -Does the seller ship to your part of the world?(Ask unless they specifically say they DON'T ship to where you live.) - Have you provided full contact details? - Does the shipping method include tracking? (It can be worth it for the peace of mind...) - Will the final price actually be better than buying locally? As I said, I'm only a novice - any tips from others out there on how to get the best out of eBay? Comment below! *Squeeeeeeeek*