1,000 points - a Whole New World... #1

...at least for this warlord!

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!

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:

Tabletop War.com Skaven Name Generator

Malleus.dk Skaven name generator

Throwback Tuesday...Skaven Screaming Bell

*Squeek*

Possibly the signature war machine of the Skaven army, the Screaming Bell is as wonderful a model as it is a awesome presence on the Warhammer battlefield. I painted this in 2011.

Pushed into battle, the Screaming Bell makes the unit pushing it unbreakable...

The Grey Seer rides atop the Bell...

The Bell Ringer...a Skaven Rat Ogre

A bit of home-brew rust was painted onto bolts etc.

The Rat Ogre. Blue is my clan colour.

The brazier, with fumes.

A patina of corrosion on the bronze...made with very watered-down Ice Blue paint.

This was one of the first "Big" kits that I every painted for Warhammer, so it was a big challenge for me, and it was a good chance to try a few new things, which (I think?) included:

1. adding some simple home-brew rust effects. 
2. "hacking" the model so I could still also use it as a Plague Furnace, so it remains dual-use (you can make 1 of 2 kits with the parts included). You can find a guide to the conversion here.

I have to be honest and say that unpacking this thing is still a joy, just because it is a cool model, with lots of character.

Cheers,

*Squeek*

How to Make Tea Light Explosions and Smoke

Squeek!

Hi everyone. Just a quick post and a guide to making something I have wanted to try for a while - making explosions and smoke for gaming table/ miniature warfare!

After a very short time (x1 hour), here is what I ended up with (scroll down to the video to see them flickering.)

From looking around on the net, I think these are more likely to be fires, rather than explosions (but they are commonly called "Tea light explosions", for reasons we shall see below.)

This is a fire, not an explosion, notice the fairly thick smoke from the top of the vehicle.

This is a controlled mine explosion.

As you can see, an explosion would involve a lot more "force" and the explosion itself is mainly a bright yellow, with orange and black at the edges. 

How to make Tea light Explosions and Smoke

1. Gather your materials.

• 4-8 Tea lights. These come in packs, and cost very little. Mine have replaceable batteries, but the very cheap ones don't (which saves you even more money!) You probably want a total of 8 or so.

NOTE: If you don't have tea lights, no worries! You can still make columns of smoke by following all the other steps below (to see examples, see the BONUS TIP photos at the bottom of this post)

• Filling/ stuffing. Craft shops have this, as it is commonly used for stuffing for soft toys etc.
• Double-sided tape and/ or glue. (If using double-sided tape, make sure it is the same width as the side of the tea lights you are using, or cut it down to size)
• Scissors and string (if you are using only glue, you won't need these).
• Black modelling spray paint. I used GW Chaos Black.

2. Construction!

• To measure the length of double-sided tape to go around the tea light, wrap the string around the tea light. Cut the string where it meets.
• Use the string to measure-off lengths of double-sided tape (x1 for each tea light obviously)
• Wrap the double-sided tape around the edge of the tea light.

Wrap the double sided tape around the edge of the tea light.
You can see that the tape is about the same width as the tea light.

• For the top of the tea light, add glue, as below. (If you don't have glue, cut small strips of double-sided tape down to size and put them on the top.) Doing this will mean your filling is more securely attached to your tea light later.

Put glue (or small strips of double-sided tape) on top of the tea light.

• Tease out your stuffing into large blobs. Experiment with the shape. Some people glue balls of cotton wool together, but I just teased out some shapes from big pieces of stuffing.

HINT: I found one good effect was for taller "clouds" was to twist it round and up, so that it looks like a vortex of smoke and flame.

• Peel off the backing on the double-sided tape and attach the stuffing on top, pushing around the base firmly. Also press down on the top of the tea light so the stuffing gets attached there. (If you are using glue rather than double-sided tape, search on YouTube to find some examples of how to attach!)

Tease out the stuffing into the size and shape you want.

NOTE: Before attaching/ gluing stuffing to the tea light, poke a hole for the tea light in the bottom of the stuffing and try a dry fit!. 

Check: Can you see the glow of the tea light clearly? If NOT, then consider teasing away some more stuffing until you have a glow you are happy with. Do this NOW, as it will be harder to do after you have painted the stuffing.

3. Painting

• Spray the stuffing black, lightly at first. As you spray towards the top of the stuffing, use lighter and lighter passes from further away, so the top of the smoke is grey, rather than black.
• If you prefer a darker look (thick black smoke) then spray more black at the bottom of the stuffing, as this is where the thicker smoke will look best (in my opinion!)

OPTIONAL: Some people drybrush orange or yellow paint on the bottom of the stuffing, but after seeing how it looked with the tea light on, I didn't think this was necessary (although it might look better).

After spray painting black

You're done! Now switch on the tea lights, and you should get a nice, flickering orange glow!

To see how they look on the table, here is (very!) short video!

They also look OK on buildings (this was my first ever scenery, a bunker...)

BONUS TIP: If you can't get tea lights, just spray the stuffing following the steps above. You can easily attach it to vehicles by either just dropping them on top, or removing a turret and wedging in the bottom of the stuffing (the darker part).

The photo below used just spray paint and stuffing, but it still looks good IMHO!

Smoke effects, no tea lights inside!

Let me know your feedback!

Cheers,

Squeek

All along the watchtower...

*Squeek*

Over the last few days I've been working on an old Citadel Watchtower I picked up on eBay. I don't think you can get these from GW anymore (they didn't have it listed on their website when I had a quick look today - which is a shame, it is a nice model.)

The original model also comes with a separate small outhouse, which I guess could represent a toilet! It can be placed on top of the tower or separately. I haven't started that yet, but thought I would share the main tower.

with Skaven champion, for scale.

I was quite happy with:

1. The brazier with hot coals came out OK. This was my second attempt to try Object Source Lighting, and the yellow glaze on the area around the brazier is subtle (possibly too subtle) but overall OK.
2. Added flock around the base, so it blends in nicely with my battle mat.
3. Added some rust effects in key areas.

Not sure about:

1. Using red/ brown for bricks, rather than just grey/ fortress gray for stone. Bricks somehow feel a bit out of place here...I might get used to it though.
2. Mould lines/ flash. The model came assembled, and there were a lot of gaps in edges etc. This is really noticeable on the chimney and corners of the structure. I really should have either taken in apart and glued it again (difficult) or used greenstuff or some other method to fill the gaps.

Here are some more photos.

A small Skaven unit marches past.

Roof detail. Sadly the sword held by the golden gryphonne is gone.

Nice details. The embedded skeleton/ alcove adds character.

Used this blue to tie the model in with the chapel I painted previously.

On the base and second floor I added some flock/ grass to add a bit of age.
Also, I added a rust effect on some key areas, like the metal reinforcements

Added some source lighting from the brazier to the edged surfaces around it.

It should made a nice companion to my Empire Chapel (below).

One thing I had forgotten - buildings take a lot longer to paint than you think!

Cheers,

*Squeek*

#warhammer #WFB #tabletopgaming #scenery #terrain

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.