Tag Archives: Warhammer

Skaven List

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I’ve fiddled a bit with the list I ran on Tuesday, and I think I’ve got it in a state ready for Tuesday.

8th Test Army
Skaven – 2,500 points

Lords
Warlord (General) – Bonebreaker, Shield, Warlock-Augmented Weapon, (Heavy Armor w/ 4+ Ward save)*

Heroes
Chieftain (BSB) –  Shield, Storm Banner
Warlock Engineer – Lvl 2, Dispel Scroll, Warp-Energy Condenser
Warlock Engineer – Lvl 2, Doomrocket

Core
Clanrats x29 – Full Command, Shields
– Poisoned Wind Mortar
Clanrats x29 – Full Command, Shields
– Poisoned Wind Mortar
Clanrats x29 – Full Command, Shields
– Poisoned Wind Mortar
Night Runners x10 – Sling
Night Runners x10 – Sling
Stormvermin x30 – Full Command
Skavenslaves x20
Skavenslaves x20

Special
Rat Ogres x6 – Master-Bred, Packmaster x3
Rat Ogres x6 – Master-Bred, Packmaster x3

Rare
Doomwheel

* Whatever it’s called.

Some thoughts:

– If what I’ve heard about having to use non-hand weapons if you have them is true, shields are worthless on Stormvermin, as they must always use their halberds.  I think I’m at peace with that: their save w/o shield is the same as that of the clanrats with them.

– Part of me wants to take more Slaves, but I don’t see the points.  I’d have to cash in a block of Clanrats for them, which I don’t think would do me much good.

– Doomrocket’s back in.

– The Warlord’s kind of juiced up now: he’ll have a 3+/4+ save and will spit out ten S 5 attacks.  A bit pricey, though.  I could see dropping the WAW for something cheaper + Slaves, maybe.

Warhammer 8th Ed Game

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Last night, I got in my first real game of Warhammer 8th.  I’d sorta played a game last week against Jeff but, it sorta fell apart halfway through (so I don’t think it counts).

Played against Joey’s Ogre Kingdoms.

My list:

8th Edition Test Army
Skaven – 2,500 points

Lords
Warlord (General) – Bonebreaker, Foul Pendant, Shield of Distraction

Heroes
Chieftain (BSB) –  Shield, Storm Banner
Warlock Engineer – Lvl 2, Warplock Pistol, Warp-Energy Condenser
Warlock Engineer – Lvl 2, Warplock Pistol,Dispel Scroll

Core
Clanrats x30 – Full Command, Shields
– Poisoned Wind Mortar
Clanrats x30 – Full Command, Shields
– Poisoned Wind Mortar
Clanrats x30 – Full Command, Shields
– Poisoned Wind Mortar
Night Runners x10 – Slings
Night Runners x10 – Slings
Skavenslaves x20 – Slings
Skavenslaves x20 – Slings
Skavenslaves x20 – Slings
Stormvermin x30 – Full Command

Special
Rat Ogres x6 – Master-bred, Packmaster x3
Rat Ogres x6 – Master-bred, Packmaster x3

Rare
Doomwheel

Joey’s list was something along the lines of:

Lords
Tyrant (General) – Siegebreaker

Heroes
Bruiser (BSB) – Ragbanner
Butcher – Dispel Scroll, Rock Eye
Butcher – Hellheart

Core
Bulls x10 – Full Command
Ironguts x10 – Full Command
Gnoblar Trappers x8

Special
Leadbelchers x2
Leadbelchers x2
Gnoblar Scraplauncher

Rare
Maneaters x4 – Different Weapons

I pretty much immediately regretted forgetting to take the Doomrocket.  My mortars hit with pretty disturbing accuracy, but only managed to do a wound or so a turn.

The first half of the game was extremely grim.  Ogres are, now, pretty disgusting.  With so many attacks being pitched around, static CR isn’t worth very much.  And, when you have to do so many wounds to remove models (like with Ogres), I didn’t stand a chance of winning a combat.  Ranked Bull Charges didn’t help, either.

Fortunately, Steadfast really came through and helped my units stick around for the most part.

The tide started to turn when I was able to get Cracks Call off and trash his Tyrant, who’d been leading his Ironguts in a protracted battle against Stormvermin to the front (and Slaves to the flank).  By that point, we’d whittled down the Ironguts and Stormvermin to about half strength (and chased the Slaves off).  The lack of the death of my Bonebreaker Warlord made room for another six Stormvermin to step up and the extra attacks wrapped up the unit.

Then, a block of Rat Ogres (the other one was liquified by a Bull Ogre + Bruiser Bull Charge) got charged by the Maneaters and wrecked face.  It was pretty cool.

We didn’t calculate VP, but at the end of the game it was pretty close.  I had Warlock Engineers x2, a full Clanrat block, most of a Stormvermin block, most of a Rat Ogre block, two Mortars and the Doomwheel.  He had his Bruiser and the Ironguts, the Scraplauncher and, I think, a Maneater.

Overall, I think the army did pretty well; I’m probably going to stick with this and tweak it a bit for the next few games.  Need to fit in the Doomrocket, and will probably juggle weapon teams, but this’ll be where I start from.

Painting Progress – 20100621

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I’ve given up on painting my next quartet of Bloodcrushers.  It’s been a chore to paint them and if I’m honest with myself, I kind of resent the Daemon army at the moment, as if it’s Khorne’s fault I won’t be running them 8/14.

I did decide that I like my approach with the chariot.  I didn’t get much feedback, really: just Matt H. telling me that it looked off, possibly small.   The chariot itself is slightly larger than the Chaos and Tomb King chariots and is about the size of the High Elf chariot.  The perception could come from the FW Herald of Khorne being enormous.

The chariot is a Defiler “knuckle” with a plasticard base and edges and spikes from the Chaos vehicle sprue as rails.  The Khorne symbol is from the same sprue.  The wheels are from a Chaos chariot.  I’d been planning on having plasticard struts connect to the shoulders of the Juggernaut, but Sunday afternoon I decided that would be hard to work.  Instead, I used some hobby chain I picked up years ago for some long-since abandoned project. I think it worked out pretty well.

I will say, though, that painting this thing is going to be a huge pain in the genitals.  At least the Herald isn’t glued to anything yet.

Also, because I’m looking at returning to my Skaven (if I’m not playing 40K at the Open, why wait to return to Fantasy?), I finally stuck the Grey Seer on my Screaming Bell.  I wouldn’t call it done just yet, since I need to decide what I’m doing with the bell-ringer, but… this is a big step.

Basically, I clipped the front of the saddle off, and smoothed it down.  Ground out some of the area between the Seer’s legs to try to get him to sit more flush against the dragon before pinning it onto the saddle.  I used a little green stuff to pull its robes down and look natural (as opposed to just stuck on).

I also had to do a hand-swap, as the Seer’s left hand is supposed to be hanging onto the Bell, and there’s nothing for that hand to connect to.  Instead, I just used a sword/dagger hand from the Stormvermin sprue.  I like the result a lot.

Finally, I had to throw out my spray station.  I’m quite annoyed by this fact, since it was great and big and I’d been using it for several years.  A wasp decided to start building a nest in it, however, so it had to go.

Coming up, I’ve got a lengthy battle-report to type up and post.  I’m also going to be focusing on my rats (over 40K) starting pretty much now.  That means I’ll probably start with finishing my half-painted Doomwheel.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles 8th

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So, I’ve got my preorder in for WHFB 8th.

I’ve got to say, I’m excited about it.  I’d grown very disillusioned with the game playing with the old Skaven book and, to be honest, I didn’t play much with the new Skaven book because I sucked myself into painting (and later playing with) my Daemon army.  New book, new system… I’m hoping that such a clean slate helps me find how to really enjoy the game.

I mean, the same thing happened with 40K: I played my 4th ed for a good bit but never really got it.  When 5th came out, things really started to click for me.

Not everyone’s excited about it, though.  I get that.  Change is hard, &c, &c.  What’s surprising to me is how angry the Fantasy block of the IFL is about 8th.   Not just “not excited.”  Angry.  Ready to take up torches and pitchforks.

I mean, the game’s not out yet.  Nobody’s read the book.  We’ve got rumors, some of which are translated from German.  That’s it.  We don’t know anything about the game yet: it’s too early to love it or hate it: the only reasonable responses are optimism or pessimism, nothing more concrete.   But the Fantasy players can’t stop making noises about moving to Warhammer Ancient Battles*.  There are, literally, people calling to keep the Fantasy Pyramid using 7th edition rules until the end of time.

It’s just too precipitous.

And the thing is, there’s no way they’re going to be happy with 8th.  Not after months of fuming over how horrible it’s going to be.  The Gamer’s Edition could come with the rulebook, tokens, dice, a six-pack and a hooker and they’d hate it.  It’s a shame.

It’ll be an even bigger shame if they stick with 7th for their play.  Although they should play in whatever system they want to play in… they can pretty much say goodbye to new players.  People who’ve picked up the game post-July 10 won’t want to play 7th.  People who’ve been playing 8th aren’t any more likely to want to switch back to 7th than people switching back to 40K 4th.  They can kiss tournaments goodbye; even if they show up, they’re doomed to poor performance on account of not knowing the system.

What will probably happen is they’ll switch over to 8th, and will continue complaining.  I mean, they made the switch to 7th and continued complaining (and, I imagine, they made the switch to 6th and continued complaining).

I’m just disappointed by the negativity.

*Which is, of course, bullshit.  The people making these noises only play WHFB.  Period.  I’m not sure they’re capable of switching to a new system.

Ratputin Triumphant

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The game on Saturday happened, as planned.  As cramped as my schedule’s been, lately, I consider that a victory.

Harry ran High Elves, with a list that was something like:
Lords & Heroes
  • Noble – General, Great Eagle, Reaver Bow
  • Noble – BSB, Elven Steed, Battle Banner
  • Mage – Dispel Scroll, Dispel Scroll (Lore of Fire)
  • Mage – Elven Steed, Silver Wand, Starwood Staff (Lore of Death)
Core
  • Archers x10
  • Archers x10
Special
  • Dragon Princes x5 – Full Command
  • Dragon Princes x5 – Full Command
  • Ellyrian Reavers x5 – Full Command
  • Lion Chariot of Chrace
  • Phoenix Guard x12 – Full Command
Rare
  • Great Eagle
  • Repeater Bolt Thrower
  • Repeater Bolt Thrower
I ran the list I discussed here.
It was a full-on battle.  Very, very close with the dice deciding a lot of things.  It was a really good game.

Some notes:

  • The battlefield was different than what I’m used to seeing.  This was great.  I’d just been complaining with some other folks on RPG.net about how WHFB battlefields always look pretty much exactly the same: Forests to the right and left, halfway between deployment zones with one to two hills along the back edge of each deployment zone (for bolt throwers, etc).  Harry started dropping hills in the middle of the board for fear of the Warp-Lightning Cannon.  I put forests in each deployment zone, hoping I could scout my Gutter Runners.

  • He lost his mages immediately.  On his first turn, his scroll caddy miscast with double 1’s (kill the Mage).  The other Mage died on my second turn: he’d been in a unit of Dragon Princes… which had lost a member to Storm Daemon, allowing the Warp-Lightning Cannon to snipe him.  To say that this helped is to wildly understate.
  • The Throwing Stars on my Night Runners didn’t really do much for me, though it did have a strong psychological impact on my opponent.  He seemed unreasonably concerned that he was going to get shot to pieces; I’m not sure why.  Yes, most of my army had shooting, but so much of it was at a negligible range… and it’s not like it was two blocks of archers and two bolt throwers.
  • I did like the larger unit of Night Runners, though.  They were more effective at screening, and tied things up pretty well.  Shame they’ll be losing Skirmish in a few months.
  • The Gutter Runners did quite nicely.  They locked down two flanks effectively and, on springing into combat, did me proud.  They were unable to help with warmachines, though.  I probably should try a Tunneling Team, after all.
  • I still like the Warlord with the Cautious Shield and the +5 Ward Save.  He’s not a death machine, but he helps keep the unit around very effectively, and is about as hard to kill as I can manage.
  • The Assassin wasn’t able to do much of anything, but that’s because Harry moved his general halfway across the table.  A flying general is handy to have.  I’d probably be better off with two Warlock Engineers, though, if only to provide Dispel Dice and Scrolls.
  • Ratling Guns didn’t get to shoot once.  I don’t expect them to, any more.  They’re another target, though, and are a threat that must be dealt with, which protects my other units.
  • Likewise, the Giant.  He didn’t get the chance to do anything except eat two rounds of shooting… which is pretty much what I thought he’d do.  At 200 points, I probably should have higher expectations, I think.  Maybe next time, I’ll try Ironguts or something.
  • The Jezzails kicked ass.  They deployed behind the hills, in the back corner, which meant they were safe from enemy fire (so the only thing that would chase them off the table would be misfires).  They still had a clear line of sight to the middle of the field and, if anything crossed over the hill (which happened several times), they were able to unload on it at short range.
  • The Warp-Lightning Cannon did quite well; threatening the heck out of most of his units.  It paid for itself in frying the Mage.  At one point, it shot down the flank of the unit of Dragon Princes that contained the BSB.  At S10.  I rolled a 1 to wound the BSB, but incinerated the rest of the unit.  That was pretty close, there.
  • The MVPs for the game, I think, were the Globadiers.  Small enough that he didn’t want to waste anything on them, those two 20 point units were able to kill hundreds of points of Dragon Princes, as well as opening the door to put down to enemy characters.  They were fantastic.

At the end of the game, he had:

  • General (fleeing)
  • BSB
  • One full unit of Archers
  • 2 Bolt Throwers

I had:

  • Nearly full block of Clanrats (with General)
  • Nearly full block of Slaves
  • Nearly full heap of Jezzails
  • Warp-Lightning Cannon
  • Half a unit of Gutter Runners
  • 1 Globadier

One quarter was contested, one empty, two mine.  I’d captured a banner, as well.  Ultimately, I won by over 800 points, but it could have very easily been a defeat had his Mages not been fried.

Ratputin Returns

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I was so unimpressed with the way the Bubonic Court worked last time I played, I think I’m done with it for now.  It sacrifices too much of what it doesn’t have in the name of getting too little.  Plus, if I’m going to play in Dragon Wars, it’d be nice to refresh myself as to how the rest of the army I’ll be playing is supposed to work.

I’m playing a game against Harry on Saturday.  There’s a comp tournament next weekend, so he’s prepping for that.  My list unintentionally meets all of the comp tournament’s rules, save that I’m including a Dogs of War Giant, but he’s okay with that.  (I doubt it will make a difference, anyway).

Ratputin Returns
Skaven – 2,250 points

Lords & Heroes

  • Warlord – General, Heavy Armor, Cautious Shield, Foul Pendant
  • Chieftain – BSB, Heavy Armor, Storm Banner
  • Assassin – Weeping Blade
  • Warlock Engineer – Condenser, Warp-Blades, Dispel Scroll, Storm Daemon

Core

  • Clanrats x27 – Musician, Standard, Ratling Gun
  • Clanrats x26 – Musician, Standard, Ratling Gun
  • Giant Rats x24 – Packmasters x4
  • Giant Rats x24 – Packmasters x4
  • Night Runners x10 – Throwing Stars
  • Night Runners x10 – Throwing Stars
  • Poisoned Wind Globadiers x2
  • Poisoned Wind Globadiers x2
  • Slaves x20 – Musician
  • Slaves x20 – Musician

Special

  • Gutter Runners x7 – Poisoned Hand Weapons, Poisoned Throwing Stars
  • Gutter Runners x7 – Poisoned Hand Weapons, Poisoned Throwing Stars
  • Warplock Jezzails x7

Rare

  • Giant
  • Warp-Lightning Cannon

That’s 15 drops with 205 models.

I’m trying a number of different, new things out here.

  • The Giant, for one.  This started out with a decision to include some Ogre Ironguts but transformed into a “A Giant is more likely to suck down (and survive) all of my enemy’s fire,” decision.  Plus, it looks like it’ll be goofy and fun.
  • Gutter Runners.  I’m probably making a mistake here by taking so many of them, and by making them so expensive (those poisoned weapons increase their cost by 50%), but it’s something I’m not used to using.  I really need a way to deal with enemy warmachines, and these are it.  Initially one of these was a Tunneling Team, but after rereading the rules on that… no way.
  • Similarly, I’m taking slightly larger than usual Night Runner units of 10.  In a few months, I’ll be taking blocks of 25, but for now they skirmish and I’m used to units of 5.  I hope that, with groups of 10, they’ll be better at screening.  I’ve given them Throwing Stars to eat points: this Mainstay Unit stuff makes list construction difficult: if you can’t afford to buy another unit of Clanrats, you’re sort of stuck trying to find places to spend a few more points.  It will, hopefully, make them a bit more of a threat, though.
  • I’m only taking seven Jezzails for two reasons.  Seven is the magic number for these small units: it keeps them small (and cheap) while maximizing the number of models you need to kill before they break and run away (note that I don’t say “test to see if they break and run away”).  I’d take two units of them… but I only have ten Jezzails.  I hope we see plastic ones in a few months before I buy up to fourteen (but I’m not holding my breath).
  • As it turns out, I’ve always done The Cautious Shield wrong, thinking that if I give up my attacks, I can force a model to lose an attack.  What it actually does is automatically force a model to lose an attack and, if I give up all of my attacks, it forces them to lose two attacks.  That’s twice as useful!
  • I’m probably going to get my teeth kicked in on Magic.  (Heck, I’m probably going to get my teeth kicked in anyway, since I can’t outfight, outshoot, outmagic or outmaneuver any other army right now).  Just one caster, with one scroll probably isn’t going to be enough… but I want to play with the Assassin.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

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This past weekend was my first free weekend in what seems like forever; I had high hopes of Getting Things Done.  And, although I didn’t get as much done as I’d have liked, I did get 95% done with my Screaming Bell conversion.

I’ve had the pieces for it for probably over six months, but I’ve held off on doing it because of frustration with the Skaven and diversion into War of the Ring.  Plus, I was never really sure how I was going to get some thin and small plastic hands to support a large and heavy metal bell.  I could have waited for the rumored new kit, which if it exists should have a plastic bell but…

The announcement of Dragon Wars, an annual Fantasy Tournament built around dragon fetishism and goofy but fun rules motivated me to pull the tub down and get to work.

The first problem I’d faced was what to do with the hands.  The dragon claws weren’t large enough to convincingly hold the bell.  After several months of deliberation, I realized I have a surplus of Rat Ogre arms.  Problem solved.

The grip isn’t perfect, but at least it’s convincing.

Getting the secured was the biggest challenge.  I finally gave up on supporting it from above and decided to support it from below.  I’ve got a thick paperclip coming up  nearly 3″ from the base and shoved into a wad of greenstuff and superglue in the top of the bell and secured with more greenstuff and superglue near the opening of the bell.

The paperclip runs another 3″ or so on the bottom of the base and is secured by… you guessed it: greenstuff and superglue.

A little bit of the pin is showing, but I don’t think it’ll be all that noticeable, especially when camouflaged with some aquarium rocks.

Skaven don’t truck with dragons, but the do have an endless horde of hideous and vile mutants to drive onto the field.  The main goal of the conversion was to transform it into a enormous wing’d rat beast.

So, I gave it gnawing, buck teeth, and filed down what was a forked tongue into a more normal, ratty tongue.

And then I started sculpting hair.  This is what made it take a weekend instead of an afternoon, since I had to wait for the greenstuff I’d just sculpted to cure before I could start on another section (lest I maul what I’d just completed with my clumsy fingers).

I orginally hadn’t planned on doing so much hair, but this is where I ended up.  I think it looks good.  Also, I put on a few buboes, since Skaven always have a few of those.

The only thing I’m not entirely sure I’m happy with is the tail.

It needs to look like a ratty tail.  The bottom of the tail is fine, in this regard.  The top’s another matter.  I don’t feel comfortable trying to file or buff the scales down (especially now that it’s all assembled, but even before), since the end result would just be something unnervingly smooth (or unnervingly smooth and with horrible texturing).  So, I’m leaving it.

The other thing that needs doing is the mount.  Originally, I’d planned to build a little platform over the saddle for the Grey Seer to stand on.  That plan is on hold, though, because there’s talk of a number of mount options in the new Skaven book: Giant Rat, Rat Ogre, litter, etc.  Also, the style of the Skaven is changing a little bit.  My hope is that there will be some new riding legs that I’ll be able to use to mount the Grey Seer on it’s back like a rider.

Of course, this presents me with a difficult decision: paint it now (and in time for Dragon Wars), or leave it unpainted and therefore more easily altered with whatever new bits there will be in November?

(Also, this post has convinced me that I need to buy/build a lightbox.  My current setup clearly isn’t holding up.)

Arch-Plaguelord Nurglitch

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Finished Nurglitch yesterday.  (Technically, I finished him today, but all I did today was glue the banner on, wash a few small things and varnish him; I did a lot of work on him yeterday.)  Here he is:

I’m not entirely happy with him; I relied a little too much on washes, which might have turned out okay but my Devlan Mud seems to have thickened up a bit.  Still, he’s pretty cool, and I think the base looks great.

Plague Rats

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I should be playing WHFB this coming Tuesday.  Hopefully, timing work out such that I get not one, but two games in.

I’ve been working on painting some miniatures for the army, too.  I’m not quite up to powering through a full unit of 25 in a single week just yet, but it’s entirely appropriate to paint Nurglitch. He’s maybe halfway there, but I hope to find some time to finish him before Tuesday.

(Hastily taken with my phone this morning.)

This is the list I’m looking to use:

Rashputin Marches
Bubonic Court of Nurglitch – 2250 points

Lords & Heroes
  • Nurglitch – General
  • Plague Priest – BSB, Stormbanner
  • Festering Chantor – Dispel Scroll x2

Core

  • Plague Monks x26 – Full Command, Extra Hand Weapon, War Banner
  • Plague Monks x26 – Full Command, Extra Hand Weapon
  • Pusbags x20
  • Pusbags x20
Special 
  • Frothing Giant Rats x25
  • Frothing Giant Rats x25
  • Plague Censer Bearers x10
  • Plague Censer Bearers x10

Rare

  • Rat Spawn
  • Rat Spawn

We’ll see how it does.  Not many changes from before: pretty much just dropping the Lvl 2 upgrade on the Festering Chantor and using the points for more bodies.  I was pretty happy with how everything worked out in the last game, and I’m not sure that any of the other units would be that much more useful.

(God, doesn’t that image make you want to hurl?)