Tuesday, November 2, 2010

My Dwarven Thoughts

Since January I've played over 100 games with my Skaven, fifty of these since 8th Ed has come out.

I am a bit of a conservative in that I tend to settle on a list and then build tactics around it rather than constantly change my list. However in the time since Orktoberfest I've had a bit of a play around with different ideas. I feel as though I am starting to get my head around the meta and this has been helped by playing the rules as per the book including scenarios and victory conditions.

The toughest matchup for Skaven in 8ed are Dwarfs. Their Magic Defense is very strong as is their Leadership. They usually have a similar number of DD to your PD as well as access to multiple scrolls. They have access to a variety of warmachices that can be runed to increase their offense capacity while protection can be bought to reduce the chance of mishap. They are T4 which makes them hard for troops that are S3 to hurt. In short Skaven struggle to get points out of them.

That said I think they are a very fair army, they just happen to be the Rock to the Skaven Scissors. I like playing against them far more this edition as after a cleansing period most Dwarf players have realised that making the play is a two-way street.

Against Dwarfs you are still in for a very hard game and I think they are a good army at Masters type events as they negate two of the stronger armies Lizards and Skaven. Fast armies can still be a problem for them as are the Warriors of Chaos. The mega-blocks WoC can put out mean that Dwarfs need bigger units than they had before.

All in all thought I reckon Dwarf players must be enjoying this edition far more than 7ed.

3 comments:

  1. Dwarfs have also been awesome ;) but under 8th they are just fantastic but with only 7 8th Ed games under my belt its hard to say.

    Where do you find the time to play Pete? I need to move to Wellington

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  2. I agree that there has been a cleansing period; this Dwarf player got whipped and wiped many times before eking out a win....

    Skaven are also a hard match-up for us. I think it comes down to whether the Storm Banner holds up for more than one turn, whether we can shoot the Abomination before it murders whole units and whether the dreaded 13th goes off. We can deal with the Furnace, Bell and Doomwheel in combat, and shut down much of the magic phase, but if the HPA makes it to our line (especially with 8 deep Slaves to remove Steadfast) and/or the Grey Seer gets off the 13th more than once and we can't stop it, then it's likely to be a Skaven win. That's been my experience anyway. All I can say is thank god that Censor Bearers aren't that flash anymore!

    My other main concern are Gutter Runners. Dwarves only have two 'dimensions', combat and shooting, so to lose one to Poisoned skirmishers is crippling.

    You're right though, 8th Edition is much better, and I guess I'm still coming to grips with the fact that yes, I can actually charge.....

    Finally, my first post here, but not the last. A great blog Pete, and part of my required reading. Thanks for your time and effort.

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