Seerlord Morskitta's Urban Assault Vehicle - The Ruination 4000

Here's my list for Ruination:

Seerlord Morskitta - Screaming Bell, Skalm, Dragonbane Gem Earthing Rod

Chieftain - BSB, Standard of Discipline
Plague Priest - Level 1, Plague Furnace, Flail, Scrying Stone, Ironcurse Icon
Assassin - Weeping Blades, Potion of Strength
Engineer - Level 2, Doomrocket, Warp Condensor
Engineer - Level 1, Dispel Scroll
Engineer - Brass Orb
Engineer

40 Slaves - Full Command
40 Slaves - Full Command
40 Slaves - Full Command
40 Clanrats - Full Command, Shields - Ratling Gun
29 Stormvermin - Full Command, Storm Banner
29 Stormvermin - Full Command
2 Rat Swarms
2 Rat Swarms
2 Rat Swarms

34 Plague Monks - Full Command, Banner of Dripping Death
9 Gutter Runners - Poison, Slings
9 Gutter Runners - Poison, Slings
5 Poison Wind Globadiers
5 Poison Wind Globadiers

Warp Lightning Cannon
Warp Lightning Cannon
Plagueclaw Ratapult
Plagueclaw Ratapult
Doomwheel
Hell Pit Abomination

So seven infantry blocks, 4 warmachines, sprinkling of chaff and a bag of tricks a weasel would be proud of.

New Ratty Dice Bag

Yesterday was the first post after Xmas and as well as a box of supplies from Element Games via Youshop in the UK (thanks NZ Post - my tax dollars put to good use), I received another parcel.

A lot of people on the UK tournament scene are aware of "The Dice Bag Lady". Annie Norman is one of the rare females that plays tournament warhammer and has a unique Chaos Gnomes army made of alternative models. She also has a unique sideline - she produces hand-made "dice" bags.

A couple of months ago I contacted her to see if she could make a suitably "ratty" one for Seerlord Morskitta's Uber-Army. She asked me various questions about colour, design etc. And here's the finished article:

It is hand-crocheted with drawstring and its own unique "Skaven" patch made from felt. The colours match those of my army.

You can check out more of Annie's Dice Bags on www.facebook.com/TheDiceBagLady or contact her on
makemeadicebag[AT]gmail.com

Skaven at the Masters

This weekend I attended the NZ Masters in Hamilton. This was the sixth running of the event and my fourth appearance (I qualified for the first two but ended up umpiring the event). The field for this weekend’s event was the best ranked of any of the six tournaments so far – ten of the Top 12, last year’s winner and #15.

When I saw the field I tried to work out what the make up of race selection for the field would be. The only surprises (for me) were Locky (I didn't know what he’d take), James Brown (I thought he’d take Ogres) and Rory (I thought Vampires). I was pleasantly surprised when I got these incorrect (vampires being a hard match for the two armies I was considering).

My initial selection was the Daemons I've been using recently but I shelved them when I considered the potential for cannons and poison. That proved a good choice and so I fell back on Skaven, generally my army of choice.

The list I took was modified to reflect what I thought I would be facing and I likened it to a Swiss army Knife with a tool for every job.

Seer – General, Bell, Earthing Rod, Skalm, Dragonbane Gem

Chieftain – BSB, Standard of Discipline

Engineer – Level 2, Doomrocket, Condenser

Engineer – Level 1, Ruby Ring, Dispel Scroll

Engineer – Brass Orb

Assassin – Weeping Blades, Potion of Strength

30 Clanrats – Full command

22 Stormvermin – Muso, Standard, Storm Banner

40 Slaves – Champ, Muso

40 Slaves – Muso

40 Slaves – Muso

6 Gutter Runners – Slings, Poison

6 Gutter Runners – Slings, Poison

Doomwheel

Hellpit Abomination

Warplightning Cannon

The list has more toys than I’d normally like – I've never been a big user of the Orb – but it gave me an option in most circumstances. Critically it gave points up sparingly and was risk averse in that I took the Rod over my more usual Power Scroll.

So how did it go?

The Desolation of Skavenblight

Leaving the NZ Masters yesterday, there was a skqweel from the back seat to stop.

The boot of Rory's car hadn't been properly closed and it popped open. My Skaven army - in its Battlefoam case - was seen bouncing down the road behind us. We stopped and I went back and collected it.

I wasn't brave enough to open the case until this afternoon.

So not too bad at all. The HPA lost his fingers, the Storm Banner was broken and a variety of plastic infantry de-based.

I'm glad they were in a Battlefoam case!!!

I'm Not Paranoid But.....

So for the third time in 2013 my Screaming Bell suffered Apocalyptic Doom. This is when you pick up your dice at the start of the magic phase and for no good reason roll 6...6...6

The result looks something like this:

It is particularly nasty when you determine the radius of the blast and roll 18 on 4D6. It is even worse when you are facing Lizardmen who prior to the explosion had four or five units of Skinks.

This is what the Earth looked liked prior to when a skink or small furry mammal looked into the sky 65 million years ago and said "Oh, shiney.....oh fu..."

At the end of the turn when the dust settled there were less than 20 models left on the table.

Now I want to know why....

2009 - Nil

2010 - Nil

2011 - Nil

2012 - Nil

2013 - Three (in the first 8 months)

Obviously there is a problem in Seerlord Morskitta's happy horde.

The Problem With Stormvermin

One of the biggest issues facing a Skaven General is whether to include Stormvermin in his army. It is a question I have agonised over for the past three and a half years - since the latest Skaven book came out and never really arrived at what I thought was a definitive answer.

Stormvermin Are Attractive Little Buggers, Aren't They?

So lets have a look a look at Stormvermin in comparison to Clanrats. Both fill a place in Core and they provide an opportunity to take something other than Slaves (apparently there are other options. I once heard about a guy using Nightrunners. No, I didn't I just made that up). However both Stormvermin and Clanrats count to your Core points whereas Swarms and Giant Rats don't.

Here are the relative characteristics for both troop types:

The table is colour-coded to show where there are advantages and disadvantages.

Effectively with Stormvermin you are paying an extra 2.5 points per model to get a +1 increase in Weapon Skill, Strength (Halberds) and Initiative. However you are forgoing the chance to Parry that you get with Clan Rats. In addition the Command option costs and extra 5 points.

Under the cold hard light of day, I don't believe that the stat increases are worth the extra 2.5 points over a Clan Rat. My experience is that the extra WS, Str and I very rarely flows through into extra casualties caused. Of course this is dependent on the opposing unit but I haven't witnessed sufficient bang for buck. This is especially true in this world of increased armour....a Str 4 wound is of limited currency.

The extra points cost flows directly through to effectiveness in my view by reducing numbers. The jewel in Skaven Special Rules is Strength in Numbers and the extra points per model you have with Clan Rats buys more ranks - and I think that provides more resilience than the stats increases do.

"So why would you ever take Stormvermin, Pete?" I hear you ask. Well Clan Rats can't take a Magic Banner while Stormvermin can. This means that if you bulk out Core with Clan Rats over Stormvermin then you only have access to a Magic Banner through the BSB or Plague Monks. PMs cost the same as Stormvermin and come from the Special rather Core slot. In addition they have their own need for a Magic Banner which makes the case of an open slot moot.

Therefore the question really becomes "Can you survive on a single Magic Banner carried by the BSB" or do you need access to a second. If the answer is the former then go Clan Rats, if the latter then you have to take Stormies.

There are two key banners for Skaven - the Standard of Discipline and the Storm Banner. Ideally you would run both, however I generally think that the Storm Banner is the more critical. The SoD doesn't impact your ranked units but is invaluable - especially on a Bell - for your other units.

It is also nice to be able to include the cost of the 50 point Storm Banner in your Core allocation rather than character slot.

However more and more I am of the opinion that I can live without the SoD and therefore I am choosing Clan Rats increasingly over the Stormvermin. And that is the problem with Stormvermin. You are paying a premium for a unit with minimal efficiency increases to buy access to a banner. For me that is just not justified in the current meta.

Skaven at Call to Arms - A Missed Opportunity

Over the weekend we had the Warlords annual convention Call to Arms here in Wellington. It attracted a field of 26 people with a mix of armies - though dominated in numbers by Skaven, Vampires and Warriors.

I posted my list last week, so you can check it out there.

Game 1 - Regan Ridge (Vampires) - Dawn Attack

I'd met Regan at Panzershreck and had encouraged him to come along to CTA, so it was great to get to play him. Vamps aren't a great matchup for Skaven as they can put similar numbers in the field. I managed to pick up his chaff points reasonably early but he had big points in Grave Guard and a Ghoul block I couldn't get.

The highlight of the game was the Mortis Engine charging the Bell (who had lost 2 wounds from a scream) and doing five wounds from impact hits. All hit the Bell and it proceeded to fail four 4+ wards.

Win 16-4

Game 2 - Dave Appleby (Skaven) - Blood & Glory

Dave had a Queek list backed up by the usual toys. We both took Plague magic. I got lucky early on when the Storm Banner came down after Dave's turn and that allowed me to take out quite a few of his toys. Gaining the upper hand, I pushed quite aggressively and had Dave on the back foot. He then got off a Plague which reduced my numbers dramatically. Plague rarely gains you points but what it does do is neuter the recipient's offensive capacity. And that was the case here. I continue to push and got Dave's Seer and one banner but needed a final banner to break him. This I eventually achieved but not before a bit of Hell Pit Abomination by-play.

Dave's HPA was down to its last wound when I shot it with the Ruby Ring. I had been ragging him about his wasted 15 points on Warpstone Spikes. Well of course he then makes use of the MR1 they provide. The Hell Pit went down straight after to Warp Lightning while mine died in combat. We rolled to see who's got back up at the end of the turn and Dave's showed the benefit of his Spikes saving a Flaming Wound. This resurrected HPA then went on to kill both Doomwheels. Grrr.....

I got Queek's unit and managed a big win once the bonus 500 VPs was added in.

Win 20-0

Game 3 - Locky Reid (Skaven) - Battle for the Pass

This game turned into a tactical delight. It was dominated by a large tower in the middle of Locky's front line. I managed to exploit this and concentrated my heavy hitters on half of Locky's force. My Gutter Runners were used to take out the WLC and then cheekily reduced the Seer to one wound and the Bell to three. They went down in a blaze of glory to the Bell and to a small plague.

On the other side I was lucky and took out Locky's Doomwheel with a Str 4 hit. The other Doomwheel took out the Furnace before it was charged and flank by the remaining Plague Monks and Slaves. In the preceding magic phase I had got off a Plague that had run through 5 of Locky's units dramatically reducing their offensive capability. My Seer decided to Dimensionally Cascade casting it.

In the end we reached a point of fatigue where we were both still in the fight but neither of us could land blows. This game was a real delight to play and re-awoke for me this scenario that is often dropped from events. Locky was a pleasure to play, as always.

Win 13-7

Game 4 - Sam Whitt (Warriors of Chaos) - Meeting Engagement

I had thought it would take Sam some time to get to grips with his new army but I was wrong. He was sitting a couple of points behind me going into Day 2 and we met on Table 1.

Sam comprehensively outplayed me in this game and going into Turn 3-4 I suspect I was looking at a 15-5 loss at least. I finally managed to get some go-forward and picked up a lot of points on the final turns, mainly through my Bell unit going on the offensive and covering a lot of distance to finally pressure his infantry - which he had cleverly hidden.

I thought I played poorly early on and made some mistakes. However Sam snatched the initiative and I was always chasing. This was my most enjoyable game of the weekend as I had to really fight to get back in the game. I gave Sam my Best Opponent vote. In the end I was 146 points down.

Loss 9-11

Game 5 - Sam Campbell (Daemons of Chaos) - Battleline

Sam had what was generally perceived as the strongest list at the event - though I'm still of the opinion that Joel's Empire is better. Prior to the event the consensus was that he should stomp all before him en route to 1st Place. He indicated that the list had been made to beat Skaven but I wasn't so sure it was as good versus rats as he thought.

Effectively the game was over as a contest in the first magic phase. I threw two dice at a Skitterleap - double six - and my Seer dimensionally cascaded. Hmmmm... The Engineer lined up his Crack's Call down a line of Beasts and hit four but only two went down the crack. With my magic gone it was always going to be a case of how big the loss was. I played very aggressively in the centre and got a unit of Beasts and Plague Bearers for the loss of two Doomwheels. On came Gutter Runners with an Assassin and they took out a Skullcannon, the other misfiring and destroying itself. I saw a chance to push for a small win and charged two Beasts of Nurgle with my Stormvermin Bell unit. Unfortunately I only got one impact hit which I fluffed and the resulting attacks from the unit also fluffed. Not blasting through those Beasts allowed support to arrive and I eventually lost the SV (though the Bell was still there on two wounds at the end).

In the end I lost by 350 points which was a 13-7 to Sam. Again this game was a real tactical struggle where I did my best to come back from losing my Seer Turn 1 to what was a minimal (0.2%) chance event. But when you play with magic you sometimes have to pay the toll....

Summary

So I only picked up 16 points on Day 2 and that was a pretty meagre haul. In the end Sam Campbell had 70 Battle Points, Sam Whitt 69 and me 66. The low totals show just how hardfought the event was. It is not often that a 14 BP/game average will be enough to win an event - in fact I'm struggling to think of a previous example including Masters (where winning totals are usually less).

Well done to both the Sams. This was Sam C's first tournament win and pushed him into the Top 10 of the rankings. Sam Whitt had some compensation in picking up Best Presented for his new Warriors and Nicholas Jebson got Best Sport for letting a pigeon shit on his head.

A big thanks to James Millington for umpiring the event which ran smoothly and was a huge credit to him. Thanks also to the people who helped me pack up the terrain, especially Sam Whitt, Mike King, Fern Campbell and Hamish Gordon.

Skaven for CTA - Ratz N Da Hood

So I wanted to change up my Skaven for Call to Arms after running similar lists at Runefang and Horned Rat. Being a boy from Pomare and therefore having enormous street cred, living how I is (see what I did there) in the mean streets of Khandallah, Seerlord Morskitta decided to go gangsta!

Here's the list I'm packing (getting into the lingo now, biatches):

Seerlord Morskitta - Bell (nice ride), Skalm, Power Scroll, Dragonbane Gem

BSB - Standard of Discipline (keeping the homies in check)

Engineer - Level 2 (packing extra heat), Condenser, Doomrocket (pew-pew)

Engineer - Level 1, Dispel Scroll (word), Ruby Ring (more heat...oh this works on so many levels)

Engineer (pretty fly for a white guy)

Assassin - Weeping Blades, Potion of Strength (Mr. One Man Gang)

33 Stormvermin - Full Command, Storm Banner (Foot Soldiers, my homos homies)

40 Slaves (biatches)

40 Slaves (more biatches)

39 Slaves (even more biatches)

22 Slaves (running short on biatches)

6 Gutter Runners - slings, poison (pew-pew)

6 Gutter Runners - slings, poison (more pew-pew)

Hell Pit Abomination (one nasty mofo)

Doomwheel (Drive By with souped up hydraulics)

Doomwheel (Don't you be eyeballing me)

Skaven Styln' N Da Hood Pomare Style

Seerlord Morskitta has oodles of street credibility and will be popin' caps while downing a trim soy latte at a table near you. Peace out.

Doomwheel - Classic Case of New Model Syndrome

There is a perpetual superstition among wargamers that a newly painted model never performs on its first outing. It's even got a name "New Model Syndrome".

And so it was yesterday as I took my new Doomwheel out for its first spin in a game against Mike's Lizards. We were playing Battle for the Pass and my 24" line had a building and two woods straddling it. This left very limited opportunities for placement of my Doomwheels. And so I took a chance and deployed in a wood.

Of course you all know what happened - "1" followed by a "6", then remove the model from play.

Things can only get better!

Straight off track and into a wall

Ripley the Cat never knew what hit her

The Doomwheel had picked up a stray goblin en route to the battle

Never ever expect a  newly painted model to perform! It's one of the truisms of wargaming.

Hobby Update - Skaven Clanrats

Every now and then I feel the need to paint some Skaven models. Over the past week I broke out some Island of Blood figures and painted me up a 30 strong Clanrat unit.

I am using the Doomflayer as my Champion model. The banner is not complete yet.

Happy that it provides another unit in the Seerlord Morskitta's Triumphant Army of Doom!

Bruised, Beaten But Not Boiled - Skaven at Horned RAT - Part Two

So after a relatively quiet night down at the local pub with most of the participants, I rocked up on Sunday morning to find that I was playing Locky Reid.

Game 4 - Locky Reid (Skaven) - Meeting Engagement

Locky had a combat focused Skaven army which had Stormvermin pushing his Bell and a large unit of Monks pushing a Furnace. This meant that there were no Gutter Runners to contend with. I set up first and given the nature of his list, adopted a defensive position. Locky followed suit, also deploying well back from the centreline. He didn't seize first turn so my army rumbled out to meet him.

The Pretend-Seer Cowering Under Bell Before Slaves Deliver Summary Justice

Going first allowed me the upper hand in that my army got to shoot first. I felt Locky should have been more aggressive in his deployment and also should have immediately put up his Storm Banner. I was able to make in-roads into his Slave units so that they were always smaller than mine. I managed to get a cheeky Plague off when Locky pushed an Engineer with Rocket ahead to my lines and then jumped it back to his, further depleting his Slaves. My Doomwheel got the jump on his and I was able to destroy it with some Str 8 bolts.

From here I was in the ascendancy. My Gutter Runners came on and tried and failed to shoot off the Furnace. Locky then reformed and breath-weaponed one unit. However they survived, slipped past and started to work on WLC and Stormvermin. His HPA cleared out a depleted Slave unit but then took hits from the Ruby Ring and decided chaff hunting was the better course of action - rampaging on one wound. I multi-charged Slaves and then into a now depleted Stormvermin Bell unit. Locky's Assassin killed some Gutter Runners but the unit was destroyed by the combined attention of two Slave units, the HPA and a unit of GRs. In the last turn my Slaves pulled down the wounded Assassin and did four wounds to the Seer (who failed three 4+ saves).

Locky killed 212 points of mine while I killed enough to be 1054 points ahead.

Win 15-5

Game 5 - Wil Hoverd (Ogre Kingdoms) - Battleline

There had been some rumblings in the Seerlord's army about a dying curse from the Pretend-Seer but such things are the subject of fairy stories.....like non-balanced Skaven forces.

Wil and I played two weekends ago and it was a hard-fought battle with the Skaven coming out on top in the end. This game started reasonably well for the rats and I was pretty happy with how deployment left the game looking.

Unfortunately in my first turn the Seerlord slipped from Level 4 to level 1....annoying, but not insurmountable. I managed to reduce a Bull unit to two wounds and did a massive amount of damage to Wil's Big Maneaters. However my HPA broke (on its last wound ) and managed to flee and rally from the two remaining Maneaters.

Then disaster. Not regular disaster but disaster on an A-R-M-A-G-E-D-D-O-N type scale. On Turn Two my Bell tolled and rolled 6-6-6. Now if you have never seen the apocalyptic implosion that is "18" on a Bell roll, well, it's a thing of beauty. The Bell goes and then ever model with 4D6" takes a Str 4 hit. I rolled 18" and took off between 100-120 models. Good times!

So Turn 2 things are looking dire.

From there I spent my time diverting and distracting Wil, picking up points where I could and trying to ensure I didn't have more "disasters". However they kept coming - both WLC and Ratapult blew up.

In the end I thought I did very well to limit the loss to 302 points. With the Seer alive he gave up no points for the Bell and the units I lost, bar one unit of Gutter Runners (162 points) were all less than 150 points.

I'm not going to lie, it was tooth and claw fight for survival.

Loss 9-11


Summary

In the end I finished on 77 points, seven points ahead of Locky with Wil heading a group of three a further point back.

Showing how hard a fight it was - at Runefang I scored 17 points more than here.

It was a great event, well umpired by Ray and strongly contested by the participants. Having such a strong field meant that it impacted the rankings with four jumping into the Top 10.

Next event for me is Panzershreck where Swedish Comp will be used.

Bruised, Beaten But Not Boiled - Skaven at Horned RAT VI - Part 1

This weekend was Horned Rat VI in Khandallah and the event attracted 30 gamers to the party. Unfortunately two got better offers and so on Saturday morning 28 intrepid souls braved Wellington's weather to battle it out.

I took the Rats hoping to get the necessary points to wrestle the Skaven icon off Dave Appleby - he having stole it while my back was turned playing Daemons.

"Sit-Sit man-thing and listen to my tale of woe-glory!" - Seerlord Morskitta

Game 1 - Sam Campbell (Daemons of Chaos) - Dawn Attack

I had played Sam at Runefang and won 15-5. I was pretty sure that he had digested all my nasty tricks and would be working hard to reverse the result. Neither of us suffered too much from the random deployment - I'm guessing because neither of us are morons or were extremely extremely unlucky - though I had my Ratapult by itself in the far corner.

I was surprised Sam put his Drones in frontline especially as he knew I had Howling Warpgale and the Storm Banner. Off rolled the Doomwheel towards them and managed to take them almost out from a mix of shooting and combat before it was destroyed. The remaining wounds were picked off by Gutter Runners. His 5-BoN unit munched through Slaves building Epidemius' tally while the rest of the Skaven army focused on Epi's unit - eventually reducing it to five models before it charged a unit of Clanrats. These held and Epi's unit (and the Daemon himself) where flank charged by the Bell.

On the other flank the GUO took 3 wounds from the tolling of the Bell before walking near a board edge from which Gutter Runners emerged to poison him off.

The last combat of the game - four rounds worth - had my HPA randomly charge the rear of his Plaguebearer block and reduce them to 6 models before the end of T6.

Sam picked up my three Slave units, a unit of Clanrats, the Doomwheel, WLC and Ratapult. The points difference was 770 points in my favour.

Win 14-6

Game 2 - Peter Williamson (High Elves) - Blood & Glory

Peter had Fortitude of 6 against my Fortitude of 5. However 4 of my FP were in the Bell unit while Peter's were spread across the army. The first few turns saw me take out his Reavers with combined charge from Doomwheel and Slaves. The Slaves followed up to right in front of Dragon Princes and then fought them from T2 to T5 before being destroyed. However by then there were only two left and those DPs were cleaned up with Warp Lightning. On my left I got lucky when a unit of 10 Silver Helms reduced themselves to 4 with two Dangerous Terrain tests. They charged home versus Slaves with two Engineers but were killed after killing one Skyre initiate. Peter's Chariot was beaten in combat by a unit of Clanrats then fled off the board. This allowed me to charge the other Reavers that got around to threaten my warmachines.

In the centre the depleted White Lions charged Doomwheel and died over two turns while Frostheart fought slaves forever. Eventually charged by Clanrats who broke it, it fled, escaped, rallied was re-charged and beat the Clanrats who escaped.

To break Peter's fortitude I killed Eagle-bound BSB who had killed Doomwheel and then turned his Level 4 into a Rat.

By the end - with bonus - I was up 1795 points.

Win 19-1

Game 3 - Joel van de Ven-Long (Watchtower)

Joel beat me in B&G at the Masters when he killed my Seer with a Cannon shot so to say I wanted this was an understatement. His army was - IMO - the strongest at the event with wall to wall 1+ Armour Save. He had two units of 4 Demis, Steam Tank, 10 ICK and 5 other knights. He also had a unit of 40 Halberdiers where he put a Warrior Priest, BSB and Level 4.

The key moment in the game happened in Turn 2. The Bell got off a Bound 5 Scorch. Joel picked up dice to dispel and I reminded him that a natural "1" or "2" would see it go through. He then picked up a second dice and rolled "snake eyes".

Now they say sharks smell blood but so do wizened old Seers. The first Scorch was followed up by a second and 40 halberdiers were 7. This was followed by Power Scroll, five dice 13th and Joel's bunker plus characters were 10 twitchy Clanrats. To add insult to injury these rats garrisoned the building to win the scenario. 

The rest of the game was Gutter Runners cleaning up warmachines - 2 cannons and hellblaster for one unit of GRs - and my HPA and slaves killing one unit of Demis. I lost the Doomwheel to cannon shot while both the WLC and Ratapult "mis-functioned". I lost a unit of Clanrats and Slaves to Demis. In the end, with bonus, I was 2129 points ahead.

Win 20-0

Day One Summary

So at the end of Day One I was on 53 points, three points clear of Locky Reid's Skaven and four points above Wil Hoverd's Ogres.

However there had been a number of suspicious "accidents" and it was with some trepidation that I snuggled up in my nest on Saturday night.

Second part tomorrow.

Skaven for Horned Rat VI

So list deadline has passed and hopefully everyone has got their lists in on time. I've decided to take Skaven to Horned Rat VI - primarily motivated by securing the return of the Skaven Best Army icon to its rightful home. With the Nicon 2012 result falling off the icon had slipped from Seerlord Morskitta's twisted paw and fallen into the grasp of the undeserving. Morskitta's suspects someone on the Council has been plotting against him. How rude!

The list I've submitted is based on the Runefang list but with a few refinements to reflect the rise of the Warriors of Chaos and the emergence of High Elves.

Seer - Bell, Skalm, Power Scroll, Dragonbane Gem

Chieftain - BSB, Storm Banner
Engineer - Lvl 1, Condensor, Doomrocket
Engineer - Lvl 1, Scroll, Ruby Ring
Engineer

38 Clanrats - Full Command, Shields - Ratling Gun
25 Clanrats - Full Command, Shields
3x 40 Slaves - Muso

2x 9 Gutter Runners - Slings, Poison

Hell Pit Abomination
Plagueclaw Ratapult
Warp Lightning Cannon
Doomwheel

So some subtle changes which I hope will address what I see as the likely meta at this event.

Full set of lists will be released by the umpire in the next few days.

Oh in in Round One I'm playing Sam Campbell's Nurgle Daemons whose list can be found here

Warhammer Quest - An Apology of Sorts

The number of updates of this blog over the past fortnight has dramatically diminished as a result of the release of Warhammer Quest on iOS.

I've managed to spend 35-40 hours traversing dungeons on various quests. Both the packaged scenario and the Skaven expansion have now been completed. I managed this with the four basic characters and in the process picked up the game's rarest item in my penultimate adventure.

Heartily recommend the game to anyone with an iProduct but be warned as with most electronic games you will lose time.

My only reservation about the game was the disquiet I had with the Skaven expansion. The only beings that should kill Skaven are other Skaven.

However as a result of the game it has made me want to get out my Poisoned Wind Globadiers and use them on the tabletop.

The Little Rat Who Could....and Couldn't!

Over the weekend Runefang VI was run in Wellington and I took a Wall of Crap (tm) Skaven list to the event.

List was basically:

Seer on Bell with Power Scroll
BSB with Storm Banner
2 Lvl 1 Engineers
Naked Engineer

39 Clanrats -FC
29 Clanrats -FC
3x 40 Slaves - Muso and Pawleader
2x 2 Rat Swarms

2x 9 Gutter Runners - slings/poison

HPA - Spikes
Doomwheel
WLC

Going into the event I worked out that the field would have four Lizards and 4 Dwarfs. The Dwarfs are a tough matchup for Skaven to get points from. They were therefore a concern as well as the Empire list (very strong) and the two Vampires. There was also a strong OK list which withdrew on the morning. With the other armies I felt I had the tools and the experience to deal with most situations.

I'm going to say upfront I got lucky and missed all four Dwarfs, the Empire and the Vamps!

The Little Rat in the title was my Level 1 Engineer with Doomrocket and Condenser.

The Debunking of a Myth - The Skaven Bell List

Look at this list:

Grey Seer on Bell
Chieftain – BSB
Warlock Engineer – Lvl 1
Warlock Engineer
Warlock Engineer
Assassin
30 Stormvermin – Storm Banner
30 Clanrats with Poisoned Wind Mortar
30 Clanrats with Poisoned Wind Mortar
35 Slaves
34 Slaves
5 Gutter Runners
5 Gutter Runners
WLC
HPA

Ben Johnson's list? No. It's the Polish ETC list from 2011. In action eight months before Ben was credited with "inventing" it. To my knowledge Ben has never said he created it but others have and it becomes accepted wisdom. This myth is then propagated by blogs, forum posts, Twitter and podcasts.

A lot of people looked at that list and realised it or variants of it would work.

Ben is a very good player but credit where credits due,

This list:

Grey Seer on Bell
Chieftain – BSB
Warlock Engineer – Lvl 1
Assassin
Assassin
20 Stormvermin – Storm Banner
40 Clanrats
30 Clanrats
20 Clanrats
38 Slaves
20 Slaves
5 Giant Rats
5 Giant Rats
5 Gutter Runners
5 Gutter Runners
2 Rat Ogres
WLC
HPA

Ben's? No, the Latvian 2011 ETC list. Again in use eight months before it's supposed "invention.

For some it is easier to ascribe it to some "celebrity". Ben Johnson's list sounds a lot better than "That Guy From Latvia" list, doesn't it?

Those who did their homework - including Ben - post 2011 ETC saw how effective the list was and built their own version.

Listen to the Portents

I should have known it was going to be a difficult day for Skaven when I got up and found a dead rat just outside the bedroom door. Nurgle the Cat, in a surgical strike, had killed it with a bite to the thorax and brought it inside as a warning. His brother Spike had helped by chewing off the rat's right ear.

Down to the club and I played Hugh Dixon's Daemons of Chaos. First turn magic phase everything largely okay but then the niggles started.

The Doomrocket fell short and the Warplightning Cannon failed to wound.

Roll on my second Magic Phase and rolling three dice, Seerlord Morskitta miscasts and suddenly finds himself bewildered with no more magic awareness than a lowly engineer (lost 3 levels). It's still okay as rats are doing what rats do and raising two claws to all the haters out there.

Third turn magic phase and I roll three dice for the Screaming Bell:

6....6....6

Now if you have never seen what happens when you roll APOCALYPTIC DOOM for your Bell round then, bless your whiskers, you have missed one of life's great tragedies.

The Bell itself is destroyed and all models within 4D6" (in this case 16") take a Strength 4 hit with no armour save.

Cue 2/3rds of every Skaven unit evaporating.....

It's not nice and I know you all share my pain.

A lot of these "accidents" have been happening lately and the Seerlord has instituted an inquisition inquiry into what is happening.

First Daemon Run

Tom is done from Auckland for Easter and yesterday we took the opportunity to have a game featuring the new Daemons.

His list was Nurgle (GUO, 2x Heralds, 2x Plaguebearers, 2x single Beast, unit of 4 Beasts, Furies, Plague Drones) with the obligatory Plague (Skull) Cannon. I ran my Skaven Clanrat Bell list.

In the end the game was a draw - 18.5 points in Tom's favour - helped by me bringing down the GUO in combat in last round.

So what did we learn?

• Reign of Chaos has minimal impact. Tom took no hits and I lost an Engineer who had ventured out of a unit and had to survive a T test on my Seer
• Lack of a scroll makes magic defence difficult for the Daemons
• Nurgle magic is a nice deck - Curse of the Leper is a fantastic spell. With the Nurgle lore attribute you can't afford to let Plague Wind off - went throw Slaves and reconstituted 7 Plaguebearers
• Found some great gift combos for the GUO - effectively turns him into a Bloodthirster while retaining Level 4 Magic User status.
• Army is remarkably fast. While they Hover rather than Fly the Drones are a significant threat in their control of table space
• Access to cheap banners is good. Tom had Gleaming Pennant, I think Banner of Swiftness might also have a place.
• Skullcannon was blown up Turn One so we didn't get to see its abilities in action

We might try to get another game in before Tom heads north again tomorrow evening

Skaven v Lizards Resumes

Mike and I resumed our battle for the forests of Lustria this weekend with a battle between his Lizards and my Skaven. We rolled up Meeting Engagement with me deploying first. All my units made the board while Mike had four off. However that was not necessarily a disadvantage as he rolled the required "6" and got first turn.

The game was a little cat and mouse as the threat of 13th keep Mike's Ethereal Slaan at a distance. I used my Doomwheel to go hunting for him and it managed to get behind Mike's lines and close in on him. Through use of his Ward and a LOS for being within 3" of his blocks Mike's frog was able to survive sustaining only a couple of wounds.

In the penultimate turn the Slaan came forward and I managed to get a Crack's Call through him. Much checking of FAQs ensued and after initially thinking he was removed we found that the spell has been FAQ'd as a template giving a LOS to the Slaan. He passed this and we replaced him on the board.

The game finished up with what looked like a minor win to me as Mike lost one Saurus block and most of his chaff while I lost chaff and the HPA.

The list I'm using has a Power Scroll as the Seer's Arcane Item, rather than an Earthing Rod. I've been considering the merits of this but ultimately because I have gone down a Clan Rat Bell/No Assassin route I think the Scroll provides additional offensive power albeit at the expense of some risk mitigation.

Personally I'm not convinced the Stormvermin/Dual Assassin Bell build is superior to what I am running. Certainly not for my playstyle or in an environment that uses Scenarios rather than purely Battleline.

Campaign Weekend Coming Up.

Since I'm not going to Equinox and the wife is away for the weekend leaving me to feed the cats, I've organised a campaign weekend at Chez Dunn. I've invited 8-9 locals around to fight over the Great Dark Vale

In 2011 I ran two Mighty Empires campaign weekends at CAS Hall and they were well received. Well this is going to be a mini version of that. Six games over the two days.

Players are bringing a 2400 point army and 2 sideboards of 200 points each. The sideboards must be units and must not violate the normal 0-3 Special or 0-2 Rare restrictions. We'll also be using the Runefang VI comp as a filter.

For me, Seerlord Morskitta will be seeking to expand his realm and I'm going to look to paint up a new unit to use as one of my sideboards.

Pete: Skaven
Joel: Wood Elves
James: Skaven
Glen: Vampires
Ryan:Vampires
Wil: Ogres
Mike: Beastmen
Cody: Warriors of Chaos