Tactica: Skaven Magic

Magic is incredibly important in Warhammer, and Skaven have some of the most dangerous magic in the game. Maybe not the best casters, but if the Dreaded 13th isn't terrifying to the likes of Warriors of Chaos, all the elf variants and just about every elite unit and character ever, nothing is. The only thing that really lets Skaven magic down is the lack of a lore attribute which all of the newer books get, as well as lack of access to the lores in the rulebook.

Zzzap!

Spells of Ruin

You really can't go wrong with the Spells of Ruin. All of the spells are powerful in there own right and you'll rarely run into a situation in which you end up with a useless spell, but they're not all always useful. For example Howling Warpgale isn't any good against armies without shooting but wrecks Wood Elves and Dwarfs and Cracks Call isn't so great against any of the elves but annihilates Orcs and Goblins, Dwarfs, Undead and anything else with low initiative. In situations where you get a spell you don't need, just swap them out for the Dreaded 13th or Warp Lightning for your Grey Seers and Warlock Engineers respectively!

Spells

1. Skitterleap

Skitterleap is a pretty powerful spell really. It has some solid synergy with some of our more powerful items like the Doomrocket by Skitterleaping an Engineer on the flank of an army, it lets your characters disappear from combat if it's too dangerous or you can use it to cause serious issues with their movement phase with Warlock Engineers that you no longer need. You can use Engineers in this manner in basically the same way an elf player uses Great Eagles: place him on an angle an inch away from the unit so they have to charge him. Sacrifice the useless! Such is the Skaven way.

I'd almost never swap out Skitterleap unless I absolutely needed other spells, but that's not often. For only a 5+ to cast, it's just too good.

2. Warp Lightning

People take level 1 Warlock Engineers just for this spell. Warp-energy Condensor makes it even more powerful. It's incredible for removing chaff, light cavalry, hitting lone characters or models, and just in general causing some damage. An all-round good spell with a low casting value.

3. Howling Warpgale

One of the more situational spells, as mentioned. If you find yourself against any kind of missile-based gunline, it can be well worth it. Otherwise it's probably better swapped out for the 13th or Warp Lightning.

4. Death Frenzy

Turns Slaves into killing machines when you need to. Clanrats and Stormvermin too. Really, a nice spell to have, but not always as fantastic as other spells. If you don't see yourself using it during the game, just swap it out.

5. Scorch

Another damage spell, and a pretty interesting one at that. It's nearly double the casting cost of Warp Lightning and has one less strength, but it will hit more guys, doesn't hurt you on the roll of a one, has Flaming and causes a Panic Test if they take a single wound. I definitely think it's worth it. The main thing to remember with this one is that it [i]does not scatter[/i] because it says [i]place[/i] the template anywhere within 24". That's what really makes it good.

6. Cracks Call

A very powerful spell against low Initiative armies and units, and especially dangerous to War Machines. I'd even keep it over Howling Warpgale against High Elves (but not Wood Elves or Dark Elves; their shooting is far more powerful than High Elf shooting) for the chance you might snipe a character with it. It's also ridiculously powerful against Ogres. And when combined with Skitterleap. And especially when combined with Skitterleap against Ogres...

Spells of Plague

I'm going to be honest with you: the only reason Spells of Plague is even worth considering is because of Wither and Plague. Most of the spells are trash, but those two are so incredibly powerful it still makes it worth trying. It's a gamble, but it pays off when you get one or both of those spells.

Spells

1. Pestilent Breath

Meh. No armour allowed makes is nice, and it is cheap and has the potential to hit a bunch of guys, but it's nowhere near as flexible or powerful as Skitterleap and other similarly costed spells. Nice with Wither, though, especially being only S2.

2. Bless With Filth

The third best spell in the lore in my opinion, and the second cheapest to cast. Poisoned Attacks can really help your weak Skaven get some more wounds on. Very nasty against monsters. Especially if you manage to get Skavenslaves into them.

3. Wither

Probably the most subtly over-powered spell in the game. Dropping a big unit of High Elf Spearmen to T2 is just plain nasty. Ogre's only real survivability comes from their Toughness, but hit them with Wither and suddenly they're as easy to wound as Clanrats. It's a mean spell and not one to be underestimated.

4. Vermintide

This is my least favourite spell in the game, to be quite honest. 3D6 hits is nice, for sure, and you can hit a good number of units, but they don't ignore armour and the damage really ends up being very negligible when all is said and done. At least Pestilent Breath goes straight through 2+ armour saves. Not worth casting over other spells really.

5. Cloud of Corruption

A reasonable spell for a Plague Priest to have, seeing as he's the only Wizard you want that close that has access to the Spells of Plague. Skaven are meant to die. Get used to it. Just remember that every model of theirs is worth at least 2-3 of yours, if not more, so losing a few of your own guys for some of theirs is always a worthy trade.

6. Plague

A very, very powerful damage spell. Like, incredible. I'd put it second only to the Dreaded 13th in terms of the damage it can cause. The spell can backfire, but as long as you're thinking the way a Skaven general should, you won't care!

Story time!

I cast Wither on a unit of Dwarf Great Beards, then hit them with Plague in the same phase. Over half of the 30 models in the unit went down, the spell then bounced to a nearby Organ Gun and scored a wound, then it bounced to another Organ Gun and caused a wound, then a Cannon and also caused a wound, before finally hitting my own unit of 20-odd Clanrats with Warlord and Plague Priest, bringing the entire unit down to 3 Clanrats, the Warlord and a wounded Plague Priest. Needless to say, I've never had a more successful magic phase!

The Dreaded Thirteenth Spell

Time for more honesty I think, which is quite hard for me, being the mighty Skaven general that I am, but here goes: the Dreaded 13th is OP. Get used to it. In fact, love it. I do. Don't like having incredibly powerful spells? Maybe you're better suited to Ogres, because you're clearly not thinking like a rat.

Anyway, there's really no subtle tactics with this. We go from sneaky one-dicing Skitterleap for some cool movement tricks of setting up bombs, to just pointing at something, throwing 6 dice at the table, removing the previously pointed at unit and placing some more Clanrats that can kill stuff and offer up no Victory Points to the enemy.

A few tips:

• Small, expensive units (Chaos Chosen, Swordmasters, Wardancers, Grave Guard) are the best target for the Dreaded 13th
•  The Clanrats from the Dreaded 13th offer no Victory Points to the opponent and are essentially worthless, treat them as such (i.e. throw them at things to keep them away from your Grey Seer, use them to redirect, anything is viable)
•  The Clanrats from the Dreaded 13th can be given any kit, so always place a unit with Shields and Full Command
• Take the Dreaded 13th on your Grey Seer every single game unless facing Ogres. Nothing is as valuable.

A Guide to the Skaven Mindset

In my experience with Skaven, they require a pretty unique frame of mind when handling them on the tabletop, being a fairly unique army to command.

Honestly, this is mostly aimed at newer Skaven players to help them get the most out of their army and so they can make the right decisions with a Skaven army on the spot and, most importantly, enjoy standing behind the rats. But if you're not so new, well, I dunno. May as well keep reading anyway, right? Right.

Once you get the hang of it, playing Skaven is kinda like this...

*Disclaimer: I do not condone giving cocaine to babies..*

With that out of the way, let's get down to business, shall we? Yeah, I think we shall.

Rule No. 1: Skaven die. All the time.

The most fundamental part of playing Skaven is getting used to the deaths of your own units. It happens. A lot. And it mostly happens because of your stuff, not the enemy's. It happens because Skaven are a pretty random army, with Doomwheels Zzzaping your own guys and Doomrockets firing backwards onto the Engineer's own unit and Plague bouncing straight back onto the unit acting as a meat shield for the wizard that cast it. However, with all these mishaps and more, Skaven make up for it by means of having all of these powerful yet random items and units that do more damage to the enemy than something less random of the same cost normally would, so it's very possible (and likely) for you to wipe out half of your own army before completely tabling your opponents. I know, because I've done it before.

Rule No. 2: Running away is good!

Even the special rules help us do it, so make use of them. If you ever get charged by something you don't think you'll be able to handle and you actually want that unit alive (usually only happens when expensive characters are in the unit) then Flee! without hesitation. Well, maybe hesitate for a moment and check how far away you are from the table edge, but mostly without hesitation... And deny challenges too. All day long. Unless you're confident your character can beat theirs in a scrap, just throw him at the back of the unit.

Opponent's get mad, you laugh, you run away more, and they get mad some more. Such is the cycle of Trying to Charge Skaven Units With Expensive Characters in Them.

Happens to me all the time.

Rule No. 3: Rats like cheese

People will complain about your things being overpowered. Often they're pretty close to the truth, too. They'll winge and they'll moan and they'll cry. And you know what you do? You laugh. Because while things like the Hell Pit, Doomwheel, Warp Lightning Cannon, Doomrocket, the Dreaded 13th and so on are all insanely powerful when they hit properly, they're all incredibly random as well. So don't be disheartened by their foolish crying, because for every S10 Zzzap! you get off on 3 War Machines in a row, there's always those times when you need a 6 on 3 dice to slam into the side of a unit and you manage a 4. And if you ever think to yourself "This is pretty powerful, maybe a little too powerful even..." just remember: rats like cheese.

Rule No. 4: It's everyone's fault but mine

If you ever lose, you didn't lose, the dice lost. Or your opponent cheated. Or your Grey Seer got distracted. Start searching for the culprit and have them used to feed the Rat Ogres immediately!

Seriously though, if you are new and you're losing, don't get down on yourself. Skaven are the most enjoyable armies I've ever played and losing just comes with being new, whether it's new to the game or just the army. There's plenty of time to learn the art of sabotage! And one day your opponent will concede on turn two and you'll be like...

"I was just losing so I could crush your spirit later!"

Story time!

Writing about laughing at my own guys dying reminded me of part of a game that illustrates my point pretty well, so here goes:

I was facing Dwarfs in a 1250 point game, and was testing out a Warlord on Rat Ogre Bonebreaker build (which is godlike, mind you) so I had no Grey Seer and a Level 2 Plague Priest as my only mage. Fortunately enough, my spells were Wither and Plague. I had a legendary magic phase, and managed to cast Wither on a unit of Dwarf Longbeard, then hit the same unit with Plague. The unit was brought down from 40 models + character to about 20 models. But it didn't end there...

Plague then bounced from the unit to an Organ Gun, managed to cause a wound, bounced to another Organ Gun, caused another wound, bounced to a Cannon, caused another wound and then, finally, bounced straight back onto the Clanrat unit in which the Plague Priest who cast the spell was in. Now I have never rolled more 4+'s in my life, because the unit went from being 20 Clanrats with Full Command, a Plague Priest and Warlord to the Clanrat's unit champion and standard bearer, a wounded Plague Priest and the Warlord.

It is by far the most enjoyable (and successful) magic phase I've ever had. I went on to win that game after my Warlord beat his Dwarf Lord in a challenge after many, many rounds of combat. Many 6's were rolled that game.

Anywayz, thanks for reading! Thoughts and comments always welcome.

Warhammer: The Definition of Overpowered

Every time an arguement begins on the Internet about whether or not a unit or army is overpowered, there's always those few people who say that there's no such thing as OP, that victory in Warhammer comes 100% down to skill and the luck of the dice, and as such nothing is OP because there's always a chance you'll just roll a bunch of 1's.

Unfortunately, those few people are wrong. There's no logic to that argument and denying that some units and armies are far more powerful than others is plain dumb.

In an attempt to put an end to these retarded arguments, I'm going to do my best at describing what makes something overpowered, or more powerful than something else.

Remember 5th edition when Necrons were balanced? Oh well...

Simply put, something that's overpowered is something that is too effective, efficient, can perfom too many roles too well or has too few weaknesses for its point cost.

But let's look at the specific arguments often put forth against the notion that anything could ever be OP.

"It all comes down to the skill of the player"
To be fair, this has some credibility to it, as more often than not the more skilled/experienced player will win, but that's not what I want to get at.

My issue with this point is that some units do not require skill of any kind to use, because they're good at everything. But it's not just that they're good at everything, it's that they're too good at everything. For example, standard Space Marines are pretty good at doing whatever you need them to do, but they're not the best at anything and, to be quite jeff, they're pretty bad in combat.

Instead, think of standard Grey Knights, especially back in 5th edition. They're like Space Marines, but for a small points increase they become monsters in combat (and can annihilate monsters in combat at that) and they even benefit from superior firepower. They're too good at everything, and in comparison to Space Marines they require less skill to win with, and nothing should require less skill than Space Marines.

"It's all about the luck of the dice on the day - Warhammer is all about luck"
I hate this. It's the stupidest argument of all time. This is what people say when they go into "goddidit" mode. When they want to hold onto their belief that their army isn't at all overpowered and that they're really a good player, they deny everything and just tell you that "thedicedidit".

Unfortunately for you, my terrible gaming friend, it wasn't entirely the fault of the dice that made your unit beat face. See, while everyone has to roll dice and hope they don't roll any 1's, some units have a better chance than others at doing what they want to do, and in some cases this chance is just too good for the cost of the unit.

You want an example? Just look to the Hell Pit Abomination. That thing is 100% random, so unlike just about everything else in Warhammer, it is literally decided by how your dice roll. However, with 3D6" movement and his stats, as well as his special attack types and Impact Hits, the Hell Pit is insane. It's literally a "no skill involved, just throw dice at it and win" unit.

You want another example? Alright, let's get a little more abstract, 40k style this time. Unit X and unit Y. Both cost 10 points a model. Neither of them have any guns, because they're both purely designed for combat. The difference is unit X is WS5 while Y is WS4. There are no other differences. Are you willing to sit there and tell me that unit X is not overpowered? I mean, there's always the chance that X rolls all 1's and 2's while Y just 6's everything. Yep, definitely a possibility. But the fact is that X is far more likely to Hit than Y, and that's what actually matters.

It's about the chances of the units to do something, and some units have odds that are just far too good for something of that cost, whether it's because of a huge number of shots/attacks or because of a stat that's just a little too high, some units are too powerful because their chances are just far too good.

"It's about both - skill and luck"
Let's look to Skaven for an example, more specifically, Skavenslaves. Alright, so they're WS2, BS2, S3, T3 and have no armour. How on earth could they be OP? Well, we've got to factor in a couple of other things first. First of all, a general is mandatory in just about every army, and considering how important magic is and how incredible the Dreaded 13th is, just about every Skaven player will be running a Grey Seer. Second of all, BSB's are generally considered a must-have, especially in an army as cowardly as Skaven. So, Slaves not taken into account, these two things would be taken almost all the time anyway.

Now what that's got to do with Slaves is this: Take 50 Slaves in a unit, 5 wide and 10 deep, and keep them in range of your BSB and General and they're a leadership 10 with rerolls tar pit at 2 points per model unit, as well as being Steadfast in just about every situation for a very long time. Then, add onto that the fact that I can sit back and fire my Warp Lightning Cannons into that combat for as long as I want while my opponent can't do anything outside the combat to help his guys win, and then add onto that the fact that other units don't panic when Slaves explode, and you've got a very, very good unit for only 2 points per guy.

Too good.

This unit requires no skill to use. You simply get it to tar pit whoever you want and keep your general and BSB in range of them. It's so simple that I can do it. It also has a very, very small chance of running away, so it's a 2 point-per-model tar pit with no weaknesses in its role. In fact, it's better than a whole lot of other units designed for the task that cost way more points than it does. That's OP.

So I don't know if I demonstrated my point very well or not, because I had a good amount of trouble trying to set this out nicely for you all, but hopefully you catch my drift.

The main thing is, some things are more powerful than others. Some things are too powerful. It's just a fact. Deal with it.

Thoughts? Comments?

Skaven Weapon Teams Roles and Comparisons

All dem weapon teams... Which one do I choose? Should I mix it up? How many? Well, let's find out!

Warpfire Thrower
The most expensive team you can buy, and for good reason. At S5 it cuts through armour and wounds better than any of the other Weapon Teams, as well as causing D3 wounds per unsaved wound. This thing is a monster against the likes of Ogres and Monstrous Cavalry and it can be put to good use against Monster-riding Lords/Heroes if you must. Doing just that won me a game once, actually.

Unfortunately, however, the Warpfire Thrower is a move or fire weapon and its Misfire Chart is brutal. If you roll a misfire you only have a 1/6 chance of not losing your Weapon Team instantly.

Despite its downsides, the Warpfire Thrower is my favourite Weapon Team. It causes huge damage with a high strength and D3 wounds, and being a Template Weapon it hits huge amounts of models. It can also Stand and Shoot if anyone decides to charge it, which is nice. There's really no army the Warpfire Thrower isn't good against.

Preferably fire it into large clumps of expensive Infantry, but really it can be used in any situation you need it for.

Ratling Gun
The cheapest option, and on the surface it doesn't look too bad, but once you dig a little deeper I don't think it's as great as it first appears.

The first issue is that it is very random. You can either play it safe and only roll 2-3 time to see how many shots you get with a small risk of getting a misfire or you can roll 4+ times for maximum shots but put yourself in a very dangerous situation in terms of misfire chances. The first option, while safer, means fewer shots and less casualties, while the latter is a more high risk, high rewards kind of thing.

Random shots aside, you also have to roll To Hit and with the poor BS of the Weapon Teams only half the number of shots will even hit. Then with only a S of 4, it won't wound as much as the Warpfire Thrower team either.

With all that taken into account, the Ratling Gun really won't do a whole bunch of damage.

Either way though, I do think Ratling Guns have a place in an army. I'd consider taking 1-2 in a list as chaff-removal. Unlike the Warpfire Thrower there's no chance of the Ratling Gun over shooting and it has a lower chance of a misfire, so you'll almost definitely get some hits on the target and against a lot of chaff only 1-2 wounds are all that's needed. 6 is the most number of wounds I can think of for a small chaff unit, and that's our own Rat Darts. So while not extremely powerful, Ratling Guns do have a place!

Doom-flayer
On-par with the Ratling Gun in points, and a very, very interesting option as well. It's the toughest of the Weapon Teams with a 3+ armour save to the front and a 5+ to the side, it does D3 Impact Hits as well as an Artillery Dice worth of S4 auto-hits in combat and it has Armour Piercing.

I haven't used this Team, but I think it'd be good fun to use. Considering its superior armour save, I'd say throwing it into the side of a unit that some Slaves have held up would be a good use, otherwise I'd use it to take on Archers and chaff. It seems fairly flexible in its roles, being able to take on just about any lightly-armoured opponent, just avoid anything heavily armed and armoured and it should do alright.

I think I'd only use it in friendly games though. Save competitive games for the Warpfire Throwers and Ratling Guns.

Poisoned Wind Mortar
The most mobile of the standard Weapon Teams, but it's really my least favourite.

It may be able to move and fire, but it only fires a small blast, and with the way things scatter in Fantasy it's an extremely inaccurate weapon. It rarely hits anything, rarely wounds what it does hit and then explodes horribly.

It looks good on paper, but in my experience I don't think it's worth the points. If it was cheaper than I think it'd definitely be worth it, but as is you'd be far better off forking out the extra 5 points for a Warpfire Thrower.

Maybe you've had better luck with it than I, but it has been extremely lack-lustre for me.

If you do want to use it, however, I suggest targetting any large, heavily armoured units first. Things like Knights make good targets if you're feeling lucky and think you can get some hits, while hordes will almost definitely get you some hits but the innate armour-ignoring abilities of the weapon will be wasted and you'll have a hard time killing many. The Warpfire Thrower is better in just about all situations.

Warp-grinder
An interesting one. It can only be taken on Night Runners and Gutter Runners, and is only taken for its deployment capabilities.

So let's look at those capabilities, shall we? The unit goes into reserve and comes in on a 4+ from turn 2 onwards. They come in from a marker that's placed at the beginning of the game and scatter using a Scatter Die and an Artillery Die. So it's extremely random, and the enemy can avoid you or place a big, fat combat unit right on top of the marker. If you pop up and didn't scatter too much you'll be in combat with someone who will wreck you instantly.

Personally I'd never take a Warp-grinder with either Night or Gutter Runners. It's too random and you have a good chance of losing the entire unit with a misfire. In combat it only does D3 S4 hits too, so barely anything noticeable. Too random and far too dangerous for the Skaven player to be considered if you ask me.

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

One More Week...

...until my 1500 Fantasy tournament with my Skaven. Unfortunately I've been getting a bit side-tracked with all my Chaos Space Marines and a little Wood Elves, and so have only really spent about an hour on my Plague Monks in the last week...

Seriously hoping for no Misfires!

Anyway, I think I'm going to be leaving my Plague Monks half done as they currently are and am going to get started on my Slaves. I know for sure that I'm definitely not going to get a very good score for my painting, but I'd at least like to get as much as I can!

So here's to hoping for the best, I guess!

Wood Elves Finally Begun!

Too pretty not to start, right?

After months of wanting to get a Wood Elf army started, I decided I'd cement the decision and buy myself a box of Glade Guard, just so there's no backing out anymore. I've also got an entire 2400 MSU winter-themed list made up, so tell me what you think!

Capes will be painted and added separately.

And the list, just so you know what I'm building to:
Lords - 570pts.
Highborn - Wardancer Kindred, Blades of Loec, Stone of the Crystal Mere - 260pts.
Spellweaver - Level 4 Wizard, Lore of Beasts, Moonstone of the Hidden Ways, the Deepwood Sphere - 310pts.

Heroes - 287pts.
Noble - Battle Standard Bearer, Light Armour, Asyendi's Bane, Hail of Doom Arrow, Ironcurse Icon - 137pts.
Spellsinger - Level 2 Wizard, Calaingor's Stave - 150pts.

Core - 1069pts.
12 Glade Guard - Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of Eternal Flame - 172pts.
10 Glade Guard - Musician, Standard Bearer - 138pts.
10 Glade Guard - Musician, Standard Bearer - 138pts.
10 Glade Guard - Musician, Standard Bearer - 138pts.
19 Eternal Guard - Musician, Standard Bearer, Razor Standard - 291pts.
8 Dryads - 96pts.
8 Dryads - 96pts.

Special - 133pts.
7 Wardancers - Musician - 133pts.

Rare - 340pts.
5 Waywatchers - 120pts.
5 Waywatchers - 120pts.
Great Eagle - 50pts.
Great Eagle - 50pts.

TOTAL - 2399pts.

So there we have it. The list is meant to be fairly competitive whilst sticking to the winter theme, hence the Eternal Guard and minimal Forest Spirits. It should be quite interesting to play once it's finally complete, especially being the complete opposite of everything I know about Fantasy with my Skaven.

All comments and criticism welcome!

Help! My Doomwheels Won't Stop Owning!

Seriously, I had another 1500 game yesterday against a Dwarf player and my Doomwheels wrecked face. Together they destroyed a Cannon, a unit of Thunderers and helped defeat a unit of Long Beards that my Slaves had held up. It may not sound like much, but the only units they didn't have a hand in destroying were a unit of Warriors or whatever the basic Dwarf Core with Great Weapons is called (defeated by some Death Frenzied Skavenslaves) and the Organ Gun (destroyed by the same unit of Slaves).

Bare in mind, I'm not saying I'm the greatest player here, just that Doomwheels are amazing. It's quite frustrating when all the Internet-kings-of-fucking-everything-Warhammer waltz in and declare that a unit sucks because some other douchebag on the Internet said so. Doomwheels are insane, especially at lower points levels, and at higher points levels they have the benefit of being cheaper than Hell Pit Abominations, allowing for a pair of Cannons.

No more need be said...

That said, my Warpfire Throwers have consistently being doing nothing. They just don't have the time to fire when I'm rushing Slaves in and then Doomwheels into the side, so I've changed my 1500 point Skaven list up a bit and added in some Plague Censer Bearers.

I'm going in the 1500 Fantasy tournament at my store next month to really test out my list. Half of it is still unpainted, so I think my chances of winning overall are quite slim, but it'll still be nice to test out how the list plays in a more serious environment. At 1500 my Skaven are still currently undefeated, but I hardly think that's much to brag about until I throw it against some serious competition. Fingers crossed though!

That aside, I also ordered a pair of Noise Marine Sonic Weapon kits, so hopefully in about a week or two I'll be able to turn my Chaos Space Marines into Noise Marines and start causing some serious headaches.

Hang around and I should be able to get some WiP pics of my Noise Marines in the next couple of weeks.

So Little Time...

Unfortunately for the past week or so school has insisted on keeping my schedule absolutely packed, leaving almost no time for any real hobby. All I've been able to get done during my weekdays in terms of hobbies and games is posting over on MiniWarGaming and looking into Infinity. Although on the weekend I did get some Fantasy and Magic done, so I'll go into that and Infinity a bit.

"Doomwheels are so OP"

So on Fantasy first, I had a game at 1250 points against a Vampire Counts player. I didn't get any pictures of the game because I didn't have my camera, but my army was only about half-painted and his was almost entirely base-coated, so I don't think many would care too much anyway...

Regardless, the game was over pretty quick. I ran a Grey Seer, some Clanrats, a unit of Slaves, Warpfire Throwers, Plague Censer Bearers, Doomrocket Engineer and 2 Doomwheels. He slapped down a couple of small units of Zombies, a Master Necro, Vampire, Ethereal Hero thing, Ghouls, Crypt Horrors and a Terrorgheist.

Before the game began he was joking a bit about the Terrorgheist, and one of his friends asked what the leadership of Skaven was. When I told them 5, they both had a good chuckle. They also claimed the thing would just scream away my leadership 7 Doomwheels. I was really looking to end the boasting and show them that Doomwheels are not something to be messed with. And I succeeded.

The game went to turn 3, where one of my Doomwheels got S8 on it's Zzzap! and killed the Terrorgheist. I'd fired my Doomrocket at his Ghouls the turn before and pretty much destroyed them, as well as taking out the Crypt Horrors with a Cracks Call and the Plague Censer Bearers. He conceded with a few Zombies and his characters left, whilst I had my entire army minus the Slaves, one Censer Bearer and one Doomwheel was down a single wound.

If I had a dollar for the number of times "Doomwheels are so OP" or something to that effect was said during and after that game, I'd be a very, very rich man.

So very, very sick.

Onto Magic: the Gathering. I'm still a complete and utter n00b, but I did get myself quite a large number of games Friday night and Saturday against the friend I started with and my High Elf playing friend who'd started on Saturday himself with a Blue and Red deck. I've currently beat my R/B friend three more times than he's beat me, and it's nice to put a bit of a gap between our win/loss ratios, if just for bragging rights.

I think I've worked out the kind of deck I want to go for, and I'm pretty much just going to follow on with the theme the starter deck I got has. Golgari Growth. I originally wanted a Zombie Graveyard deck, but I'm really liking buffing monsters to huge levels, and the general thematics of the whole deck appeals to me as well. Dreg Manglers and Corpsejack Menaces are easily my favourite cards in my deck currently.

I'm still building on my deck, but we'll get there eventually, and it will be glorious.

Infinitely awesome.

The last thing I'm going to cover is my interest in Infinity. It looks like an extremely interesting game, and should be one that's quite different to 40k and Fantasy, which should be quite nice. The Factions look incredibly cool, and being a fan of anime and pretty much everything Japanese in general, the style appeals to me even more.

Everything I've heard of the game is extremely positive and it's very cheap to get into (compared to the likes of Games Workshop's games at least), so now it's just down to convincing some friends to grab some stuff with me and I'll be good to go. Naturally, I think I'm going to go with Yu Jing right now, but my opinion may change given a little more research.

As usual, thanks for reading and feel free to give any thoughts and/or advice. I do quite desperately need it for MTG...

The Awakening of Infinite...

Hello everyone! This is my first ever post and I'm so happy to be partnered up with Zero in this blog! But before I go any further, allow me to introduce myself...

Death rises...

I've been into Fantasy and 40k for a few years now and I just love the painting aspect of it. However, that doesn't stop me from wanting to get out on the battlefield and crush that arrogant Zero!

I have recently started a Necron army and intend on completing it in the near future. Hopefully I'll be able to keep you all updated with the process of finishing my shiny new army. As I said, 'I just love the painting aspect of it'. Therefore, intend on creating some painting tutorials as I complete my miniatures, so I can hopefully share some of my painting techniques and ideas!

However, Necrons aren't my one and only army, I also have bits and pieces lying around from other armies including Space wolves, Chaos Space Marines, Dark Angels and Blood Angels from 40k and also Dark Elves and Warriors of Chaos from Fantasy.

Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures up soon!

Hobbyhammer: Skaven Clanrats and Doomwheel Complete!

So if you scroll down to about 2 posts before this one, you'll know that I'm trying to get 1500 points of Skaven painted up for the local tournaments they run just about monthly. I don't really know why it's at that points level, but that's what it is. The only thing I still need to do is all the spiky bits on the Doomwheel.

Also, I'm no pro painter! These are done to a tabletop standard, and to be honest they're only slightly worse than the best I could do...

Group shot.

My first unit of Clanrats

The second unit.

Doomwheel side-shot.

Sorry about the poor quality of the shots and lighting, these were just some quick shots to show progress more than anything. Let me know what you think!

1500 Skaven Tournament List - Doing Well So Far!

So for whatever reason my local Games Workshop has Fantasy tournaments at 1500 points. The tournaments are nothing big, with a maximum of 10 people who pay $5 each to play 3 games on a Sunday where the money paid is split between the winner and runner-up in Games Workshop vouchers, but they're a good way to get to know the players around the store, get some practice in and have some fun.

Skaven aren't OP, they just like their cheese.

So this is what I'm currently getting painted up for these local tournaments:
Lords - 260pts.
Grey Seer - Power Stone - 260pts.

Heroes - 167pts.
Chieftain - BSB, Storm Banner, Shield - 122pts.
Warlock Engineer - Doomrocket - 45pts.

Core - 508pts.
20 Clanrats - Shields, Musician, Standard Bearer, Warpfire Thrower - 172pts.
20 Clanrats - Shields, Musician, Standard Bearer, Warpfire Thrower - 172pts.
40 Skavenslaves - Musician - 82pts.
40 Skavenslaves - Musician - 82pts.

Special - 264pts.
32 Plague Monks - Standard Bearer, Plague Banner - 264pts.

Rare - 300pts.
Doomwheel - 150pts.
Doomwheel - 150pts.

TOTAL - 1499pts.

Now before anyone bitches at me: no, it's not like your retarded meta list. Why? Because 2 Doomwheels are better than 1 Hell Pit, because I don't need another tar pit with a unit of 40 Clanrats and because Warpfire Throwers are cool. I know the Clanrats will not hold anything up or beat anything in combat, but they're not meant to. They're not even meant to be in combat at all, just like all my characters. They act as bunkers for those characters for protection against Canonballs, missile weapons, spells and so on. They're there so I can take those Warpfire Throwers. And to be honest, 40 Clanrats are never going to beat anything in combat either. If I wanted another tar pit I'd take more slaves.

I'm not saying units of 40 Clanrats are bad, I'm just saying that I don't need them in my list and the units of 20 suit how I play and the tactics I use. What? I use different tactics to other players on the Internet?

That's fucking insane!

With that out of the way, the list has been performing quite well in the few test games I've played with it thus far. It has been tweaked a little, but I think it's about done for now. The latest two games I had the other day were against High Elves and Warriors of Chaos. I tabled my opponents in both games, coming out both times with a pile of dead Slaves and the unit of Plague Monks, but the rest of the army was otherwise untouched.

Well, that was a lie. In the second game, there was quite the highlight. I hit my opponents Chaos Knights and brought them down to a man with Impact Hits. He managed to hold his ground. During the second round of combat he passed all 3 armour saves caused by Grinding Down the Foe, failed To Wound with his Knight, but then his horse hit and wounded, my Doomwheel failed its armour save, lost its shit and ran away. It was chased down by the Knight who went 12" to my fairly sad 9" with 3D6 movement.

Thoughts? Comments?

Hellpits, Doomwheels and Cannons: Oh My!

As just about anyone should be aware, Hellpit Abominations are pretty popular. As in, just about every Skaven list has one. But that's part of the problem: most people only take one.

He's pissed.

See, one Hellpit is usually pretty easy to deal with for anyone prepared. Hell, even Wood Elves should nail it in a turn or two with a unit of Glade Guard with the Banner of Eternal Flame. As such, it's really a matter of two Hellpits or none, unless you're playing a game too small to fit a pair.

Another thing that's pretty common knowledge is that Warp Lightning Cannons are damn powerful. Top 5 Skaven units powerful. But then if you're taking your pair of Hellpits, you won't have any room for any Cannons until 2250 point games, and you won't be able to take a pair of them until 2600 points, which is a bit above the average (here at least). Thus, in my opinion, I think 2 Doomwheels and 2 Cannons is the superior option up until that level.

In terms of ranged fire power, 2 Cannons will mean fairly consistent firing, even when one screws up, as Skaven machines so often do, and, obviously, more dead stuff overall. I don't think I can adaquately describe the amount of damage a pair of Cannons has done for me, so I won't try. But you get the picture...

As for the Doomwheels, those things are insane. Some douche on the internet that clearly thought he was the lord of all Warhammer ever, told me that I must be using "better i.e. different" Doomwheels to the one's he's seen in his travels. That guy is either playing Dwarfs with as many War Machines as possible against opponents who don't bring a Storm Banner or, more likely, he's a moron.

The major benefit of Doomwheels though is their ability to wreck 3 machines, monsters, Ogres or what-have-you in a single shooting phase. I will admit that 3 Ogres isn't that impressive, but rolling up beside a Dragon, hitting it at S8 or 10, killing it with the first Zzzap! or two and then finishing off the rider with the third is always nice. Same with hitting 3 Cannons, Bolt Throwers or Catapults and taking them all out in one go with your relatively cheap Doomwheel. Then you can also fire whilst in combat and you completely ignore cover. Not much is really safe, provided you're in range. That includes your own slaves though, but they're slaves, so who cares?

In terms of survivability, the 4+ armour save is going to hold up much better against flaming attacks than the Regen the Hellpit relies on. Unfortunately Cannons are a pain, but that's what Gutter Runners and Storm Banners are for, and if they're not dead when you get close enough, your Doomwheels too.

2 Cannons and 2 Doomwheels will also annihilate enemy Hellpits you come across. They may not ignore the Regen, but they can only pass so many 4+ saves and when you're doing D6 wounds they won't be around very long. Or you could shoot them with Warpfire Throwers if you prefer, but that's going a bit off-topic.

Anyway, that's just what I've found with my experiences with Skaven. If people around your store don't have flaming attacks or lots of multi-wound shots, then do what you want. I just feel that 2 Doomwheels and 2 Cannons is stronger that 1/2 Hellpits and 2/1 Cannons.