Game 141 - Skaven - 2015/07/27

Greetings!

I had two games against Skaven recently but I will present the report from the second one only. In the first things went quite well, didn't even lose a unit until turn 4 while my opponent suffered some considerable casualties. In turn 4 we had a rule issue and ... my opponent rage quit. Never happened to me before ... Unfortunately, it does not feel right to write a report from such a game. A shame it ended like that as I had some spectacular moments in it and I think there would have been some interesting finale to the struggle. Ah well ...

Fortunately, Eastern Barbarian aka Wardancer, with whom I planned to play for quite a long time (and who was featured in my reports many times) stepped in and he also decided to field Skaven. Being true to his style, he brought and army totally different to what I have seen so far. (Please, take into account we played 2500 points as well as EB trying to get good score under Swedish Comp).

Skaven - Army List

Warlord, Brood Horror mount
Warlord, Rat Ogre mount
BSB
Plague Priest, Plague Furnace - Lore of Plague

25 Stormvermin, Ratling Gun
25 Stormvermin, Doom Flyer
25 Slaves
25 Slaves

6 Gutter Runners
6 Gutter Runners
30 Plague Monks

Abomination

Abomination

Game 66 - Skaven - 2013/04/19

Game 2 - Skaven - Dawn Attack

Game 2 was a Dawn Attack scenario which followed the rule book with additional rules. A quotation from the rules pack:

When calculating Victory Points, the following are worth an extra bonus 200VP
- Ending the game with at least 1 unit with 2 complete ranks (including your first) in your opponents deployment zone
- Ending the game with at least 1 unit with 2 complete ranks (including your first) not in your deployment zone
- Your opponents most expensive unit/Character has fled the battle field or been removed as a casualty.

An interesting twist but not exactly something I could use to great advantage since I don't have many ranks. Also, killing the most expensive unit and/or character might be quite a problem sometimes. Reading these rules I got a feeling it helps cheap horde regiments and deathstars as in my opinion bonus points were easier to grab with these. Ah well, I guess I had to simply fight for the win no matter what are the bonuses. Although in the hindsight I should pay more attention to these as I can either prevent the enemy from getting them or grab some extra points myself. It would also give me some hints as to where the enemy might move his units.

I had a great pleasure to meet and play against Sean and his sneaky Skaven. Ratmen are always a difficult enemy with their crazy rules and units. Sean brought an army that was a very interesting mixture of usual suspects with units that might not appear often in that particular configuration.

Skaven - Army List

Queek the Headtaker
Grey Seer - Lore of Ruin + Lore of Plague
BSB
Plague Priest, level 1, Lore of Plague
Warlock engineer, level 2, power condenser, Lore of Ruin

20 Slaves
20 Slaves
20 Slaves
5 giant rats + pack master
5 giant rats + pack master
2 rat swarms
25 Clanrats
21 Plague Monks, Full Command, Plague Monk Banner

30 Stormvermin, Full Command, Storm Banner
6 Gutter Runners
6 Gutter Runners
Hellpit Abomination
Doom Wheel

Game 47 - Skaven - 2012/12/29

Greetings!

Christmas break can or can't be a good period for some more games, depending how busy you are with family duties. Fortunately for me wardancer is always happy to be a sparring partner and we played game 2 of my preparation battles to upcoming CanCon. This time it was Battle for the Pass in the very same way as it is described in the Rule Book.

Wardancer used his slightly modified Skaven list he played with in our 2 previous encounters. Queek didn't want to give up and was eager to get his revenge.

Army lists and pre-battle considerations

It is always quite interesting to play against the same army and the same opponent with the same force. Previous tricks might not work and since the enemy learns quick too I need to come up with more ideas. At the same time the knowledge of the army to play against gained in previous battles helps too.

On top of that there is a scenario that often adds enough variety to change the outcome of the game enough to make it a completely new challenge.

Skaven - Army List

Queek the Headtaker
Warlord on bonebreaker, poison, halberd, Charmed shield , Dragonbane gem, Potion of foolhardiness 

Warlock, level 2, condenser, Ironcurse icon - Lore of Ruin
Warlock, level 1, Dispel scroll - Lore of Ruin
Warlock, level 1, Channeling staff - Lore of Ruin
BSB , Enchanted shield

30 Stormvermin (queek bodyguard), FC, shields, Banner of discipline
2 x 5 Giant rats with packmaster
40 Slaves with musician and pawleader
20 slaves with musician
20 slaves with musician

7 Rat ogres, 2 packmasters, Skweel gnawtooth
2 x 6 Gutterrunners with slings and poison

Warplightning cannon
2 x Doomwheel

Game 46 - Skaven - 2012/12/08

Greetings!

With CanCon in the near future it is about time to start some preparation games. And who better than my coach from the previous year to start it for me? :) Wardancer aka Eastern Barbarian was also eager to get a rematch so we were both excited about the upcoming game. We had to change our army lists from 2500 to 2400. Wardancer introduced some more changes to his army. For reminder, he is always using unorthodox forces so don't be surprised by his army. What is more, he decided to use Swedish comp for army list building and that too affected the final shape of his force (e.g. no Storm Banner).

Pre-battle considerations and Army Lists

The army I was about to face was nothing new to me in general but since I have played against it only once I could not tell I knew all the tricks it possessed either. I also knew that Wardancer was about to make some changes and I could only guess what it might be. Not long before the game he decided on the final list and among others I knew there were two doomwheels and 3 engineers! :)

Skaven - Army List

Queek the Headtaker
Warlord on bonebreaker, poison, halberd, Charmed Shield, Dragonbane Gem, Potion of Strength

Warlock level 2, condenser, Ironcurse icon - Lore of Ruin
Warlock level 1, Dispel scroll - Lore of Ruin
Warlock level 1 - Lore of Ruin
Warlock, Obsidian lodestone
BSB , Enchanted Shield

35 Stormvermin (queek bodyguard), FC, shields, ratling gun, Banner of discipline
2 x 5 giant rats with packmaster
40 slaves, musician
20 slaves, musician
20 slaves, musician

6 Rat ogres, 2 packmasters, Skweel Gnawtooth
2 x 6 Gutterrunners, slings, poison

Warplightning cannon
2 x Doomwheel 

Game 39 - Skaven - 2012/10/21

Greetings!

The first game I played over the weekend was against wardancer/eastern barbarian and his vile Skaven. However, unlike some time ago, a few of usual suspects were missing. Wardancer decided to build an army with special characters but more importantly, the one that could score a little higher than usual in the more and more famous Swedish Comp system.

Pre-battle considerations and Army lists

Skaven are one of these armies where you can have multitude of choices and still come up with a dangerous army. It was hard to anticipate what this one might have but wardancer showed his first draft early enough for me to start thinking about counters to his force. In the end he made some changes to the list he intended to use in the first place but the main idea remained the same. Here are the details:

Skaven - Army List

Queek the Headtaker
Warlord on bonebreaker, poison, halberd, pistol, Potion of Strength

Warlock level 2, condenser, Ironcurse icon - Lore of Ruin
Warlock level 1, Dispel scroll - Lore of Ruin
BSB , shield, Storm banner

30 Stormvermin (queek bodyguard), FC, shields, ratling gun, Banner of discipline
2 x 5 giant rats with packmaster
40 slaves, musician
41  slaves,musician

7 Rat ogres, 2 packmasters, master bred rat ogre, Skweel Gnawtooth
2 x 6 Gutterrunners, slings, poison

2 x Plagueclaw catapult
Warplightning cannon
Domwheel

Game 13 - Skaven - (2012/02/11)

CanCon 2012 - Battle 7 - Watchtower

The modification organizers added was that the player who controlled the tower got additional 1000VP points instead of automatically winning the battle. Of course such a huge bonus usually meant that the player who controlled the tower won anyway. But, as I have learned too, every point counts in the overall placing during the tournament.

Because of the system organizers had for drawing armies for each turn even if I lost games I still was paired with armies with lower composition score than mine. This battle was not an exception where I faced Matt and his tough Skaven army with composition score of 2 (the lowest in the tournament). Here is why :)

Skaven - Army List

Grey Seer, Warpstone Tokens, Screaming Bell, Fencer's Blades, Dispel Scroll, Skalm - Lore of Ruin

Plague Priest, Level 2, Flail, Plague Furnace, Talisman of Preservation, Potion of Speed - Plague Lore

Chieftain, Halberd, Heavy Armour, Shield, Battle Standard Bearer, Banner of the Under-Empire

25 Clanrats, Musician, Standard, Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team

25 Clanrats, Musician, Standard, Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team

30 Clanrats, Full Command, Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team

6 Gutter Runners, Slings

6 Gutter Runners, Slings

22 Plague Monks, Standard, Plague Banner

Hell Pit Abomination

Warp Lightning Cannon

Warp Lightning Cannon

Game 6 - Skaven - (2012/01/22)

Greetings!

This game was postponed a few times but fortunately we managed to play it eventually. So a rematch against Skaven and Watchtower scenario too! So much can depend on a single dice roll in this game. :)

Army Lists and Pre-battle considerations

The army lists didn't change from our previous battle, although my opponent was considering some improvements. In the end, as the game was postponed a few times and an opportunity presented itself in the last moment he decided to use his previous army list rather than make changes and add too much to the confusion :) So the lists just for reference.

Despite that the scenario requirements meant I had to approach this game differently. First, I needed some plan for both options, i.e. when I can occupy watchtower from the start and when it was my opponent to garrison it first. I noticed that his units are too big to do so and only one unit of slaves was small enough as watchtower guardians. This would give me a good opportunity to replace them with some unit of my own on turn 1 and if that were the case I would assign Swordmasters with Bladelord to do so.

If I won the roll off I would place one unit of Spears there and maybe change the garrison with Swordmasters later on. Regardless of the fact who is going to start the game I still wanted to go for a weighted flank and use watchtower as an anchor. I think it would give me an advantage and with more deployment drops I also wanted to create some hunting parties to take down Abomination and Doom Wheel as soon as possible.

Skaven - Army List

Grey Seer, Screaming Bell, Dispel Scroll - Lore of Ruin
Cheiftain, Poison Attacks, Halberd
Cheiftain, BSB, Storm Banner
Engineer, Warp Energy Condenser, Level 1 - Lore of Ruin
Engineer, Doomrocket
Engineer, Brass Orb

40 Clanrats, Full Command
40 Slaves, Musician
40 Slaves, Musician
20 Slaves
5 Giant Rats, Packmaster
5 Giant Rats, Packmaster
30 Stormvermin, Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame

6 Gutter Runners, Poison, Slings
6 Gutter Runners, Poison, Slings
3 Jezzails with champion

Warplightning Cannon
Warplightning Cannon
Doomwheel
Hellpit Abomination 

Game 4 - Skaven - (2011/12/24)

Greetings!

I was really looking forward to playing this game. Simple battle line but dreaded and filthy Skaven as my opponent.

Army Lists and Pre-battle considerations

Skaven are considered as a very tough opponent for many armies and no wonder why. Many infernal machines, abominations, powerful magic and cheap, expendable troops make this army very flexible and with potential to inflict a lot of damage in a single turn. They also have the ability to field different types of units so one can expect some variations in the army lists but it is hard to tell which unit choice is worse for Skaven enemies as whatever they bring is bad anyway :)

Skaven - Army List

Grey Seer, Screaming Bell - Plague Lore
Cheiftain
Cheiftain, BSB
Engineer, Warp Energy Condenser, Level 1 - Lore of Ruin
Engineer, Doomrocket
Engineer

40 Clanrats, Full Command
40 Slaves, Musician
40 Slaves, Musician
22 Slaves
5 Giant Rats, Packmaster
5 Giant Rats, Packmaster
30 Stormvermin, Full Command

6 Gutter Runners, Poison, Slings
6 Gutter Runners, Poison, Slings
3 Jezzails with champion

Warplightning Cannon
Warplightning Cannon
Doomwheel
Hellpit Abomination