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Going through the recent Skaven PDF / FAQ, I came across a very interesting piece of information: The Screaming Bell / Plague Furnace automatically fails any leadership check it is forced to make (See: Page 6). I then recalled that the Skull Wand of Kaloth, upon a single hit, forces a Leadership Check or immediate destruction with no save of any sort allowed.

The thing, if I'm not mistaken, still needs to be rolled to hit in hand-to-hand (as even though it also lacks a weapons skill, it is crewed). However, the Skull Wand of Kaloth is a 40pt magic item (and thus can be taken by almost any Orc & Goblin character). You need just one hit, one, and the thing crumbles faster than a leaderless Vamp army. You can buy, at 70pts, a Savage Orc Shaman. They are blessed with a Ward Save, in addition to two attacks base. With the weapon, they're a 110pt investment for (very likely) 400+ points of damage in a single round of combat. Heck, you could theoretically (if you had the character slot to spare) slap them on a Boar, let them have at it and charge from 14" at the Bell / Furnace, and - outside some shoddy rolling - making up their points and then some in a single round.

If I'm not mistaken on how combat resolution works either, that would then win you the combat. You take away - when instantly killing models through actions such as killing blow - however many wounds they had remaining and add that to your combat resolution. A Screaming Bell is six wounds, as is the Plague Furnace. The static combat resolution will be five in the unit (3 ranks + standard + outnumber), so even barring any further wounds from the Boar or anything you likely just:

1) Sniped the General.
2) Forced a Leadership 7 on their Bell / Furnace carrying unit.

With the Boar's attacks now, the solitary runner just added (on average) another wound for a Leadership 6 test now.

I know it's a horrendously one-trick pony action ("Hide BOrc and SOrc in unit, point unit across from Bell / Furnace, let SOrc rush out, enjoy laughs), but - to me - I'm seeing very little preventing one model at just under 130pts (SOrc on Boar) from very possibly wiping out six (or even eight) times his points in a single turn.

So, DakkaDakka, your thought on the matter: Is an Orc Shaman (especially a Savage Orc, on or off a Boar) with the Skull Wand of Kaloth the Screaming Bell / Plague Furnace hunter?

In a one off game, entertaining, but outside of that it's too ineffective against most lists. I've seen people with theoretical builds including a savage orc shaman on wyvern with the kickin' boots to get it up to 3 attacks at an even higher risk/reward ratio. Add the large target, and it helps. This all assumes the furnace isn't screened by the many chaff units available, and failure means censer bearers are going into your flank and canning your crap-alicious fighter.

Still, it sounds fun enough to try once.

RZ

Can't it just use the general's leadership?

Bat Manuel wrote:Can't it just use the general's leadership?

Two things problematic with that:
1) You're not hitting the General, you're hitting the Screaming Bell / Furnace proper.
2) "For each successful hit inflicted by this weapon, the victim must pass a Leadership test (on its own, unmodified Leadership) or be slain instantly. No armour, ward, or regeneration saves are allowed against this special attack. If the tests are passed, roll to wound as normal." ~ O&G Book, Page 42.

"Q. What is the Leadership value of a Screaming Bell/Plague Furnace?

A. They have Ld 0 (-) and so will fail Ld tests automatically, but as they are Unbreakable, this will matter only very rarely (spells and magic items that force Ld tests, etc.). " ~ Skaven FAQ, Page 6.

If the Grey Seer and Bell / Priest and Furnace were one statline (similar to Skarsnik and Gobbla), then yes they would have the "general" (provided they were the general) leadership. However, they aren't. Furthermore, the weapon specifically states the model must test on its own, unmodified Leadership (so it can't add the Rank bonus' to go from Leadership nil to Leadership 3). Thus, once the weapon hits it will force a Leadership immediately upon the Bell / Furnace. That, in turn, will immediately be failed (instead of using, say, the Rat Ogre or Priest's leadership) due to the FAQ release.

I had the same idea with the Blade of Realities from the Lizardmen book; just divert one attack to it and send it away in a puff of smoke! Sadly, that is a more expensive route. I don't see why something like this wouldn't work.

The Wood Elf sptrit sword wound make short work of the bell/furnace as well.

There is a pretty sizeable difference between a saurus lord or hero with the blade of realities and an Orc Shaman with the staff. The Saurus is pretty solid beatstick that you would take even if you weren't facing the bell and with a carnosaur mount he has good odds at dealing with alot of threats even with a front charge.

Calling an Orc Shaman with the Skull Wand a "One trick pony" might be pretty generous. It's a mage with 1 attack and your strategy is to get him to fight something. Even against the bell/furnace your ability to hit is going to be sizeable issue. He also needs a delivery system. Skaven blocks move faster than Orcs and I'm anti-confident about a shamans ability to survive more than a strong breeze, so a boar at a minimum. The points start stacking pretty quick for someone who has 50/50 shot of not even hitting. You also can't make him a savage orc or he's just going to get baited out of his unit by slaves and beaten by static. If you know you're playing skaven, maybe waste a hero slot on this endeavor, but throwing a lord away for such a hit-or-miss proposition is just asking to lose.