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Heyo Dakka,

I've recently begun playing Skaven, and obtained 2 parts Isle of Blood Skaven. This leaves my current force at:

80 clanrats with full command, 40 with spears and 40 with hand weapons. Some discrepancy between the models, due to having to convert 6 command rats(they were intended to go in squads of 20) into normal rats, leaving me short 3 spears and having 3 hand weapons too many. I field these in 2x40 blocks with weapon teams.

2 Warlords/Chieftains

2 Warlock Engineers

2 Master Moulders

2 Warpfire Throwers

2 Poisoned Wind Mortar

4 Rat Ogres

I'm currently considering buying the battalion, as it seems an excellent addition to my forces. 40 more rats, more ogres, a few propper packmaster models(honestly, the master moulder ones looks horrible), and 20 plague monks. I have been told Plague Monks are awesome hard hitting dudes that should be had. I'm not sure where to go after that. I would like to move towards Warp Lightning Cannon and/or Doomwheels, due to crazy rat science. I'm also very much interested in the Screaming Bell, which seems to be very powerful and scary.

My current tactic involves fielding a lot of clanrats, and perhaps for 2000 points I would be aiming for 2x40 clanrats, and one skavenslave regiment. Weaponteams seem very powerful, but I have bad experience with them - Poisoned Wind doing little to no damage, and the warpfire throwers missing or blowing themselves up... all the time. Ratling Guns seem pretty awesome, but I don't know how good they are on the papers.

Any suggestions on what I should go for?

Slaves, lots of them. In 2k you can easily fit a few 50 man blocks within the minimum. Pair them up with doomwheels and cannons since loosing a few slaves is nothing too major. Getting more ogres is always good. 3x2 is standard formation with 2-3 pack masters. Bell is interesting but a lot of points are sunk into it. Big block of clanrats will have to baby sit it and it tends to garner the attention of warmachines. Weapon Teams are hit or miss. Ratling Guns unfortunately are usually miss.

Anything but the warpfire thrower. While it is incredibly powerful, I cannot get over the fact that it has to roll artillery dice - it just strikes me as so odd and stupid. There have been many moments where the enemy have stood in front of them, and I've overshot because I am forced to roll the artillery dice, whether I like it or not. The sheer inprobability of it all just makes my brain hurt, and thus I have taken a serious disliking to it. There are no realistic way that the rats have to arc the fire over the enemy when they are RIGHT NEXT TO THEM


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I have also been wondering, are Stormvermin worth it? They seem to pack a punch, although I am thinking Plague Monks may pack MORE of a punch.

For some rare, I'm considering taking some Warp Lightning Cannons or Plagueclaw catapults. Not sure which is the more efficient. Plagueclaw seems to be a lot more reliable, while warp lightning a lot more random.

I've found both warplighting cannons and stormvermin to be great.

Small blocks of 10 stormvermin are very maneuverable and they give you easy access to weapon teams.


As far as warpfire throwers. I have had great success with them. You just need to position them right. And I usually assume I will roll a 5 (average) when shooting. Doing that you usually will at least hit a couple models no matter. And then you are causing panic checks.

I'm heading to the store tomorrow to pick up a few more models. I can't afford the battalion box yet, so I'll be picking up 1-2 normal boxes.

I'm considering right now to get either a Warplightning Cannon or a Doomwheel. Or perhaps both. Or 2 ratling guns and either the doomwheel or the warplightning cannon. Any advice?

do NOT get the ratling guns. Avoid them. They suck.

Why do they suck? They tend to jam more than any other weapon team the skaven have, they do not put out as many harmful shots as other teams, and relying on BS3 is a bad idea.

A warpfire thrower can kill half a unit. you will kill 4 models with a ratling gun.

but, other than that, grab 2 Warp Lightning Cannons and 2 Doomwheels. Both are great for their points and what they do.

IMO i think that you should get 1 doomwheel and 1 warp lightning cannon since the warp lighning cannon will blow up alot of a unit and then the domwheel will come and mow the rest down. i only say 2 things because you are anly allowed now to have 2 rares in a under 3000 point game. what i advise you to do aswell is make a HPA because i have won EVERY battle i have played using my HPA. it will only cost a bit since youre using spare bits from other modles, i used parts of Nid in mine!

madman12367 wrote: i only say 2 things because you are anly allowed now to have 2 rares in a under 3000 point game.

HE can have as many things as he can fit in the 25%, he just can't have more than 2 of the same unit.

Doomwheel and Warp Lightning it is. Good support weapons they are. There are so many things I want really - more Clanrats. I only have 80 of them, and it's not enough by far. I'd like to at least field 3 squads of 30, along with 1-2 flanking slaves of 20.

I wouldn't say no to plague furnace A-bomb either, or some censer bearers. A bit of artillery-hunting, mining night runners would be quite excellent as well.

Im a bit surprised by your warpfire stance. First game I wasnt impressed (they blew up!) but after that they have consistently been a key part of my army's performance. I rarely miss with them (assuming the enemy is within average range). In particularly they are superb at protecting my rear flanks from scouts.

The best use for ratling guns in 8E is to convert them into doomflayers. Stick a round shield on the front, stick some blades on the shield, there ya go.