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Okay, having read the 8th rulebook, I want to get opinions on a wallet-friendly Skaven list. Tell me what you all think!

Lords

Grey Seer on Screaming Bell - 500
Using 2 spells from Spells of Ruin and 2 from Spells of Plague
- Shadow Magnet Trinket, Skalm

Grey Seer - 240
Using 2 spells from Spells of Ruin and 2 from Spells of Plague

Heroes

Warlock Engineer - 80
1 Spell from Spells of Ruin
Lv 1, Warpstone Token

Warlock Engineer - 115
2 Spells from Spells of Ruin
Lv 2, Warpstone Token

Plague Priest - 135
2 Spells from Spells of Plague
Lv 2

Core

40 Clanrats (pushing the bell) - 188
-Spears, Std. Bearer

30 Clanrats - 143
-Spears, Std. Bearer

30 Clanrats - 143
-Spears, Std. Bearer

20 Slaves - 42
-Musician

18 Giant Rats, 2 Pack Masters - 70

18 Giant Rats, 2 Pack Masters - 70

18 Giant Rats, 2 Pack Masters - 70

Special

30 Plague Monks - 235
-Full Command

27 Plague Monks - 214
-Full Command

5 Rat Ogres, 3 Packmasters - 224

Rare

Doomwheel - 150

Doomwheel - 150

Warp-Lightning Cannon - 90

Total: 2999


--

So my main goal in this list was to try out the Horde rules whilst maintaining a strong magic front with my Lords and Heroes. I'm pretty new to WHFB, though I don't think I've spent too much in any particular areas. This list is intended for casual to competitive environments, as I don't think it's soft, but it's not a power list either (I think).

Opinions? Thanks in advance.

Interesting list. I'm thinking of starting Skaven, and I just wonder, how many Screaming Bells can you have in a 3,000 point army?

You can only have 1 Screaming Bell because it's a mount for the Grey Seer, bringing him to 440 points with no other upgrades. In 3000 pts for 8th edition you can have up to 25% Lords, so for 3000 you would be allowed 750pts for Lords. Unfortunately two barebone Grey Seers on Screaming Bells is 880 points... the minimum sized game you'd be able to fit two into would be 3520 points. Though, seeing as Plague Priests are Heroes, you get a whole 'nother 750 points to spend on them. Plague Priests can take a Plague Furnace as a mount, for 150 points, which brings them to 250 points with no other upgrades. This means that, without upgrades, you can fit one Grey Seer on foot, one on a Screaming Bell, and three Plague Priests on Plague Furnaces into a 3000 point game.

Sounds interesting, though expensive (money-wise).

Thanks for the info. Yeah, that would be a lotta dollars. And a lotta units needed just to push them.

Couple things to keep in mind:

- With the way spells are selected, I wonder what spells your smaller casters are going to get stuck with? Let's assume that warp lightning is a 'signature spell' for engineers and pestilent breath is one for priests - I can only assume the errata will say something to this effect. Ok, let's see how your spell selection goes ...

Bell Seer -> Ruin (1,2) Plague (1,2)
Seer -> Ruin (3,4) Plague (3,4)
Eng1 -> Ruin (2)
Eng2 -> Ruin (2, 5/6)
Priest -> Plague (1,5/6)

This assumes that you don't take The 13th on one of the seers. Basically, my point is that with taking so many casters, your chance of getting decent spells for everybody goes down (which doesn't matter if you're wanting to use them all for extra chances to channel?). Also, remember that you only get 12 max dice to spread through all those casters, when it's a fact that casting with level 4's is a whole lot better than level 2's or 1's.

- You really want a BSB, seriously. Being able to reroll ALL leadership rolls is totally huge, particularly since the game involves a lot of checks to march, quick reform, etc. Drop one of those casters and pick up a chieftain BSB. And make sure he's got some armor / ward / MR because assassinating BSB's is going to be an even bigger part of the game.

- Consider a ward on the foot seer. After snipping out BSBs, the second target is going to be level 4 wizards, given how much they influence the game. Ward + MR might be ideal, giving serious immunity vs all the magical damage out there. But at least a ward.

- No rogre #6? The points should be easy to find, maximize those attaks for great S5 justice!

So yep. 1 less caster, 1 more BSB, ward up the foot seer, scour points for 1 more rogre

- Salvage

As Boss_Salvage said there's a maximum of 12 power dice for spells in a phase. I think you could easily drop two of your magiccy folks. Either the two Engineers or maybe the Grey Seer on foot and one of the Engineers. On average you'll be rolling somewhere close to 8 power dice per magic phase to cast spells. With five wizards that will leave 1.6 dice per wizard and you'll most likely want to be rolling two or three for most spells. For some spells even four is not out of question.

With the points you'll get from dropping those you can get a Warlord or two and a couple of Chieftains (one will be BSB) to lead your Clanrats and Monks. And you could probably fit in the extra Rat Ogre too. They do get to hit from two ranks in the 8th edition.

Why are the giant rats in units of 18? They're not getting horde at 6-wide (unless I'm mistaken in what a giant rat is) so is that the most effective width for them?

I also don't think you should run those clanrats in horde formation (10x3) but rather in deep rank formation (5x6). Remember, you're only going to be stubborn if you have more ranks than your opponent in a combat. Having 6 ranks is a huge difference over having 3! If you have 3 you're depending on skaven killing stuff in close combat to get combat res... and that's just not happening with clanrats, imho

Great advice above, too! I think rat ogres are a great choice now in a 3x2 formation, with all of them getting their full attacks. I like your unit choices, I just think you might need to configure them differently from what you planned, and probably drop a caster or two as mentioned above.

Giant ats attack in 2 ranks anyway, iirc, meaning 3 ranks in 8th ed. The 6 frontage is to maximise your number of guys n combat, while minimising your opponent, ideally.

Anyway, with packmasters, these go up to 4 ranks of 5.

Ahaha... thank you for all your suggestions and help, unfortunately the past week has been very busy (changing internet service providers certainly didn't help the delay either), and so I've not been able to reach a dakka-capable computer.

It took me a while to realise that this isn't 7th anymore, and how many PD you get isn't reliant on how many casters you have. The two 'seers and the plague priest should be enough, really... which means I can squeeze in a BSB easily. Haha, here goes the list

Lords

Grey Seer on Screaming Bell - 500
Using 2 spells from Spells of Ruin and 2 from Spells of Plague
- Shadow Magnet Trinket, Skalm

Grey Seer - 240
Using 2 spells from Spells of Ruin and 2 from Spells of Plague (Substituting for the Dreaded 13th if I roll for a spell I really don't want)

Heroes

Warlock Engineer - 45
Doomrocket

Chieftain - 124
BSB, Storm Banner, Halberd, Shield

Plague Priest - 135
2 Spells from Spells of Plague
Lv 2

Core

40 Clanrats (pushing the bell) - 188
-Spears, Std. Bearer

30 Clanrats - 143
-Spears, Std. Bearer

30 Clanrats - 143
-Spears, Std. Bearer

20 Slaves - 42
-Musician

18 Giant Rats, 2 Pack Masters - 70

18 Giant Rats, 2 Pack Masters - 70

18 Giant Rats, 2 Pack Masters - 70

Special

30 Plague Monks - 235
-Full Command

25 Plague Monks - 200
-Full Command

6 Rat Ogres, 3 Packmasters - 264

Rare

Doomwheel - 150

Doomwheel - 150

Warp-Lightning Cannon - 90

Total: 2999

--

So what do you think?

I've dropped the magic casting abilities from my Warlock Engineers (dropping one entirely, in fact), slapped a Doomrocket on the one that was left, and stuck in a Chieftain with BSB and the Storm Banner (thanks, Boss_Salvage). I don't have much in the way of missile casting, bar the Doomwheels, so the -2 to shooting could be helpful, given the right circumstances. I've decided to run the Clanrats 5x6 for the stubborn advantage. If I'm right in thinking that the Seer on the Bell gets the 18" ld. bubble (for being on the large target), then that's a fairly large amount of rats with Stubborn ld. 10. Unfortunately I'm not sure of all the rules as I only get to read them when I run in to my FLGS.

RiTides, the reason the Giant Rats are in units of 18 is to get 6x3 is so that all of them get to attack (with the Packmasters attacking over the rear rank).

This list is also built upon a 250 GBP budget, which I think is more than decent for a horde army at 3000pts. Oh, and I found points for another Rat Ogre

Thanks for the help so far, comments and critique would be wonderful, of course.