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Hello Dakka, well I have just started into fantasy, I have been playing 40k for a bit now, and just wanted to throw more money into plastic men.
So I decided to start a Skaven army. I just have no real idea on what upgrades are pretty essential, and how to really put together a decent list. So I thought I'd recruit the help of the interwebs.
I am going for a Pestilen themed list, trying to be semi-competitive, but fun is priority 1.

Lords
Lord Skrolk = 470

Heroes
Chieftain - BSB, Additional hw = 72
Plague Priest - Upgrade to lvl 2, Additional hw, Plague Furnace = 287 <<<< (what else should he have? If anything?)

Core
50x Slaves - Musician = 102
50x Slaves - Musician = 102

35x Plague Monks = 245 (pushing furnace)
40x Plague Monks = 280 <<<< (I really have no idea what to do with the monks in terms of equipment)
40x Plague Monks = 280

Possibly a unit of Clanrats, with an attatched Poisoned Wind Mortar?

Special
x5 Plague Censer Bearers = 80
x5 Plague Censer Bearers = 80

Maybe some Poison Wind Globadiers? With an attatched Poisoned Wind Mortar?

Rare
Plagueclaw Catapult = 100
Plagueclaw Catapult = 100

So what I have totaled points for equals 2,198
I just need some c&c, mainly for a push in the right direction. I would like to see a Poisoned Wind Mortar somewhere in the list, and like large numbers of slaves and monks, as well as a furnace. Other than that, it can be tweeked a bunch, as long as it still follows the same sort of theme.
Anyways, if anyone would be so kind as to give me some feedback, it would be greatly appreciated.

I would swap the Additional HW on the Plague Priest for a Flail. Because the Furnace is technically a mount, the AHW does nothing for him really :(

I'd drop the AHW on the BSB for a shield. His job is to keep units sticking around, not to kill stuff. A magic banner such as the Sacred Standard of the Horned Rat wouldn't go amiss, or some magic gear to keep him alive like a Foul Pendant and/or a Trickster's Helm.

I generally give monks full command. This is especially important in the group of monks pushing the Furnace, as the Plague Priest can't avoid a challenge otherwise. You might also spring for a Plague Banner, which gives you 1 combat phase of re-rolling failed to hit and to wound rolls. Another popular banner is the Storm Banner.

The slaves are good and will tie stuff up pretty well. Works wonderfully with the Plague Claw Catapults (PCCs) A unit of Clan Rats with a Plague Mortar wouldn't be a bad buy, or if you want another magic banner, you can get a unit of Storm Vermin.

Thanks for the input, I was debating those two banners, I like the storm banner to help keep units under wraps while I get into cc with them, but the plague banner seems prettly viable as well, so I'll probably play test with both. As for the clanrat unit, the only reason why I'm kind of hesitant to take them are because they don't necessarily fit the theme as well as the globadiers, but I'm sure I can find somehow to sneak em in.

Another thing that I was wondering is where I should be putting the special characters?

The characters should fit in whichever unit needs the supporting role that the character provides.


If you are taking Clanrats, give em spears. I know it' s cheesy (get it?) but they need to be an offensive unit that can dish out and take as far as a cheap skaven unit can. Go for the Full command if you have the points, but atleast throw in a banner.

Ok so how does this sound? I am sitting at 2,497
Will the unit of 24 rats be targeted down to fast, then bye bye chieftain?

Lords
Lord Skrolk = 470

Heroes
Plague Priest = 328
-lvl 2
- Flail
- Warp Scroll
- Plague Furnace

Chieftain = 122
- Sheild
- Tricksters Helm
- BSB

Core
x50 Slaves = 102
- Musician

x50 Slaves = 102
- Musician

x35 Plague Monks = 270
- FC

x40 Plague Monks = 325
- FC
- Plague Banner

x40 Plague Monks = 305 (Skrolk goes here?)
- FC

x24 Clanrats = 193 (Chieftain goes here?)
- FC
- Shields
- Attached Poisoned Wind Mortar

Special
x5 Plague Censer Bearers = 80

Rare
Plagueclaw Catapult = 100
Plagueclaw Catapult = 100

I'd disagree on the call for spears on the clan rats. I prefer the 6++ parry save for using hand weapon / shield.

Clan Rats form the bulk of any army really, even a Pestelins list should have a few I'd think. I tend to run mine in blocks of 40, if only to provide some more bodies to save my BSB/Hero/Lord units that end up in them.


Don't forget that the Globadiers are actually a Skyre unit, despite their poison. Mind you they work well with the Slave units since you can lock down a tough unit and then pelt em with Globes.

streamdragon wrote:
Don't forget that the Globadiers are actually a Skyre unit, despite their poison. Mind you they work well with the Slave units since you can lock down a tough unit and then pelt em with Globes.

This coupled with the sheer price of the globadier models inched me towards running clanrats. As for how many rats, well as I said this list puts me at 2497, and to fit more in, I would have to trim some other things down. I just don't know what.

Yeah, at $10 USD a model you're looking at 50 bucks just for the minimum 5 models. I'd recommend scouring ebay, I snagged a lot with plenty of jezzails, clan rats, globadiers and others for a cheap price.

I'm also not really sure what you'd tone down to fit more clan rats in. 25 is strong enough to start with, but once combat hits you're going to lose your rank bonus to Ld pretty fast. Granted, with the BSB chieftan in the unit you only really need one or two ranks for a reliable reroll LD.

Overall the list looks pretty solid. I've been hankering to try out a few of the pestelins / moulder units, especially the Plague Monks / Furnace.