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Howdy.

I am looking to start up building my NEEK-NEEK Brigade ( Skaven horde) and I was wondering if it is still a viable and competitive build.

I had a skaven horde years ago and sold it to fund my TKs, but the call of the rat is getting louder. So while I do not own the current ruleset, my question is less about that as compared to how do infantry horde armies fare?

As an example, my old list, for 2250 was more or less

a warlord
a couple of plague priests
a warlock engineer
this changes with the new percentage allocation of course

5 or 6 blocks of 20 slaves each
5 or 6 blocks of 30 or so clan rats w/weapon teams

2 blocks of plague monks
2 units of PCB

and that was more or less it, on average I had over 300 figures on the table, and through sheer attrition and flank charge set ups ( checkerboard and bucket deployments) I did very very well, so long as I did'nt lose my flank and get my lines rolled up.

Anyhoo, I was just wondering.

Currently I have plenty of regular infantry(150+), stormvermin(40), metal slave models (120+), a SB/PF kit unbuilt, (2) WLC/PT kits unbuilt, (2) Doomwheels and a HPA along with some Rat ogres so I have lots of options, but do I need to have the artillery?

Don't get me wrong, the new artillery and monster models are Sweet, but is a infantry horde still a competive build??

Thanks!

multiple massive blocks of slaves (~50 IIRC possibly armed with slings?) are a giant Cheese build from what i can make out, HPA are golden and the WLC's can be devastating.
Skaven are one of the most competitive build right now, so basically yes it is worth it.
But i would put a list up in the WHFB Army List Forum for a better answer (sorry i can be more of a help)

Yes, although the blocks are much larger than they used to be. Clan rats are basically just bunkers for characters and banners, so they can be smaller, but slaves need to be running in blocks of 50.

infantry horde armies are MORE competitive then ever this edition - and therefore the skaven are also very competitive.

A VERY important rulechange with 8th ed. is that now units that have more ranks than their opponent are steadfast (meaning they are stubborn, taking breaktests at unmodified Ld)! This is GOLD for skaven of course. And being charged in the flank, does NOT remove steadfast...!

Clanrats are good in units of 30-50 depending on style, build etc, slaves are great in units of 40+ (50 is perfect in the opinion of most skaven players, me included); Monks too are great around 40 with a Furnace.

Well in general ANY skaven unit should be around 35-40, slaves bigger

So everything you have is still good, though Censor Bearers arent so hot anymore (as they have been) as you always strike at Ini order, and they will usually be mostly dead before they get to strike (though their fumes go before any attacks)

Excellent. Thanks much for the feedback.

I'm not worried about being "cheesey" . I got that all before when I would drop 300 figures on the table. Besides, we're Skaven, we like Cheese!!

Too bad about the PCB, I always liked them.

I am guessing from what I read a HPA is pretty nasty then.

Is a warlord still a viable leader. I am fond of clan Mors and Pestilens, so if could field Queek that would be cool too.

I never had much luck with Grey Seers, although I like the idea of them, I think I was just a crappy Seer list general.

Cheesey armies are hgreat fun to play, slave spam is a favourite tactic of mine. The Hell Pit Abomination is amazing, funny things happen to your opponent after you remove a second one from your case. Queek is a challenge orientated character, he has to issue a challenge whenever possible and does a hell of a lot of damage to them, however he can't join units with grey seers in or units pushing screaming belles which is rather a shame because I always like to offer them some protection. Good luck with this army though my frind and please post it in the army list section once you've bought a Skaven army book. I look forward to seeing it!

Grey Seer is all but mandatory. Magic is extremely powerful and you need a powerful wizard of your own to fend off the enemy's nonsense. And the Dreaded 13th spell is an amazing tool for dealing with watchtowers, bunker units and death stars.

Warlords are actually far more capable now with better access to magic items. You can build them a variety of ways, whether to shred infantry or kill big beasties.

withershadow wrote:but slaves need to be running in blocks of 50.

The hell they do. I've never run them larger than 30 and they work just fine at that size.

Then you're doing it wrong or your group is still playing 7th edition.

With the increased number of attacks in this edition, 30 will get chewed up very quickly. 50 is a good size for guaranteeing they stay steadfast and in combat for round after round, wasting your opponent's time as you blast him apart with artillery or flank the crap out of him with beatstick units of your own.

withershadow wrote:Then you're doing it wrong or your group is still playing 7th edition.

With the increased number of attacks in this edition, 30 will get chewed up very quickly. 50 is a good size for guaranteeing they stay steadfast and in combat for round after round, wasting your opponent's time as you blast him apart with artillery or flank the crap out of him with beatstick units of your own.

More likely that your group is seriously overestimating the value of fewer large units vs more numerous smaller ones. But this isn't the place for that discussion.

Small units go away, very fast. I suppose you've never faced a DE crossbowmen horde.