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I'm just starting a skaven army and have only stuff from IoB plis a little extra right now but I got a list together and was wondering how good it would work so here it is
1 Warplock engineer lvl 2, warplockaugmented weapon, warpstone armor and 1 warp token
1 Warplock engineer lvl 2, warp musket, foul pendant and 1 warp token
1 chieftain with Banner of the under empire and shield
1 unit rat ogres 4 ogres 1 mastermoulder with thing catcher and 1 packmaster
4x 30 clanrats with shield and spear full command in each, each has a weapon team 2 warpfire thowers 2 poisoned wind mortars

comes to 1498
Thoughts, questions, hatred at my strategic prowess?

I'm a newb too so i'm not sure of the effectiveness of what i purpose.
I feel like it's missing a damage dealer in this list, why don't you switch the ogre unit with an abomination? 4 Units of clan are really alot, try to make 2 of them slaves and (if you have the possibility to) turn the earned points in a Warplight cannon. I would than recomend to remove most of the equip from the engineer leaving them just the magic level and doomrocket to the first n dispell scroll (not sure they can) to the other (eventually the brass orb). I would put the equip instead to the Warchief BSB to preserve him from the focused attack and make him hold a storm banner. This would change the list alot but i think would made a nice level 1500 points army.

You can't have magical banners and magical items on the BSB it's one of the other. I appreciate the critique of the list but I need to know if it'll work as is and how it'll work as is since it's the models I have right now. In the future I will be expanding to either warplight cannons of a doom wheel and I will probably get a gray seer and some other stuff but I just have IoB stuff to work with right now and I'd like to try a few games before shelling out even more money on the game.

" and have only stuff from IoB plis a little extra right now " you are right, misread at all and still learning rules.
But since you'll have to get in Close Combat i continue to think that a storm banner is exential: first turn move and use banner, second you should be in charge range (with a bit of luck). If you face some kinds of army, like the Empire, you'll kinda freeze them for that turn..

It's not a bad list to start with but I would change it up just a little.

First I would combine two of those clanrat squads into 1 50 strong unit of slaves (w/ spears if you want)
I would then take the extra 10 guys and bulk up your units to 35 strong. Keep 1 poison wind mortar and 1 warpfire thrower.
With the extra points upgrade one of the Rat ogers to a Master-Bread rat oger. This will add some much needed punch to that unit.
You should still have enough points to take a Warlord which will help quite a bit.

I like the four squad layout and last edition it would have worked great but this edition you need larger blocks for steadfast and to keep your leadership bonus longer. Also slaves are great fun and will become even better the more shooting you can get. Thinking about it if you want to have a good time and are less worried about winning you could try running a block of 45 slaves and 3 blocks of 25 clanrats w/ 2 poisoned wind mortars and 1 warpfire thrower. That could be pretty fun and would strike a good balance between the two lists. You would realy want to keep your units in leadership range with this setup though as your 25 strong blocks would be more prone to being whittled down quicker and you will be lucky to have steadfast. On the other hand you have the potential to do lots of damage on the way in.

Hope this helps some or at least gives you something to think about.


*Edited to fix BSB / warlord mixup.

So these are the models you have? I'll take the challenge!

Uelrindru wrote:1 Warplock engineer lvl 2, warplockaugmented weapon, warpstone armor and 1 warp token
1 Warplock engineer lvl 2, warp musket, foul pendant and 1 warp token
1 chieftain with Banner of the under empire and shield
1 unit rat ogres 4 ogres 1 mastermoulder with thing catcher and 1 packmaster
4x 30 clanrats with shield and spear full command in each, each has a weapon team 2 warpfire thowers 2 poisoned wind mortars

comes to 1498

My first thought? You need a warlord (and I'm pretty sure you've got a model for him if you've got IoB). My second thought? Your BSB needs to live more than he needs to cover people in auto-hits. My third thought? Your engineers need less stuff. My fourth thought? Your units need to be bigger. If you don't mind, here's all that in a tweaked list:

Warlord - sword of swift slaying, foul pendant, shield = 148

Chieftain - BSB, talisman of endurance, shield = 102
Engineer - level 2 = 100
Engineer - level 2 = 100

40 Clanrats - full command, spears, shields, warpfire thrower = 290
40 Clanrats - full command, spears, shields, poisoned wind mortar = 285
40 Clanrats - full command, spears, shields, poisoned wind mortar = 285

4 Rat Ogres - 2 packmasters = 176
--------
1486

Yes, the warlord is a tad on the expensive side, but I figure at some point you'll be driven to fight with him, and this dude can at least hit things (now whether his S4 can wound things is another issue). 4/5+ save to keep his LD7 around. The BSB likewise is rocking a 4/5+ save to keep his LD abilities in the game. Engineers lost all their gear, in the name of efficiency One clanrat unit was ground up to provide bodies for the other ones, and a warpfire (the less maneuverable and most risky of the machines) was dropped in the process. The rogres also lost their master moulder, partially to make points but really because he has to ride the front rank (as a champ), which means getting pulped as well as making the unit look funky (funkier).

You can buy a LOT with 15 points in a skaven list - like the masterbred rat ogre - though 20 points will also get you the condenser on one of your engineers, which is well worth it. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to drop to make points, though, so I leave that to you. Really it looks like dropping clanrats is the only answer: if you cut one unit down to 35 (say, the warpfire one for symmetry's sake?), you've got 39 points, which buys you the MBRO as well as the condenser.

I do agree with unknown, your next purchase should likely be a WLC

- Salvage

I thought you couldn't have a lord at sub 2000 points, if that's not the case then I will certainly be taking on. Also, I'll be getting a hellpit abomination for my birthday and picking up the battalion, a warpfire cannon, and a grey seer in the next few weeks. I love the grey seer model and I must have one regardless of how impractical it is at my current points lvl.
I'd like to get a game in before I get much more into the army but I really love the look of most of the models so it won't REALLY matter if that doesn't happen.

8th edition removed the limitations and slots from army creation, replacing it with a simple percentage system:

Lords: Up to 25% of your points
Heroes: Up to 25% of your points (Note: These points are separate from your Lord points)
Core: AT LEAST 25% of your points
Special: Up to 50% of your points
Rare: Up to 25% of your points

Warlords are surprisingly reliable for a skaven model. They provide a nice Ld boost, and with I7 and 4A base they're not too terrible at stepping up in low point games. At lower points, I give mine a Halberd and Poisoned Attacks instead of a magic weapon. It's a bit cheaper and the Poisoned Attacks helps deal with his somewhat low S.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also I'm guessing you mean you're getting a Warp Lightning Cannon, and I will say it will very often be the MVP of your games. It's also fairly cheap, so at some point adding a second to your army wouldn't be amiss.

That's what I get for reading the army book before the rule book. Getting the battalion in soon and with that I'm going to have to look at everything again. How awesome are plaguemonks?

Battalion is a good group of units for Skaven. I've got 2 IoB sets and 3 battalions forming most of the core of my army, which is probably bigger than I'll ever need and not even close to assembled fully.

I have yet to try Plague monks, honestly, though mathematically they seem really good at wading through lightly armored enemy units. Throw in the Plague Banner for rerolls to hit and to wound for a round and they should be able to tear through a decent sized anvil unit pretty quickly.

Get two Warp Lightning Cannons. Best investment you could possibly make for your Skaven.

Revisions:
3x 40 clan rats shields, spears, full command
2 poison wind mortars 1 warpthrower 860
2x Warp lightening cannons 180
2x Warlock engineers lvl 2 200
Chieftain BSB shiel Talilsmen of Endurance 102
Warlord Sword of Slaying
Fould Pendant Shield 148
Ideas for that last 10 points?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Additionally, for a 2k point list add 40 plague monks full command
2 packmasters and 4 rat ogres 1 masterbred.

Strong stuff, particularly in the shooting + ranks department. How about picking up the dragonhelm for your warlord? 3/5+ save & 2+ ward vs fire is groovy times

- Salvage

I would purchase a rulebook and read it no point trying to optimise a list when your still learning to play the core game.

I would proxy one of those engineers as a grey seer and give the other a doom rocket.

I like the dual lighting cannons they are a great rare choices at low level point games.

I have the rule book just haven't read through it completely. Going off what I remember from my younger days when I played.
Jubear why would you go with those choices over what I have?

The game is very much dominated by magic in 8th so if you have access to a cheapish level 4 why not field it? Also casting the dreaded 13th alot tends to give you something that can finish off smallish elites units like chaos warriors,swordmasters etc.

The doom rocket is extremely good bang for buck Ive lost track of the times a 30 point magic item has decimated 150-200 points worth of models its also very accurate if you fire it at ranges over 20"

Also dual lighting cannon spam is just evil they amount of havoc those things can cause for there point cost is criminal so why not spam them?

Remember skaven have a very strong shooting phase and they have the numbers to sit back and weather alot of shooting. However without the hellpits or furnarce/banner/plaguemonks your combat phase is your weakest atm.

I suppose I will be beefing up my plague rat squad, I have 20 at the moment but it feels too small to field. Also, I guess I will be getting an HPA they look like a lot of fun. Need to get a few games in soon and then I'll see what I like and don't like and relook at the list with a better eye to be able to take the criticism I'm getting. Now to assemble the models and ready them for battle.

HPA are just plain scary like any model that breaks core rules of the game.

I tend to find 40 is a good number for plague monks give them the banner of reroll hits reroll failed wounds plonk a furnace in there and you have one hell of a deathstar.

Rat orgres are not bad per say they just suffer from Ld issues but they can still be effective you just need to babysit them.