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Really dont have alot of use with either, but i wanted to get some general ideas and opinions on using them from others.
So far, ive found them simply to be more of a waste than a help.

Screaming bell;
Nearly doubles the cost of the seer.
Requires a large unit to push it reliably (with skaven, not a huge issue)
Its effects really are not what you would expect for something this heavy on points.

On the plus side, it has and provides a 4++ for the seer.
It also makes the unit unbreakable.

I just cant think of a real use for it.
Amazing model, but i usually play 2,000 pt games, so a seer with that has 60 points left on the budget.



Furnace;
Ok, this thing is just weird to be honest.
Requires a large special choice unit to push it (again, not too bad, just a bit more heavy on points but more damage output)
Unbreakable again for the unit, which is nice on a strong unit.
The priest cant turn down challenges, which is never good!
Billowing death isnt bad, but its attacks in combat really are bad.
The wrecker can only be used in your turn, so if your locked in combat its once every 2 phases of fighting.
Oh, not to mention it kills its own crew and its self when it mishaps.


I love the models and the ideas, im just really struggling to find something that will convince me to take them.
Hoping dakka can either help me out, or put me off them

Warpsolution is always the best person for advice here on dakka.

According to him/her the screaming bell gives you the grey seer which you'd probably use anyway and the bell itself is another 200 pts. It's not really as bad as it seems sometimes. I find most of the upper tier abilities of the screaming bell to be augments though it does seem to hate buildings and to a lesser extent war machines and ridiculously tough monsters. It can throw out scorch but most of the bell's abilities are augments in general though they tend to be every unit you have within a bubble. It's not bad (provided everybody's in combat) but for one specific unit i think throwing death frenzy on said unit is more reliable. This is probably why i hear of people taking 60 stormvermin or 80 clanrats with the screaming bell. It's a costly unit but if you roll up a 13 or a 17 things could get ugly very fast for the enemy provided you're in combat. The roll of 13 does some minor damage to enemies nearby and the unit pushing the bell attacks with all its models in any combat it's in as if they're all in base to base contact meaning if it's been coupled with death frenzy or skavenbrew then the enemy could be in for a lot of pain. As for rolling a 17 you get re-rolls to hit and to wound with +1 attack for all friendly units within a good distance (24" i think but i should re-read the book) and i think it collapses buildings in a certain range on a +4.

The furnace i find to be a very potent unit. It's not exactly the most uber unit out there but rolling an 8 or 10 on auto-hits with the furnace's swinging attacks, the poison shroud, the priest's attacks, the impact hits, the crew of the furnace and the plague monks themselves esp. with a plague banner or anything else is no laughing matter. Thing is it's generally accepted that you need at least 40 plague monks to push the furnace.

In addition to the augments mentioned, the unit pushing the bell is also unbreakable which makes a nice tarpit.

Also, it has Magic Resistance 2, so the Seer has a 2+ save against magic and the unit pushing the bell gets a 5+ save against spells to boot.

When I was considering a Bell+Furnace list the guys over at Warseer said that was one of the most competitive builds overall

In the UK, the fully tricked out Bell unit is more or less agreed to be the strongest Skaven list around at the moment.

 tmarichards wrote:
In the UK, the fully tricked out Bell unit is more or less agreed to be the strongest Skaven list around at the moment.

I'd rather have a Furnace and TWO Grey Seers on foot. The seers can bunker behind the huge unbreakable plague monks.

-Matt

You need the Power Scroll to get the best out of double Seer, and in the UK Skaven typically aren't allowed it for precisely this reason

They do different things though. The Furnace unit is great against stuff without armour but is a bit uncontrollable and means you really need a Storm Banner to keep it alive, at which point your own shooting gets weakened.

The Bell unit with 40 odd Stormvermin and pair of Assassins, on the other hand, can do some good damage against more or less anything as well as giving you the 18" ld and making the Seer almost immune to Death magic. On the other hand, it is pretty weak to artillery so you could still do with the Storm Banner.

Different strokes and all that. They're both solid builds, I'm certainly not disputing that

Yup, 1 seer with power scroll, the other with a power stone. It gives you 2 really good magic phases.
The furnace isn't totally hosed against high strength attacks.
I ran mine with a censor on the priest. It's typically 5-7 toughness tests, and then another D6.

Yeah, Skaven are taking a lot of tests too, but I found more often than not, my opponents models are worth a lot more than the 7 points I'm giving up when I roll the 6's for my tests.
Add in the dripping death (D6 S3 no save each magic phase).

IMO you want the storm banner if you run either the bell or the furnace. With the furnace, you want the storm banner in a storm vermin unit to free up the plague monk's banner for one with more offense.

If you can't take a power scroll, dual seers still work. Take power stone and Wand of Jet. That 1 use +D6 can push you over the top for the needed 25.

Another thing, plague, wither, cracks call, cloud of corruption, and warp gale have all won me games. Sometimes I've been able to slip in one of those because of the fear of the 13th spell. Skitterleap w/cracks is pretty good.

-Matt