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Hey there, New Dakka Dakka user.
Hoping this is the right place to put this.
Been playing 40k for a little over a year now (Chaos Space Marines) and recently decided to get started in Fantasy.
Bought the Isle of Blood and looking to expand from there, but I'm not positive on what I should buy.
Current plans are to buy the battle force, some extra clan rats, and the screaming bell kit (using it as a plague furnace and taking the rat ogre and Grey Seer as foot troops instead).
My plan is to get 2 sets of 40 clan rats with spears and shields (full command) as well as a good few rat ogres and weapon teams. Everything else is just options to play around with (I'm aware of the 10 for every 100 points rule).
So, thoughts?

Clanrats are run with Hand weapons and shields. Parry is so much better than an extra 5 attacks.

The screaming bell is generally a better choice than a furnace. ((See bellstars))

I'd not advise on running rat ogres. They're too easy to bait out of position, and not survivable enough,

Rat Ogres are hard to use efficiently, usually the best way to run them is with a Masterbred as the first rank, a regular ROgre as the 2nd rank and a packmaster behind them all
I'd direct you to the Underempire for all things Skaven, you'll get good advice there
The Furnace is very very good, it's the main killy ranked unit in the Skaven book with the Plague Banner, don't expect the Priest to survive though
The Bell can be very good as well, but the "Bellstar" is just a very defensive build, might as well take walls of Slaves if you want to go defensive. Especially because you do NOT want (never, ever.... NEVER) want your grey Seer in close combat

Here's what I usually run at 2,200, with considerable success:

- Grey Seer + Talisman of Preservation + Dispel Scroll + Ironcurse Icon (315)

- Warlock Engineer + level 2 + Doomrocket (130)
- Chieftain + halberd + battle standard + Armour of Destiny (122)

- 40 Clanrats + shields + full command (200)
- 35 Stormvermin + full command + Stormbanner (320)
- 50 Skavenslaves + musician (102)
- 50 Skavenslaves + musician (102)
- 5 Giant Rats + Packmaster (23)
- 5 Giant Rats + Packmaster (23)
- 5 Giant Rats + Packmaster (23)
- 5 Giant Rats + Packmaster (23)

- 5 Gutter Runners + Poison + slings + Deathrunner + Smoke Bombs (112)
- 35 Plague Monks + musician + standard + Plague Banner (290)

- 1 Hell Pit Abomination (235)
- 1 Warp Lightning Cannon (90)
- 1 Warp Lightning Cannon (90)

Before I offer any specific advice, though, I'll need to know what sort of thing you're looking for. Just the most competitive stuff?

TanKoL wrote:
Rat Ogres are hard to use efficiently, usually the best way to run them is with a Masterbred as the first rank, a regular ROgre as the 2nd rank and a packmaster behind them all
I'd direct you to the Underempire for all things Skaven, you'll get good advice there
The Furnace is very very good, it's the main killy ranked unit in the Skaven book with the Plague Banner, don't expect the Priest to survive though
The Bell can be very good as well, but the "Bellstar" is just a very defensive build, might as well take walls of Slaves if you want to go defensive. Especially because you do NOT want (never, ever.... NEVER) want your grey Seer in close combat

You don't want the Bell in combat? Tell that to Dom Hook.

Appreciate all the feedback, will build clan rats with handweapons instead.
And in response to Warpsolution, I'm not looking for anything tournament competitive. I enjoy fielding fun units more, and I dont play in tournaments, but I don't like completely gimping myself at the same time.
And as for the plague furnace, i'm buying it mostly because I love the grey seer model as I for sure want to build a grey seer, the plague furnace is just a bonus. Will rethink the rat ogres.

If you're not looking for The Best, I think Rat Ogres'll do you just fine. Just try to get them in against models with I3 or less (6 Rat Ogres can take out 9 Ogre Bulls all by themselves).

One great aspect of the Skaven army is how varied it can be, and that, until you dedicate a lot of points to one of it's "stronger" aspects, people generally don't think of you as being ultra-competitive.

Few players will complain if you bring one Warp Lightning Cannon and one Abomination to the field, but most of them will, if you bring two.
No one seems to mind if you put a Ratling Gun, Poisoned Wind Mortar, and a Warpfire Thrower on the table, but they'll suspect you're trying to abuse the book a little, if you just bring three of the same thing.

And, really, I think a varied list is more fun, anyway. I like to have a possible solution to as many problems as I might encounter, rather than do amazingly well sometimes and terribly others.
That, and it just looks more Skaven-y, to have a mismatched sort of force upon the field.

I tend to find that rat ogres lack strength, toughness or a save, something that most monsters have atleast 1 of that sets them apart.

Against a shooting army they die very quickly, and most average units will beat them in combat aswell.
Its also the price tag on points that weighs them down too.

I usually see them as more of a burden in my army as i can spend those points on units that work far better.


Weapons teams - Fire throwers are easily the most damaging IMO.
Mortars are nice.
Keep away from ratling guns though, they look good, until you actually use them.
Usually around 10 shots without pushing your luck, then most miss anyway.

Big stuff -
Warp lightning cannons are ace, always a place for them.
Catapaults are great too.
Doomwheels are good, but take some getting used to since they are like no other unit in the game.
HPA - Its a beast, and always fun to use.

Alright i'll try and pick up a Warp Lightning Cannon and a HBA after I finish getting 80 clan rats up and going.
Just picked up another box of 20, and the screaming bell kit (standing by my decision to take the grey seer on foot and building the rest of it as a plague furnace).
I probably wont use the plague furnace but it'll paint up real nice, and I definatly want a grey seer, but I just dont see myself using the Bell, and the model the kit comes with is awesome, just need to find a way to convert it so it's standing.

You can pick up isle of blood skaven on ebay for pretty cheep. I would suggest getting a few more sets of clan rats since you always need clan rats/slaves

 Jackal wrote:
Keep away from ratling guns though, they look good, until you actually use them.
Usually around 10 shots without pushing your luck, then most miss anyway.

The Ratling Gun is the most reliable of the Weapon Teams, since it's not rolling that Artillery die to determine where its shots land. It's also the least damaging, by far, but at least it can usually be expected to do something each turn. I've found that it excels at clearing chaff, since you only need to do a few wounds anyway.

 Jackal wrote:
Catapaults are great too.

Really?




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Old Salty Sean wrote:
...the model the kit comes with is awesome, just need to find a way to convert it so it's standing.

I've seen that model perched on a rock or pillar numerous times. His off-hand has either been holding the book from the old Plague Monk box or a Warpmusket, converted from an Empire Handgunner bit.
Personally, I used a Necromancer and that Seer's head to make my General.

I recently started Skaven as well, about 2 months ago, and so far our escalation league is at 1000 points and I placed 3rd out of 20 at 750 points. I've found that at lower point games the Warp Lightning Cannon is great against horde armies and the Doomwheel is nearly impossible to deal with. I've been running both and a Grey Seer at 1000 and it's been amazing. A few well placed shots and slamming them with Wither, Plague, and Dreaded 13th and the game is pretty much over. I tend to play a more shooty army at these low points levels and just mop up what is left with my clanrats while my Slaves hold whatever I don't want to deal with just yet. I have to disagree with Jackal and agree with Warpsolution. Especially at lower points losing a weapons team to a misfire, especially when half the time it takes other models with it, is just to risky. The safest way to go is Ratling Gun and it has decent damage output when you run 2 or 3. Later on I will mess with the others but I've had bad experiences so far. I also love the HPA, tested him a few times then bought one when he beasted a Stonehorn in combat then tore through half his line before going down to fire magic. Though I do prefer running 1x WPL and 1x Doomwheel right now the HPA will be used later.

@AngelusMortis: that is a brutal list. I went up against something like that with my more generalized Skaven list in a 1,000pt tourney. I went first, and happened to roll about average with my Doomrocket and Warp Lightning Cannon, which took out his Seer, BSB, and the unit they were in.
It's got its flaws, but if I hadn't gotten first turn, I'd have been in trouble.