Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey guys.

With points finally out for Age of Sigmar, I thought that I would take the plunge into Fantasy. I'm a 40k Nid player, and I decided to go with Skaven. I managed to get the Skaven starter set from Isle of Blood. Then I bought a Doom wheel, cause you know Doom wheel. So here is what I am starting with;

Warlord
Warlock
Packmaster
20 clan rats w/ musician, standard, champion
20 clan rats w/ spears, musician, standard, champion
Warpfire Thrower
Poison Wind Mortar
2 Rat Ogres
Doom wheel

That will put me at about 880 points for Age of Sigmar, and about 850 for 9th Age which is also popular in my area. I want to push to 1,000 points in either system. My first instinct is to pick up some more clan rats. 10 more in each squad would get me some better combat bonuses, and would put me right at 1,000 in Age of Sigmar. A part of me is heavily eying storm fiends though. So basically I am looking for suggestions on how to grow my collection, and also how well it will perform on the table.

Also, are poison wind mortars and warpfield throwers no longer sold?

Bonzai wrote:
Also, are poison wind mortars and warpfield throwers no longer sold?

IIRC the new plastic ones were only ever available in the Isle of Blood (and sellers who broke that out into bits).

I've been excited to get back to Skaven once points hit ... but I can't do Clanrats as Battleline, I just hate them too much from WHFB 6E-8E. Really hoping there's a way I can take Stormvermin as BL, otherwise I'mma have to be a jerk and go Skryre so I can take Stormfiends as BL, despite being a Verminus player at heart

As for your list, looks nice and rounded. I second adding 10 Clanrats to both units to hit 1000, combat bonuses ftw.

- Salvage

I got my fist AoS game in today. It was matched play at 1,000 points, vs Lizard men. I made some mistakes and forgot some things, but I had a blast and learned a lot. I ended up playing the above list with 10 more clan rats for each squad. My take away from my first battle? I love the large bricks of Clan rats. With inspiring presence they become true tarpits. We didn't use command abilities or artifacts this game, but when we do, I am going with Crown of Conquest all the way. My warlord was a nice support unit. I didn't really get to see him in combat, as he got run over by a Stegadon. My shooting was great. The pack master and rat Ogres were a little disappointing. I need more games with the doom wheel to get better at using it.

My shop is going to stay at 1k games for now, as we have a lot of starting players. Here is what I am going to do to my list for my next games.

1. Remove Packmaster and Rat Ogres, replace with 10 more clanrats per squad (bringing them to 40 each), and a 2nd warp flame thrower. I envision the two clanrat bricks being backed up by inspiring presence and closely followed by warp fire throwers. That way the can tarpit units down while blasting away with Mortal wounds.

2. Replace the Warplock and the Warlord with the FW Skaven Warlord on a Brood Horror. I love the model. The leadership buff will help a lot, and it is more durable than my current warlord. The extra wounds and healing ability should keep it a round longer, as my tactics will depend a lot on inspiring presence. If I had the points for the chieftain with banner, I would consider them. At this point range I don't want to go up to the vermin King or Thanquol. So this option seems to be the most attractive.

Thoughts?

Glad you enjoyed!

Bonzai wrote:
1. Remove Packmaster and Rat Ogres, replace with 10 more clanrats per squad (bringing them to 40 each), and a 2nd warp flame thrower. I envision the two clanrat bricks being backed up by inspiring presence and closely followed by warp fire throwers. That way the can tarpit units down while blasting away with Mortal wounds.

2. Replace the Warplock and the Warlord with the FW Skaven Warlord on a Brood Horror. I love the model. The leadership buff will help a lot, and it is more durable than my current warlord. The extra wounds and healing ability should keep it a round longer, as my tactics will depend a lot on inspiring presence. If I had the points for the chieftain with banner, I would consider them. At this point range I don't want to go up to the vermin King or Thanquol. So this option seems to be the most attractive.

Proposed changes sound good to me. Clanrats certainly want more bodies to do their thing with (i.e. die whilst poking things), and moar WFT is always better, especially with how AOS allows shooting into combat. Happy to see the Brood Horror hit the table, bravery buff is neat, command ability is still legit, and it's decently tough / fighty without being too crae-crae or $$$ for 1k

- Salvage

 Boss Salvage wrote:
Glad you enjoyed!

Bonzai wrote:
1. Remove Packmaster and Rat Ogres, replace with 10 more clanrats per squad (bringing them to 40 each), and a 2nd warp flame thrower. I envision the two clanrat bricks being backed up by inspiring presence and closely followed by warp fire throwers. That way the can tarpit units down while blasting away with Mortal wounds.

2. Replace the Warplock and the Warlord with the FW Skaven Warlord on a Brood Horror. I love the model. The leadership buff will help a lot, and it is more durable than my current warlord. The extra wounds and healing ability should keep it a round longer, as my tactics will depend a lot on inspiring presence. If I had the points for the chieftain with banner, I would consider them. At this point range I don't want to go up to the vermin King or Thanquol. So this option seems to be the most attractive.

Proposed changes sound good to me. Clanrats certainly want more bodies to do their thing with (i.e. die whilst poking things), and moar WFT is always better, especially with how AOS allows shooting into combat. Happy to see the Brood Horror hit the table, bravery buff is neat, command ability is still legit, and it's decently tough / fighty without being too crae-crae or $$$ for 1k

- Salvage

Yeah, it seems to me that a key to AoS is pick generals with a large pool of wounds so that they can't be sniped out too fast by shooting, and keeps your command abilities around. Eventually I may get a Verminlord, but not at this point level. I think the brood horror mount is a nice mid ground.

Well, I swapped out my moulded units for a 2nd warp flame thrower and 10 more clan rats for each units. I played a 2v2 game with a Sylvaneth partner. We went against the Empire and Sigmarines. My dice when it came to shooting was terrible. Tried to supercharge the warp flame throwers and two turns in a row I rolled 1's on BOTH of them, ultimately killing themselves turn 3 with dealing no damage. The good news is that they were the only units I lost. My clan rats did their job and ended up tar pitting their heavy cavalry for most of the game. They helped us hold our objectives and ultimately claim a close victory. My Warlord was nice suport, but I am looking forward to my Brood Horror mounted one to get in. My Warplock failed every spell cast, and my poison wind launcher failed to deal a single wound. My doom wheel was ok, but looked scarier than it was ultimately, but a lot of that was due to sub par dice.

Over all I am enjoying my army, and the game it's self.

Well my Warlord on a Brood Horror came in, and I got to get my first game in with him. Here is my updated list:

Warlord on Brood Horror
40 Clan Rats w/ swords & shields
40 Clan Rats w/ spears & shields
Warpfire Thrower
Warpfire Thrower
Poison Wind Mortar
Doom Wheel

Total: 1,000

I went against;

Khorne Lord on Juggernaught
Mighty Lord of Khorne
Bloodsecrator
Bloodstoker
3 Skullcrushers
5 Blood Warriors
20 Blood Reavers
Kurgorath

We played Gift from the Heavens.

What a difference the new Warlord made! He is twice the points, but still a bargain. 3 more wounds helps a lot, but it was the regen that made the biggest difference. His offense was of a much higher quality as well. Top of turn 2 he charged in and killed a Kurgorath single handedly and a couple blood reavers. Bottom of turn 2, he helped polish off the khorne lord on juggernaught, which was previously wounded by clan rats and the Warpfire thrower. He also took down another blood reaver or two. Top of turn 3 he was charged by a mighty lord of Khorne, which he killed on the bottom of turn 3. Top of turn 4 he charged and killed a bloodsecrator.

At the top of Turn 5, we called it. We were tied for objectives, but the only thing he had left was the Bloodstoker, and I was fixing to charge him with my warlord and clan rats. Despite the lopsided ending, the game was a lot closer than it appeared. If he had managed to kill off my warlord, my clan rats would have started to crumble through battle shock. I think I regenerated 6 wounds over the 4 turns, which kept him upright. I also rolled to go first when I had to. Still it was a great first outing for my new model.

I still love my two bricks of clan rats. They are great tarpits, and held up to being charged by most of his army. However I may exchange the spears for swords at some point, as they seem like they are more effective. The Warpfire throwers are still golden and important support for the clan rats. The poison wind mortar did absolutely no wounds the entire game and was a waste of 60 points. The Doom Wheel killed a single Skullcrusher in one turn, but was otherwise ineffective outside sitting on an objective. I haven't written it off yet, but I may replace it with a Jezzail team down the road.

Overall I like the army, and am really happy with all but 200 points of it so far.

It sounds like your army is decently well-balanced with those of your opponents, which is the most important gauge of how 'good' it is. I could make a dozen recommendations for how to make the army stronger but those wouldn't make for better games. Or in other words: sounds like you are doing things right, good work!

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
It sounds like your army is decently well-balanced with those of your opponents, which is the most important gauge of how 'good' it is. I could make a dozen recommendations for how to make the army stronger but those wouldn't make for better games. Or in other words: sounds like you are doing things right, good work!

We are all relative newcomers to AoS, but veteran 40k/fantasy players. We are all still developing our lists and getting a feel for what everything can do. I wouldn't mind advice, especially in regards to potential replacements for the Doomwheel and poison wind mortar. My only thing is that I want to stick with a Verminus focus with smatterings of skyre/moulder to simulate a war clan , so no going straight pestilinse or such.

A Stormfiend unit with mixed weapons would work well in that regard, member that in AoS each model can divide it's attacks separately while shooting. Just be aware that warpfire projectors are kinda OP.

Those look like fun lists. Have you considered running a Verminous Clawpack? It would give your weapons teams a bit more survivability and works will with your verminous theme. It may be a bit hard to fit the Broodlord into the list though, without going minimum sized stormvermin and three 20 man clanrat units.

Laughatdo0m wrote:
Those look like fun lists. Have you considered running a Verminous Clawpack? It would give your weapons teams a bit more survivability and works will with your verminous theme. It may be a bit hard to fit the Broodlord into the list though, without going minimum sized stormvermin and three 20 man clanrat units.

I am absolutely considering a Clawpack when we make the jump to 2k.

Clawpack
Warlord
40 clan rats
40 clan rats
40 clan rats
20 storm vermin
Warpfire thrower
Warpfire thrower
Warpfire thrower

Plus
Warlord on brood horror
Vermin lord Warbringer
Chieftain with standard
poison wind mortar
Total: 2,000

Right now, my shop is focused at 1k, as everyone is working on their armies. However this is certainly something I am considering as I go up in points.