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Posted this in the War Council forum before realizing it probably belongs here.

I just noticed in the Skaven Clanrats box description that there are only 16 rusty blades for the 20 Clanrats in the box. Of course, I was planning to arm my guys with rusty blades, so now I need to find a way to buy the extra four.

Is there a good online store for AoS bits nowadays? I saw that the Warstore closed since I was last in the hobby, so that option's out.

I wouldn't bother. It's not really worth the effort/cost.

1 is the unit champion (whatever they're calling him now) so he'll have a specific weapon.
1 is a standard bearer & 1 is a musician - model wise they often don't have weapons bitz - but they're assumed to for rules purposes.

For the 4th?
I'd just arm him with a spear & pull him as the 1st casualty.

But if you really must give the standard/musician/#4 rusty blades? Just cut off the spear heads & attach to the sakavens hands like daggers.
I mean, "rusty blade" is a pretty nebulous description....

ccs is right, it wouldnt look out of place at all if you cut the head of the spear off and made it a hand weapon.

Since I posted this thread, I did some test-rolling and I'm starting to think spears might actually be the better choice.

The extra inch of reach sounds like it offers the opportunity for more attackers, while I feel like getting the most out of rusty blades would require the opponent presenting their troops in such a formation as to allow the whole 20-strong squad to attack.

Skaven army buff gives an extra 1" of melee range for every 10 models in the unit (up to a max of 3"), so a 20+ man unit with rusty blades already has 3" range with a better profile than spears.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Skaven army buff gives an extra 1" of melee range for every 10 models in the unit (up to a max of 3"), so a 20+ man unit with rusty blades already has 3" range with a better profile than spears.

*Looks through Skaven Battletome*

Wow, you're right. I'd forgotten about that.

Of course, part of the attraction of a swarm army is that your troops are expendable, so I worry about anything that would make them less expendable.

Just mix in a few spears IMO. No one will care and it fits the ramshackle look of the unit anyways.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Just mix in a few spears IMO. No one will care and it fits the ramshackle look of the unit anyways.

Oh yeah, the kit-bashing ideas for rusty blades sound pretty good. My worries in my most recent post were gameplay-based - making my reach dependent on a rule that requires models to remain alive when part of the point of a swarm army is that the troops are expendable.

There's very narrow margin where spear might actually play into you. About 15-19 models...

Less than that and 3 ranks will cover you easily anyway(15 guys gives you 2" swords which means 3 ranks). Less than 10 2 ranks covers you anyway. At 20+ you are reach 3" anyway.

And the few attacks you might miss with say 19(optimal for spears) is compensated by better stats.

GW seriously goofed up with this. Seeing GW's recent trend of merging weapons so it doesn't matter what model is equipped clanrats would have been PERFECT for that. Lot more than say lumineth stone guard where doesnt' matter do you have mallets or picks anymore...