Confluence of the Dead

Another Thursday, and another Triumph and Treachery game. After my success with my Dwarf gun line last time, I wanted to switch things up but still stick with the stunties. So I did a minimal shooting army this time: huge blocks of solid dwarfs in one melee bundle (only shooting was my unit of Irondrakes). For the battle I managed to paint at least two more models, a pair of Trollslayers.

 They dye their beards orange as a mark of an oath broken. 

The army itself was five blocks of troops. Trollslayers led the way, with the Strollaz Rune banner which allowed them to vanguard ahead of the rest of the force. 

 Behind them was my Dwarf Lord, held aloft by his Shieldbearers, and in the midst of a unit of Ironbreakers.

The center of the line was a horde of Warriors with Great Weapons. My Thane with Battle Standard is on the unit's right side, where his Master Rune of Grugni not only protected him, but spread its protection to the rest of the army--especially the unarmored Trollslayers in front.

On the left side of the compact force were the Irondrakes. They were the sole shooters, but that shooting was considerable. Their flaming, high-strength shots would definitely put the hurt on most any foe.

Behind them was another block of Warriors, along with the Dwarf Ancestor statue--this time using the rules for a Tzeentch Daemon Prince with the Lore of Metal. 

My foes in the game proved to be two Undead Legions armies, but two quite different versions of undead. The first was led by the grand necromancer himself, Nagash. His force was a couple of things to bolster Nagash's spellcasting (a Hierotitan and a Casket of Souls), and then a number of blocks of infantry between ghouls and skeletons. 

 The other Undead Legions force was much more varied, with two Necromancers and two Vampires and a whole host of different units. While the center was massed ghouls and skeletons, they were surrounded by a great number of bats and wolves and the other beasts of the night.

Between the two Undead battle lines was a tower of blood, which incited both sides into both Frenzy and Hatred--making it a nexus of bloodshed.

 

 The battle proved to be rather tentative at first. While my Trollslayers took fire from the Skeleton Archers Nagash commanded, most of the action was in the maneuvering while the armies tried to get into position to attack with advantage. All the early casualties I managed to inflict with my Irondrakes were simply returned to life by the magic spells of the Undead wizards.

By the end of turn four, things were pretty limited in the conflict. While my opponents had scored points, I had merely destroyed a single Corpse Cart with shooting. Though I also had only lost nine Trollslayers out of my whole force. But it was time to get stuck in--hanging back and "castling" with Dwarfs wasn't going to yield me any points.

That was made worse by Nagash's summoning spells. While my army was doing little, his was growing exponentially--like this unit of five Spirit Hosts. The worst part was that these summoned units awarded no victory points, so they were merely an impediment to success for the two forces that weren't doing any summoning.

At the end of turn four, the Dwarf general looked across the board and saw that foes simply were not getting close. Time to get those stumpy legs moving and get into the enemy's face!

The Trollslayers (iconically) were the first into the fray, but they made a poor choice for foe to attack: the Skeleton horde that was adjacent to the Blood Tower so they had both the Hatred and the Frenzy special rule. Despite their toughness and stubborn resolve, the dwarfs were losing the casualties race. 

Things were better for the other Dwarf units. Both units of Warriors managed to crash into the front and side of the Ghoul horde. While those in front weathered the storm and inflicted a few casualties with their basic weapons, those on the side provided the sheer chopping power with their great weapons to completely dissolve the horde in a single fight. The only low light was the challenge: the champion of the sword-and-board warriors rose to the challenge of the Ghast, and was cut down like a punk (even though he was buffed by the Lore of Metal to have a 1+ save plus his parry). 

With the Dwarfs out and about, that meant ratcheting up the pressure on them for the Undead forces rather than internecine warfare between the contrasting unliving generals. While the hordes player toyed with assembling units to harass and protect with raising spells, Nagash cut to the chase: summoning a Terrorgheist! With a burst of magical power, the beast sprung into existence adjacent to the Ironbreakers and proceeded to scream at them--rolling boxcars and slaying SEVEN of the Leadership 10 models in a single scream. 

However, that magical expenditure came at a considerable cost. The Dwarf Runesmiths had arranged a trap, waiting for Nagash to use a spell with considerable power. They deployed a Trickster's Ring (a Triumph and Treachery card) to make him miscast his spell. And through sheer fortune, Nagash was drawn screaming into the warp with a dimensional cascade (the second time I've seen it happen to him). Given the sudden weakness of Nagash's force, the Vampire-led Undead and the Dwarfs started extracting what victory points they could in crushing his remaining forces before the game concluded. 

The battle ended with 1050 victory points for me, but also exactly 1050 victory points for another of the Undead generals (non-Nagash). The Nagash army still managed to net 600. So it was an astonishing exact tie in a Triumph and Treachery battle. We were flabbergasted that we hit the same points total! It was a great and fun game, and again Nagash proved to be very scary in concept, but ultimately undone more simply than I ever would imagine. For my part, I definitely enjoy the much more "smash-face" variant of Dwarf lists. I'll probably use a bit more combined arms in the future, but it definitely is more to my liking than the gun line list I fielded last time. While it was a low-scoring game, I was also pleased to note that the total victory points I gave to my foes were 50, for a single won combat against the Trollslayers. Choosing a different opponent in a subsequent combat released my remaining four Trollslayers from that fight, and they survived to the end of the battle.

Also, this marks nine games of Warhammer thus far in 2015. Last year since I started recording I worked in 15 total games (starting around August). So I'm already well on the pace to beat that. I'm actually on the pace to play over 50 games this year, if I stick with nine every two months. That's a tall order, but I'm thinking about whether I want to try and make that pace! And I've got to pick up my painting if that's going to be the case.

Fully Painted Models
Skaven: 78
Dwarfs: 52

Battles
Total 2015: 9 (Win/Loss/Tie: 4/3/2)
Total 2014: 15 (Win/Loss/Tie: 8/6/1)

Skaven:
5 Wins (Undead 1, Empire 1, T&T Daemons and Dwarfs, Siege Dwarfs and Bretonnians, T&T Daemons and Empire)
7 Losses (Skaven 1, Empire 1, Dwarfs 1, Daemons 1, T&T Daemons 1, T&T Dwarfs 1, Special Game Nurgle)
1 Tie (Empire 1)

Dwarfs:
5 Wins (Dwarfs 2, Wood Elves 2, T&T Undead and Dwarfs)
1 Loss (Dark Elves 1)
1 Tie (T&T Dual Undead)

Rumors: We've Done this Before

So the rumors continue to swirl about 9th edition Warhammer, and I had a revelation upon reading the newest Bell of Lost Souls article. The article was discussing the contents of the new starter set, which will supposedly feature a combined Chaos force (two units of Chaos warriors, unit of Daemons, a war machine, and two lords) versus a combined "Forces of Light" force (three Empire units, one Elf unit, 1 war machine that is possibly Dwarf in origin, and two lords). And of course terrain to represent the new storyline, apparently of a broken and ruined world. And I realized to myself that I've done this before.

I've been playing Warhammer long enough to have experienced the Ravening Hordes switch that came with the 6th edition of the game. And I see a lot of similarities to that moment in what has been swirling in the rumors mill.

Warhammer has technically done the Ravening Hordes thing twice... I'm talking about the one one on the right. 

The essence of the Ravening Hordes 6th edition moment was that the game had swollen considerably. There were rules in all sorts of sources, there were different boxes you needed to buy (the Magic box as a good example) to even play the game. People were running lists that were cobbled together from different sources, and there was admittedly (I think) kind of a barrier to entry for newer players.

It was also a time when they were changing the way they did their miniature production--switching to the plastic sets that most everyone loves (I still adore the old metals at times though). That meant a move to finally being able to field bigger units, as opposed to the prior edition where 21 really was the maximum size you saw of almost anything on the field: as many units you had to buy in a pack of 2 models for the rank-and-file, and a blister of 3 command.

And so with the 6th edition, they put out a Ravening Hordes booklet bundled with an issue of White Dwarf magazine. This condensed and clarified every list. It gave unified profiles. It allowed a switch in the magic phase. It represented a change in the game that persisted for multiple editions. And it invalidated a whole lot of stuff.

Most of all these glorious bastards: the Chaos Dwarfs

The list took a lot of the "oomph" out of many armies, and notably cut out all the silly: especially from Orcs and Goblins and Dwarfs. Things were pared down, the rarer metal models were removed from general play (Dragon Ogres anyone?). It was a dramatic change. But what it did do was left everyone a basic scheme to be able to play the game in the current form. No matter what your army (again, except for Chaos Dwarfs), you could at least set some version of it on the table and run the game.

And then what happened? Well, the game expanded back out. Undead got split into two books: Vampire Counts at first, and later Tomb Kings. Most of the models that were "left out" of prior books eventually got a home--screaming skull catapults and skeleton chariots for instance. They took favorite older models and gave them their own lists even (e.g. Ogres--seems like everyone had their one unit of Ogre Mercenaries). Yes, some stuff got cut and never came back. But on the whole most found its way back into the game, which is honestly better than it has ever been. 8th edition of Warhammer really is the greatest version of the game I've played. But it took the convulsions of 6th edition and Ravening Hordes, that moment when we were all screaming that our favorite bits got removed/lumped together/made too bland.

I'm feeling like 9th edition will be something similar. The rumors continue to say "9th is 90% similar to 8th, but mainly with a change in fluff." I'm thinking that there will be a change in books--in where our favorite units are conceptually placed. I'm playing Dwarfs and Skaven right now, so I expect to experience both. Everything points to Skaven being mostly unchanged: they'll likely still be a faction and likely still generally solitary. And the rumors suggest that Dwarfs might be merged with other stuff--combined into unified "Forces of Light" or who knows what. So I'll see both sides of the switch. But then, I did back with Ravening Hordes too. I was playing Skaven and Undead then. One book remained the same. And one book got blown up, with models scattering to different spots and only returning after a long time.

I think if we could remember ourselves at Ravening Hordes, or think about how we'll be a few years after 9th edition when they've had time to "re-populate" the game with supplements, we'll likely have a different view than this moment of crisis. Doesn't mean that I'm already accepting 9th as better than 8th, as sometimes change is bad (cough cough Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons cough).

Like really, really bad. Soul-crushingly, quit-the-game, ruined because it was competing with a non-competitor (MMORPGs) bad.

But I'm accepting that a refocus is understandable, particularly when changing notions about production. We're at the final death of metal miniatures for Games Workshop, and finecast/finecrap is gone too. And thus, an edition that connects with that switch in production makes sense from a global view: exactly what Ravening Hordes was. We survived that, because 6th remained a good game at its core. And 9th can be the same, as long as the core is solid. So I for one am banking on the "90% the same" narrative while waiting to see what's coming.

Confusion on the Fields of the Dead

I've been playing my Skaven a whole lot lately, to the point where my Dwarf army was starting to grumble about being neglected. So my latest game was a chance to add a few models to their force. I usually play a really aggressive melee-heavy force, but I wanted a change: so I painted three new artillery pieces and some Master Engineers to lead a "gunline" army.

Master Engineer #1. This model is actually a Squat from 40k, an army that was removed from the game (which makes me shudder about some current rumors about 9th edition Warhammer). But he's a great Gyrocopter pilot who was grounded in a crash from excessive drinking on the job. 

Master Engineer #2. This model uses the Grimm Burlocksson body but with a weapon swap, head swap, and different backpack to make him a "mining-style" Engineer. The tokens beside him are the things that I use to indicate which War Machine he's entrenched for the battle (the crashed Gyrocopter pilot's markers are not finished yet). 

Master Engineer #3. This is the bonus miniature for subscriptions to White Dwarf for a number of years back: a Dwarf movie director. I'm treating him as an engineer who's focused on camouflage and trickery: things like unexpected magic combos and the Master Rune of Immolation on War Machines. 

Dwarf Warriors with great weapons and shields. Third from the left is my Thane Battle Standard bearer, and to the right of him is a Runesmith. 

The unit of Irondrakes. One of my favorite additions to the new Dwarf Armybook, as they have good projection of force but with resilience. 

Unit of Quarrelers. They are actually my Rangers, but for this game I fielded them as basic Quarrelers with great weapons. These are great alternative sculpts to Games Workshop from the Avatars of War range--again keeping with my rule for this army that every single model must be different either in sculpt or in painting. Now when I add a Games Workshop unit of Quarrelers I will have two different looks. 

The game for the day was a Triumph and Treachery match-up between my Dwarfs (and their Daemon mercenary), Undead with Beastmen Mercenaries, and another army of Dwarfs with Empire Mercenaries. I fielded a true gunline: my general was even a Master Engineer. It was three Master Engineers, a Thane BSB, a Runesmith, a horde of great weapon Warriors, a small unit of Quarrelers, small unit of Irondrakes, five artillery pieces, and a Dwarf Ancestor statue (I used the rules for a Daemon Prince of Khorne with Chaos Armor and a greater gift to represent him).

The Undead Army was scream heavy: Banshee, Mortis Engine, Terrorgheist with Strigoi Ghoul King rider wielding Scabscrath, and a Casket of Souls... plus a Jabberslythe mercenary from Beastmen for good measure.

The other Dwarf force. Thunderers, Organ Guns, Longbeards, Ironbreakers led by Belegar, and some Empire mercenaries (Steam Tank and Battle Wizard from the Light Order).

My Dwarf force lined up... at the opposite end of the table from the other two. I had a solid battle line, and a solid 30+ inches between me and the nearest other unit. (Credit and thanks to Tom for the photo, as I completely forgot to take a photo of my own deployment)

With Undead and the enemy Dwarfs right up on each other, they were mixed on the very first turn when the Jabberslythe flew into the center of the Dwarf army. It's horrible screeching killed a few Dwarfs, but more importantly completely destroyed the Light College Wizard. We joked that what actually happened was that some Dwarfs shanked the wizard and took command of the Steam Tank for themselves. 

Given that the foe Dwarfs were under immediate and relentless assault, I was faced with the weird dilemma that Triumph and Treachery gives: do I help one opponent to balance them, in order to later sweep up their remains. In this case, I had my Animated Dwarf Ancestor Statue (rules as a Daemon Prince of Khorne) who possessed the Rock of Inevitability--a silly item that can spawn huge sections (16") of barricades and even buildings. I triggered it in hopes of placing terrain between the enemy Dwarfs and the Undead units lining up their charges, so that one side didn't triumph over the other and then turn to face me intact on a later turn. 

Within the gunline, this particular Cannon crew --and the nearby Master Engineer "Director"--proved to be the most effective. While the first shot of a cannonball the bounce stopped an inch short of the lone Mercenary Beastman Shaman behind the Terrorgheist (a Dwarf Achievement), the later shots were spot on--inflicting a whopping number of wounds on the enemy Steam Tank before a dead-on shot from the Grudge Thrower finished it off. This crew also placed a precise shot right into the casket of the Casket of Souls, annihilating that source of dark necromantic energy.

The foe Dwarfs charged the Mortis Engine. While it took two turns to defeat it, the resultant explosion (all the souls escaping and striking nearby units friend and foe) was worth the wait. Not only did it inflict heavy casualties on the Undead forces and minimal on the foe Dwarfs, but it completely killed the Beastman Shaman Mercenary in a fusillade of screeching souls. 

Being so heavy on artillery, I had to figure out ways to protect myself against the usual types of units directed at them: ambushers, flankers, fast cavalry, scouts, skirmishers, etc. The fact that my deployment zone was absolutely on the other side of the board from all the action stopped almost everything, but finally the Undead player summoned some zombies to threaten my artillery. It was my Master Engineer "Director" who bravely charged out and intercepted them: revealing that he had two Runes of Fire which gave him a nasty breath weapon. Combine the flank charge and inflicting a wound himself, he destroyed the unit of zombies in a single attack--leaving my battle lines safe again. The forward-deployed Bolt Thrower crew breathed a sigh of relief, because the Master Rune of Immolation trap went un-sprung (and the crew not slain in a flaming explosion at the end of a combat). 

More of the foe-Dwarfs being effective: this time Belegar and his unit of 20 Ironbreakers managed to reach the enemy Terrorgheist with Strigoi Ghoul King rider. In a flurry of destruction, Belegar finished off the massive winged terror. The Vampire managed to land one wound on the Dwarf, but he died to combat resolution: crumbling into dust and stirring no more.

However, my shooting then took its toll. Thanks to the Irondrakes shooting, the Organ Gun, the Grudge Thrower, and even a few lucky crossbow shots, the Ironbreakers were slain to a man by they time they actually reached the Irondrakes in melee. All that remained was Belegar and a Runesmith. The smith was killed quickly, and Belegar proved unable to have his strikes hit my warriors. While he hung around for a round thanks to his Stubborn nature, a charge from great weapon-wielding Dwarf Warriors in the flank finally did enough wounds to finish him.

The game ended with a slight victory for my forces. I was shocked because I was so removed from a great deal of the early action of the game. Yet I was able to get my points when I could via shooting, and the sheer rain of hellfire I brought down on the Ironbreakers was what turned the tide. A great game and a good change of pace from my Skaven--it will be tough to choose which to field next time!

Fully Painted Models
Skaven: 78
Dwarfs: 50

Battles
Total 2015: 8 (Win/Loss/Tie: 4/3/1)
Total 2014: 15 (Win/Loss/Tie: 8/6/1)

Skaven:
5 Wins (Undead 1, Empire 1, T&T Daemons and Dwarfs, Siege Dwarfs and Bretonnians, T&T Daemons and Empire)
7 Losses (Skaven 1, Empire 1, Dwarfs 1, Daemons 1, T&T Daemons 1, T&T Dwarfs 1, Special Game Nurgle)
1 Tie (Empire 1)

Dwarfs:
5 Wins (Dwarfs 2, Wood Elves 2, T&T Undead and Dwarfs)
1 Loss (Dark Elves 1)

The Dread Necromancer

Two days later, another game. This time it was a doozy: 2500 points on each side, facing off against Nagash and a horde of undead. On the painting side, with it being a work week, I managed to finish exactly one model. A single Skavenslave. My army has grown by exactly 2 points.

Here he is in all his glory. 

The battle itself started with a laugh, as Nagash miscast and was destroyed by a Dimensional Cascade on the first turn with his first casting of a spell. As that would have made for a crappy game, we decided to start over and not count that one.

 The central forces of Nagash, aligned again for battle. A Casket of Souls to fuel his casting power, a line of Skeletons and Ghouls to menace the rats, and a giant Terrorgheist to eliminate rats with its deadly screeching. 

 On the Skaven's left flank, a mighty Varghulf and a Banshee closed in on the Plague Monks. Led by Cardinal Fang, the monks managed to charge the Varghulf and finish it in combat, over-running into the Banshee. However, Nagash brought forth a unit of eighty zombies in a mass to menace the Plague Monks' side.

The Blue Rat used the powers of magic himself to counter the waves of risen zombies. He managed to cast his Plague spell, which cut the numbers of zombies in half. Meanwhile the Warpfire throwers focused on the Ghouls, hoping to whittle their ranks before the poisonous creatures reached the Skaven lines.

 Nagash's following magic phase was underwhelming, as he failed to cast a spell and was prohibited from using any more dice. On the Skaven turn, a Skaven assassin arrived from the board edge and began throwing his Warpstone Stars at Nagash, managing to inflict a wound. Despite three turns of throwing, and two that managed to result in failed saves by Nagash, he only inflicted two wounds with the weapon total. The Assassin took credit for "disrupting" Nagash's magic phase before he arrived, but most on the Clan council doubted his contribution to the battle.

The other unit of ghouls reached the line of Rat Swarms, and carnage ensued. While the ghouls gave better than they got, they still lost too many to the gnawing and biting attacks of the rat swarms. As the swarms collapsed, the remaining ghouls faced a charge from the Warlord and the Stormvermin and crumbled under their assault. 

Thanks to some impressive over-running the Plague Monks continued to skirt the zombie horde and pushed their way across the Undead backfield toward Nagash. He summoned a unit of Bat Swarms to try and slow them down, but the swarms crumbled under the sheer volume of attacks that the Plague Monks put out. While they had taken casualties from the Banshee's scream, the Varghulf's claws, and the bats, they had strong enough numbers to push on toward Nagash himself. 

 One of the Warpfire throwers had a brutal fuel leak, causing it to turn on spot and rush backward right into the face of a Plagueclaw catapult before exploding in a gout of flame. Luckily the catapult was not wounded, or it would have likely seen its crew scurrying for safety off the board edge. 

The Plague Monks finally reached Nagash, aided by the Gutter Runners. Their Death Runner proved to be the most effective, with his poisoned attacks and Weeping Blade dealing heaps of destruction--though certainly aided by the poisoned attacks of the other Gutter Runners and the multitude of attacks from the Plague Monks. They won the first round of combat and inflicted a single additional wound on Nagash through combat resolution. Then on his turn, the combat managed to land a decisive number of blows as he succumbed to the poisons of Clan Eshin. At that point, the game was over for the Undead as they didn't have enough left to stop the Skaven menace, so we ended on Turn Five. 

Overall it was a fun game, as Nagash certainly keeps things interesting with his summoning spells. However, with a bit of magic defense (a level four wizard, a dispel scroll, and a Warp-Energy Condenser on Engineer Gnawfire that consistently helped with dispel pool dice channeling) and some bad luck on Nagash's part, it didn't get overwhelming. He managed to add 80 Zombies, 4 Bat Swarms, and a new Terrorgheist before he was killed--along with raising some Skeletons and healing himself. I think that there could be games where his casting really gets out of control, but this wasn't one of them. The problem with him seems to be his price tag: so few models on the board with him.

This brought me to even wins and losses in 2015, which was a welcome thing. I'm starting to get the hang of Skaven and recognizing what works well, and what works not-so-well. I also was happy that I didn't have to rely on anything too overwhelming to take Nagash out (massed cannon shots, The Fellblade, or anything tricksy like a lucky shot with a Brass Orb). Just some poisoned attacks, static resolution, and a model with a Weeping Blade.

Fully Painted Models
Skaven: 78
Dwarfs: 41

Battles
Total 2015: 7 (Win/Loss/Tie: 3/3/1)
Total 2014: 15 (Win/Loss/Tie: 8/6/1)

Skaven:
5 Wins (Undead 1, Empire 1, T&T Daemons and Dwarfs, Siege Dwarfs and Bretonnians, T&T Daemons and Empire)
7 Losses (Skaven 1, Empire 1, Dwarfs 1, Daemons 1, T&T Daemons 1, T&T Dwarfs 1, Special Game Nurgle)
1 Tie (Empire 1)

Dwarfs:
4 Wins (Dwarfs 2, Wood Elves 2)
1 Loss (Dark Elves 1)

Skaven Mayhem

Another game with my Skaven, this time against another Skaven army! It's full-on intra-Clan action. This time I'll blame quick turn-around time from game to game on only painting three more models than last time: two Skaven Slaves and a Warlord model.

Warlord Shield-Snatch

I liked this model, Warlord Spinetail: a named character with a model but without rules from the Isle of Blood story. But his original sword is ridiculously stupid. It's simply too big, plus he's got the other blade tucked behind his back. So I wanted to convert him up, and do something more characterful. I've been parsing down my collection lately, but I still have some pretty random bitz lying about--so I thought I'd do him as a kind of General Grievous character. Instead of stolen swords (lightsabers), I thought it would be cool to do shields. Thus, Warlord Shield-Snatch was born.

Back view. Because shields. 

He's carrying a Lizardman shield (extra old style), but also has an Empire shield, a Dwarf shield, and a Knightly shield that's technically Empire but painted as if Bretonnian from Mousillon. I did the blade he's hiding as burning and blistering his tail, because from time-to-time he'll end up being the bearer of The Fellblade in my army. Not for this outing, however. While I suspected I might face a Verminlord Warpseer (my opponent recently displayed photos of his newly painted model), and The Fellblade would be good for that, I mainly wanted the Warlord to provide leadership to the force on the cheap--so he wielded only a Relic Blade for this battle. 

For the battle itself, I brought a really general army. Warlord, some lower-level casting diversity in the form of Plague Priests and a Warlock Engineer, blocks of bodies in the form of Stormvermin, Clanrats, Slaves, and Plague Monks, a long line of Rat Swarms, a Gutter Runner tunnel team, two Warpfire Throwers, and two Plagueclaw Catapults. Nothing special, but a diverse infantry core with some options. Playing against other Skaven armies is really dicey, as Skaven themselves are dicey: one or two wrong throws, or lucky events, can really swing a game. When both sides are like that, prepare for mayhem. 

Putting the reference here so long after we've forgotten the commercials I can still make sense of this image.

My foe, Travis, brought a rather different list: big unit of Stormvermin with a Screaming Bell, two large units of Slaves each with Warlock Engineers, Plague Monks, two Warp Lightning Cannons, and a Hell Pit Abomination. The scenario was a Dawn Attack, with both of us getting most units in the middle section of our deployment board.

 Stormvermin with Warlord Shield-Snatch and Chieftan Fleshsnikt provided leadership to the center of the force. Emboldened by the success of his betrayal of Grey Seer Morspark, The Blue Rat commanded that Shield-Snatch take a force to eliminate other rival Grey Seers. This time, he targeted a rival Grey Seer who possessed a grand artifact: a Screaming Bell. 

 As always with forces of The Blue Rat, the Plague Priests flocked to the cause with religious fervor. This one led a unit of ordinary Clanrats, while on the other side a huge mob of Plague Monk zealots assembled under the guidance of Cardinal Fang.  

 As the Skaven drew near each other, magic proved to be the early and decisive force. While the rival Grey Seer summoned a veritable tide of rats which swallowed an entire Warpfire Thrower team, Warlock Engineer Gnawfire led loose with a burst of magical flame on one of the opposing Skavenslaves units, sending them--and their Warlock Engineer leader--fleeing for safety. (Photo courtesy of Travis)

 However, it was the Plague spell that would prove to be most devastating in the battle. The Plague Priest on the right flank unleashed the deadly spell and halved the size of the opposing unit of Slaves. The enemy Grey Seer, however, proved to have his own ability to warp the spread of disease--sending the waves of Plague back through the forces of Warlord Shield-Snatch on numerous castings through the battle.

On the right flank, the warptokens that the rival Grey Seer spent with Hell Pit to secure one of their roiling, uncontrollable Abominations seemed well-spent. The creature dined on the Plague Priest, literally swallowing him and three other Clanrats whole. Then its flailing appendages slew even more. The unit held firm for a moment despite the odds, but were soon destroyed by the creature's avalanche of flesh. 

On the left flank, Cardinal Fang led his Plague Monks against the enemy Plague Monks. The battle of faith was met with claws and blade. Each side inflicted terrible casualties on the other, but it was the destructive strikes of the Cardinal himself that turned the tide in favor of his forces--that and simply starting with a larger number of the zealots. (Photo courtesy of Travis)

Warlord Shield-Snatch meanwhile was under heavy fire. In addition to losing a number of his Stormvermin bodyguard to the ravages of the Plague spell, the Warp Lightning Cannons rained explosions of hell down upon his unit. With under ten rats left, the Warlord managed to still run down a unit of fleeing slaves. Yet they had to turn and face the onrushing attack of the Hell Pit Abomination. The Hell Pit, slightly injured from the prior fight, barreled into his unit. Warlord Shield-Snatch unsheathed a Weeping Blade, and swung it into his foe. Between that and the strikes of his units' halberds, the mighty beast groaned and fell to the ground dead. 

Then suddenly, with a lurch, the great beast somehow returned to life. With a deafening roar from eight different maws, the creature regained its feet and surged forward again. This time Warlord Shield-Snatch's strikes were unable to even harm the beast, and the unit fled from the creature only to be scattered. Warlord Shield Snatch crept away, watching as the beast turned and barreled into the side of Engineer Gnawfire's Skavenslaves, destroying them as well. 

Meanwhile in the center of the battle, the rival Grey Seer's unit had weathered merciless punishment. In addition to facing down swarms of rats, they survived rear and flank charges from the remaining Plague Monks and the unit of Skavenslaves on a prior turn. Much of their success was due to the Grey Seer blessing them with Death Frenzy--causing each Stormvermin to fight with absurd ferocity. Yet the wounds from that were starting to take their toll. Between the multiple combats, the relentless bombardment of the Plagueclaw Catapults, the exploding hearts of the over-frenzied Stormvermin,and even the deadly gaze of a sinister statue, the unit was dramatically winnowed. In the final phase of the battle, the last of the Stormvermin died from a heart attack. The Grey Seer had been victorious but at considerable cost. While he had taken the field, and Warlord Shield-Snatch and Cardinal Fang had fled with their few remaining forces, the Grey Seer was left having to devise a way to get his Screaming Bell back home.  

The game was another close one, with my army losing by 333 points. The clash was great, with Skaven proving that luck can be with them or against them at any moment. Both sides had moments to praise and moments to laugh at. One memorable one was when my Warlock Engineer threw his Brass Orb onto the Stormvermin and the Screaming Bell, failing to kill a thing--we decided that one of Travis' Clan Skryre Warlock Engineers must have sold him nothing more than a bronze bowling ball and was sitting off the edge of battlefield having a good laugh about it. All-in-all a great game, with all the mayhem I expected. Warlord Shield-Snatch will have to plot his revenge carefully!

Fully Painted Models
Skaven: 77
Dwarfs: 41

Battles
Total 2015: 6 (Win/Loss/Tie: 2/3/1)
Total 2014: 15 (Win/Loss/Tie: 8/6/1)

Skaven:
4 Wins (Empire 1, T&T Daemons and Dwarfs, Siege Dwarfs and Bretonnians, T&T Daemons and Empire)
7 Losses (Skaven 1, Empire 1, Dwarfs 1, Daemons 1, T&T Daemons 1, T&T Dwarfs 1, Special Game Nurgle)
1 Tie (Empire 1)

Dwarfs:
4 Wins (Dwarfs 2, Wood Elves 2)
1 Loss (Dark Elves 1)