The Dead Rise

Time for another game and another battle report against Undead. Again, it was a clash against Nagash. However, it was also a large team game, with my Skaven army pairing with Travis' Skaven force, against Tom's Nagash-led Undead and Roger's tomb-king-themed Undead. With 6,000 points a side, it was an epic encounter. On the painting side, I managed to add 778 points to my army. Unfortunately, it was only through completing three models. But it's still something!

Warlord Ripear

I have been wanting to add a Warlord with a Wizarding Hat for some time to my force. As Skaven are limited to their own spell lores, things can get a little static. For under 200 points I get a sturdy, combat-capable and survivable Warlord who also happens to have a random spell lore from the core rulebook. So many of the basic lores synergize with Skaven well, it was time to add that capability to my box of tricks. For the hat, I bought a $2 plastic Bones Dwarf Wizard, simply sliced his hat off, and added it to the new plastic Warlord kit from Games Workshop. I think it turned out great!

Stormfiend number one

I also completed one of my three Stormfiends, the new rat ogres with advanced weaponry models added with the Grey Seer Thanquol End Times book. This one is armed with Grinderfists, allowing his unit to burrow up from underground and launch an attack as they arrive.

Verminlord Corruptor

Another option from the Thanquol End Times book was the new set of Verminlords. Each adds a different feel to the force and both fights and casts spells with a different focus. I opted for the Corruptor version, as I play a plague-heavy force already and it fit my theme. Plus I love the two scythes that he wields and the rotted flesh on his arms and face. The model is truly huge, and dwarfs my prior metal Verminlord (I'm going to convert that one to be one of the other types, I think... though he'll remain somewhat wee compared to this absolute monster). It took me a long time to paint this model, but I am really proud of the results.

As mentioned above, the battle was 6,000 points on each side. so our initial deployments were quite the sight. The Skaven were loaded for bear when it came to spells, and thanks to the Verminlord Corruptor always getting Plague as a spell, we had three copies of that critical spell on the table. The Warlord's Wizarding Hat generated the Lore of Death, which was a bit of a bummer: Metal and Death were the two least-useful lores versus undead. He got a couple of spells that eventually did something, but the close range of most and the fact that many involve psychology rules meant that it wasn't going to be a stellar first outing with the hat.

Now for deployment and the battle report:

The Skaven right flank. There was a pool of blood terrain feature, which caused Frenzy in nearby models, so we decided to stick all of my Clan Pestilens models around it--as they already had frenzy, so it wouldn't cause them to be any different. 

Then came Travis' Hell Pit Abomination and a unit of his Plague Monks, complete with Plague Furnace. Behind that you can see his General: a wonderfully painted Grey Seer Thanquol. 

The center of our battle line was more of Travis' models, including two huge units of Skavenslaves, a horde of Stormvermin, and the ever-popular Doomwheel. 

With Travis' 3,000 points in the center, it left my army on the wings. Warlord Ripear took refuge in some Clanrats, supported by Skavenslaves and Giant Rats on the Skaven left flank. 

The Undead battle line was an impressive sight. From a desert Colossus to waves of chariots risen from the sands, the Skaven faced a mighty foe.

Leading Tom's 3,000 points was Nagash himself, surrounded by ghouls and skeletons bound to his will.

More and more chariots faced our forces, as did a converted Coven Throne (the elephant on the right). Roger out did himself with this model, representing a group of vampiric Undead on a ghostly skeletal chariot with swirling spirits in their mist. 

The Undead left flank held a horde of Skeleton Warriors and a large unit of Grave Guard supported by a Corpse Cart. 

 As the battle began, the Doomwheel lurched forward and thus was the first model into combat when charged by the Undead chariots. They wounded it and managed to cause it to flee--but not only did they not catch it but one of the chariots was swallowed into a patch of quicksand and destroyed as it pursued: an omen of luck to come for Roger the Tomb Kings player. 

 The Stormfiends burrowed up directly under a Casket of Souls--one of THREE that the Undead legions fielded. They quickly defeated it in combat, allowing them to occupy the now-vacant building. 

 One of my units of Plague Monks charged and eliminated a unit of ghouls (with some help from Thanquol's Curse of the Horned Rat spell). They then over-ran into the beautiful Coven Throne. While the vampiric crew and the Vampire on the throne did some damage to the ratmen, the Plague Priest accompanying the unit shouted the magical words that activated the unit's arcane-inscribed banner. With a burst of power, the unit was able to re-roll failed attacks and failed wounds. Between the Plague Priest himself who inflicted a few wounds on the Chariot, and the sheer multitude of attacks from the unit, the chariot crumbled to dust in a single turn--leaving the Vampire Lord to crumble to combat resolution. The Plague Banner truly is a wonderful item. It's one use only, but almost always it allows you to completely wreck what you're facing.

Undeterred, the Tomb King chariots rushed out and attacks a Warpfire team. While it managed to cause a few wounds with its stand-and-shoot reaction, once the chariots reached the model it was toast--and they carried on into the Hellpit Abomination behind the team. 

 On the Skaven left flank, Warlord Ripear faced off against a Bone Giant Colossus. While his Spirit Leech spell managed to inflict a single wound on the giant, the creature's devastating charge made things much more dicey. The battle raged for a few turns before the unit--and the Warlord--managed to finally take the construct down.

 A Tomb Prince on a chariot collided with my Skavenslaves, but they miraculously held and weathered the impact of the chariot. Under the watchful eye of the General, slaves can be almost decent!

 Nagash had a frustrating first turn of magic, but managed to get his summoning factory going on turn two: bringing a unit of 90+ zombies into existence at the center of the battlefield. It took considerable resources to finally finish them all off: the Plague spell, two warpfire shots, a Plagueclaw catapult hit, and finally a charge from the Stormvermin to finish them all. Phew!

 On the right flank of the Skaven, the Verminlord Corruptor was leaving a swath of destruction. The "curse of the newly painted model" had fallen on Roger's Coven Throne (the old wargaming adage that whatever you painted and labored on for a given game would be removed unceremoniously early in the fight having accomplished little), but the Verminlord seemed to be immune to it. First it demolished the remainders of the unit of Grave Guard, then turned and reached another one of the Undead Casket of Souls--obliterating both with ease.

 Travis' damaged Doomwheel had rallied and finished off the chariots that caused it to flee with shooting. Then it crashed forward into the Necrosphinx--wounding it with its shots again before smashing it apart in combat. It followed on to the Crypt Horrors behind, where it finally met its end--definitely an MVP model in the game however.

 The over-running Tomb King chariots in the center of the battlefield had made mincemeat of the Warpfire Thrower team, but the Skaven counter-charged with the unit of Plague Monks bearing the Plague Furnace and a unit of Slaves in the flank. Between the onslaught of attacks, especially the crushing weight of the Hell Pit Abomination, the chariots crumbled to dust. 

It was proving to be a tough day for the Tomb Kings side of the alliance. The unit of Skeleton Warriors with their Necrotect managed to get a side charge on Bishop Vilich, one of my Plague Priests, and his Giant Pox Rat. However, his attacks back slew the Necrotect and did enough to actually win him the combat--despite the side charge, banner, and two ranks. With the win, he was able to reform facing forward and hold them to be joined by the Giant Rats. They ground down the Skeletons even further, before the Hell Pit Abomination joined them on the following turn to finish off the unit. 

The forces of Nagash, however, proved to be far more resilient. Topping the list was Nagash himself, who faced an assault from the beginning of turn one from Travis' massed Warp Lightning Cannons. With four cannons total, he managed to land 16 hits on Nagash in the first five turns of the game--no mean feat. And despite 16 hits from cannonballs, Nagash didn't take a single wound. His high toughness coupled with ward save managed to protect him time and again to our shock (and Tom's delight). 

Finally pestered enough by the cannon onslaught, Nagash summoned forth both a unit of Cairn Wraiths and a Banshee to try and eliminate them. The Banshee's screams demolished one Warp Lightning Cannon, while the Wraiths menaced to charge another. 

Grey Seer Thanqoul, astride the mighty Boneripper, turned to focus on the summoned units. Directing spells and his two deadly Warpfire Projector shots onto them, he finished off the Banshee and made a serious dent in the Cairn Wraiths.

The lone Tomb Prince who had charged the Skavenslaves remained late into the game, but steadily losing combats against them. He couldn't quite inflict enough wounds to ever win, but the presence of the Battle Standard meant he was only taking wounds slowly from combat resolution. Finally after dramatic effort the Slaves managed to finish him off and crumble him to dust. 

The forces of the Skaven were finally surrounding Nagash. With their cannonballs proving ineffective, they amassed their combat forces to attempt a strike at the grand necromancer himself. Nagash saw their moves coming, and charged the Verminlord Corruptor, hoping to finish it with the destructive heroic killing blow effect of his saved magic dice. While the Verminlord Corruptor had wrecked everything it touched thus far, it was no match for Nagash. It inflicted no wounds on him, and then managed to suffer only one wound in return--getting lucky that Nagash failed to land a killing blow attack. The Verminlord lost the combat and his Frenzy, but managed to hold out in the first round of combat thanks to the nearby presence of a battle standard. 

Finally the forces all piled into Nagash to finish him. Travis' Stormvermin were granted poisoned attacks from one of my Plague Priests' spells, and Death Frenzy from the Verminlord--transforming them into a fearsome set of attackers. The Verminlord managed to inflict a couple of wounds this time, and the weight of attacks from the Stormvermin landed enough hits to finish him, sending the liche crumbling once again into dust (no doubt to be reborn again soon). 

The game was very enjoyable, and the Skaven won mainly through good fortune on their side and bad luck on the Undead side. The Undead magic in particular proved ineffective at best, with at least one turn entirely spoiled when Nagash failed to cast his first spell leaving them without any meaningful magic phase. On the Skaven side, their combats were just plain hot in terms of rolls (though things like the amazing Plague Banner make that unit always hot)--really their only poor performing unit were the Warp Lightning Cannons. But that was not for lack of accuracy, but simply Nagash's ability to withstand the onslaught. 

This victory brings my Skaven to a 50/50 record all time. My battle total for 2015 finally moves into more wins than losses (thanks to Dwarfs, those stalwart bruisers who stomp face time and again for me). I'm pleased to hit 11 games total thus far this year, and I've got more on the calendar. Though my buddy Tom is the impressive one: he exceeded his goal of 50 games of Warhammer last year, and this year he's well on his way to over 100 games (if he keeps this pace up). Impressive!

Battles
Total 2015: 11 (Win/Loss/Tie: 6/3/2)
Total 2014: 15 (Win/Loss/Tie: 8/6/1)

Skaven:
7 Wins (Undead 2, Empire 1, T&T Daemons and Dwarfs, Siege Dwarfs and Bretonnians, T&T Daemons and Empire, T&T Dual Undead)
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)

A Tale of Nagash, the First Necromancer

[Note: in lieu of a usual battle report, the results of the past game inspired me to write a bit of fiction from the point of view of an opponent's model, similar to one I did in this post]

A Tale of Nagash, the First Necromancer

For a creature as old as Nagash, time moved in a strange way. He was on the battlefield again, the images jumbled in a haze. He had been so many times in the past, his auguries showed him numerous times from the future. He glanced down to size up his forces and remember where (and when) this battle was taking (or took, or will take) place. Hundreds of years of data filled his head, sorting his forces from those that opposed him on the field. 

 His thought sharpened considerably. A relic of power, a chest brimming with gold, had been unearthed, and his forces were streaming toward it. The gold was inconsequential, mere glitter and fleeting shine. It was what lay inside the chest, buried in the gold. A fragment of a gem which a Magister of Light had used to trap a Tomb Prince's soul long ago. The fragment would look like a scrap, like a mere broken bit of glass set in a copper necklace fitting. But its power drew Undead like a beacon--such as the enemy force that was encamped around it. 

 They had arrived last on the battlefield, but were the closest to the chest and the power it held. A coven of Vampires and Necromancers, their power spread out among an army of beasts of the night and the returned dead. Nagash's long gaze watched them close, seeing the way they accessed the same powerful nexus that he exploited: a Casket of Souls and a Hierotitan. Both expanded the power and magical might of the bearer. With the gem fragment hidden in the chest, these usurper Vampires would yet be able to walk free--unbent to Nagash's great will. The glimmer of independence from the fractured gem, that strong resistance to Nagash that was wedded to the Tomb Prince's very soul, gave these forces the ability to stay free from his commands. Nagash finally remembered this, and recognized his need to reach the chest and destroy the contents--as well as the drive of the ancient vampires to gain this as a tool for continued freedom. 

 And then, almost inconsequential to Nagash's schemes, emerged a third force. Skaven, those chittering ratmen that had caused him so much grief for so long. Nagash's mind reeled with the strength of the hate--emotion was such a living, breathing, heart-beating thing that had so long ago left his body, it was peculiar to experience it's strength. Nagash wondered why the ratmen were here, why they chose this clash between the Undead to strike. 

Then he saw a cloaked and hooded figure in their midst. At first Nagash presumed it was some manner of Grey Seer, the mystical commanders of Skaven forces. And while it was hunched, its gait was hardly one that matched the skittering speed of the ratmen. Watching close, Nagash spied the telltale whorls of symbolism on this outside agent's garb, and the distinctive Shadow magic that he was producing. He realized that it was a Dark Emissary, a servant of pure Chaos and the power of  the Daemon Prince Be'lakor. "What was a servant of Be'lakor doing here?" Nagash wondered, his mind drifting over the history of the prince, the one who was passed over in the ascension of Archaon, whose forces of destruction were tearing the very fabric of the Old World. What scheme could have prompted his recruiting of the Skaven by one so out-of-favor among the Chaos Gods?

 Nagash also noticed the companion of the Dark Emissary, a Lammasu cloaked in sheets of magical fire. The winds of magic on the side of Skaven blew fire, shadow, ruin, and plague toward both groups of Undead, and the battle was met in fury. 

 Nagash watched from the edge of the battlefield while the minions of his foes clashed. Such death, such futile scrambling to triumph, leaving bodies littering the field--litter that only served to eventually empower his rule. A unit of unkempt Skaven, seemingly the most bottom-rung of their society, was prompted to assault a Mortis Engine. Nagash watched and wondered at these clashes, still unsure about the Skaven battle plan.

 Nagash watched as his own forces took the assault to the enemy, with ghouls crashing into ghouls at the center of the battle. The fallen snow was littered with the last leaves of autumn when they arrived, but soon were coated in the thick splashes of purplish blood that still resided and churned within the ghouls' tepid forms. 

 Suddenly the earth heaved before Nagash, and out crawled three massive rat ogres with assorted whirling appendages. These Stormfiends crashed into the unit of Skeletons commanded by none other than Richter Kreugar himself. In a blink of an eye, only two remained: Kreugar and his battle standard bearer. Nagash realized that it must be an attempt at his own existence--he turned his forces around, using his command over their wills to drive a pack of raging Ghouls and his massive Hierotitan into the rear of the Stormfiends. Their attack crumbled, and the last of the massive rats fled from the field before Nagash's very feet.

 He was done messing around. It was time to press these foes, deliver the pure awesomeness of his magical might to ruin their advances and crush their forces. He began casting incantations of summoning,  raising whole new units from the earth. On the left flank, he willed an entire unit of nine Blood Knights into existence--their sharp lances pointed at the traitorous Undead. With them, he created a massive Terrorgheist as well, whose screaming shriek managed to crumble the usurpers' Casket of Souls into dust. 

 It was the Skaven who were pressing their advantage in combat, however, which worried Nagash more. His massive horde of Skeleton Archers had crumbled to the Plague Monks and their Plague Priest leader, and they were threatening his last line of defense--a band of Ghouls and his own Casket of Souls. Reaching out with magical power again, Nagash raised a huge number of swarming bats to issue from all the nearby caves and crevices, their dark wings nearly filling the sky. 

 As Nagash watched, the ratmen's tactics seemed to change. They were setting their forces up for bad fights, giving the enemy Undead a chance to charge parts of their battle line. A glimmer of insight started to shine in Nagash's mind: "It was a scheme. The rats were up to something. They're planning some dire trick. They're going to try another attempt on my corporeal form!" 

 Nagash was suddenly and painfully aware of the ratmen's advance. The Plague Monks had crashed into the Casket, destroyed it, and wound up mere feet from the form of the massive Necromancer. His will was oppressive, his form massive, and his command of magic was truly legendary. Yet somewhere deep in the core of his animated being was a drop of fear: the Skaven. The ones so capable of unbinding his form. The group that he and others overlooked, at their peril. He turned his attention to the group of Plague Monks. His Hierotitan shifted and bore its deadly gaze down on their leader, diminishing the Plague Priest into a husk of its former self with the Spirit Leech spell from the Lore of Death. The remaining Plague Monks, now leaderless, balked at charging the grand Necromancer and instead milled about right at his feet. Nagash smiled, he was sure he had defeated the Skaven plot to slay him yet again. 

Just then, he turned his attention to the center of the battlefield. The Stormvermin had advanced to the middle of the clash, and quietly the Skaven Warlord had tucked the chest under his arm. He then dashed from his unit, heading as fast as he could back toward where the Skaven arrived. Nagash suddenly realized that even the Plague Monks were but a distraction. They wanted the chest. And not for the gold. Maybe if he had faced the greedy Dwarfs yet again, gold would be their objective. But the Skaven valued power and warpstone (their own currency) far more. It was some plan or plot among the Skaven, using the advice of that cursed Dark Emissary, to gather the fragmented soul gem and no doubt utilize it against him in the future. 

Nagash roared with anger. The sacrificing of the smaller units, the aggressive pursuit of the Plague Monks directly at his personage, it had all been a scheme. Just a complex bait-and-switch for the Skaven to nab the goal that had been his from the start. Nagash's roar of psychic energy caused every Undead on the battlefield to stumble for a moment. The battle was over, and both warring groups of Undead had lost to the schemes of the Skaven. Nagash knew he had to take revenge--both to recover the fragmented gem as well as to retaliate for the ignominy of this defeat. 

Gaming Notes

With another Triumph and Treachery game, it was time to get back to my Skaven. While I enjoy the Dwarfs well enough, I just like the sheer range of options that Skaven can provide. As usual for a game, I endeavored to finish painting some new models. While I got close to finishing a new unit of Stormfiends, they didn't get quite get all the colors on them. So the only new painting to add this time is another Packmaster and his unit of Giant Rats. 

The whip is from the Orc Chariot if I recall correctly. Another set of glowing yellow eyes to unsettle foes in the dread dark of night. 

It was a three-way clash of 2000 points each with 400 points of mercenaries. I went for lots of low-level casters and variety of spell lores (Ruin, Plague, Shadow, and Fire) by using my mercenaries budget to field a Dark Emissary and a Lammasu. Other than that, there wasn't too much out-of-the-ordinary for my armies: some big blocks of troops supported by smaller bands of rats, plenty of Warpfire to be thrown, and two Plagueclaw catapults. 

The battle itself was entertaining. My two Undead Legions foes played very different style armies, though both with some other version of undead as their mercenaries (and hierotitans and caskets of souls). One was led by Nagash and focused on buying time and summoning spells. The other was led by a swarm of lower-level casters using buffs to make their units triumph in combat. I clashed pretty equally with both forces, though I got most of my points from units initially fielded on the Nagash side. The Stormfiends and Plague Monks did most of it together. While the Stormfiends arrived in dumb fashion (I forgot they wanted to charge, and picked a different foe on the turn they arrived), they managed to entirely crush Nagash's mercenaries: Richter Kreugar's "Cursed Company" from Dogs of War. Meanwhile the Plague Monks annihilated big, non-summoned chunks of Nagash's force including a horde of skeleton bowmen and the Casket of Souls. This was also a game where I did well in getting lots of points from winning combats and then finishing the job the next turn for the additional points--those points add up after a while, adding to my combat wins and sniping with spells and warmachines (including the Necromancer who simply could never make his "look out sir" rolls, and died to the second Warpfire shot that hit him... he took one wound and healed from the first).

Victory was sealed by my Warlord grabbing the objective and scooting out of his unit then into the eventual safety of another unit near my backfield. Skaven are quick, sneaky, and not above grabbing the opportunity to win and playing "stall and sacrifice" with their remaining forces--and Warlord Shield-Snatch decided to do the same. Was a great game, and I'm gearing up for even more clashes against the Undead: next up a massive team battle between Skaven and the Undead Legions!

Fully Painted Models
Skaven: 84
Dwarfs: 52

Battles
Total 2015: 10 (Win/Loss/Tie: 5/3/2)
Total 2014: 15 (Win/Loss/Tie: 8/6/1)

Skaven:
6 Wins (Undead 1, Empire 1, T&T Daemons and Dwarfs, Siege Dwarfs and Bretonnians, T&T Daemons and Empire, T&T Dual Undead)
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)