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
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)
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