The Blue Rat's new ride
The Blue Rat is the name I gave the Grey Seer that I conceptually have leading my Skaven army, and it was time for him to get a Screaming Bell to ride to war. You can see the original Blue Rat in the photo above--I matched the Seer atop the bell to him. The bell is a combination of the bell, seer, and brazier from the new plastic Screaming Bell with the frame and crew of the oldest metal Screaming Bell. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out: a nice mix of old looks and new together. And I'm really happy with the paint job. I like the idea of my charlatan Grey Seer mixing blue chemicals in all his warpstone and dyeing his own fur to match, all to manipulate his rise to power and the cults following his standard. And I like the way that the blue-tone warpstone and smokes gives it a different feel than the usual Skaven green glow... which so ubiquitous it has a paint color named after it.
The original is a cool look, but Hawk Turquoise, Stegadon Scale Green, and Ice Blue won out for my palette.
The battle was 3,000 points of my Skaven versus 3,000 points of Tom's Lizardmen. I had built my force to achieve one of my Skaven Achievements: fielding all 13 spells from the two Skaven lores of magic in one army. A Grey Seer, a Verminlord Corruptor, two Level 2 Plague Priests, and a Level 1 Warlock Engineer got the job done--while I wasn't entirely pleased with the spread of spells and where units would be, it worked as a fun army concept to try at least! Preparing to start the battle, we rolled the Watchtower scenario, which meant another battle for control over the building at the center of the board. However, as events would play out, it turned out to be a rather different scenario. Time to cue the appropriate music: "Tubular Bells" from the Exorcist Soundtrack.
Ominous and disturbing bells tolled in the distance, their eerie clamor alerting the Lizardmen to the arrival of their foes.
The Lizardmen began with control of the tower, garrisoning it with a large unit of their deadly Saurus Warriors. They were determined: no rats would infest the tower this battle.
The Lizardmen's left flank was composed of a large Skink Cohort with three Kroxigors, and a unit of Saurus Cavalry on the far end.
At their center was an enigmatic Slaan Mage Priest leading his Temple Guard, along with another unit of Saurus Warriors and an Oldblood on a Carnosaur (carrying a suspicious-looking egg).
On the right flank of the Lizardmen force was a Skink Priest riding a mighty Ancient Stegadon topped by an Engine of the Gods.
The Skaven marched into battle with the peals of their Screaming Bell echoing from the center of their force. Astride the bell perched their immortal and unstoppable leader, The Blue Rat: a Grey Seer who commanded the powers of magic both great and mundane. A unit of Clanrats wheeled the bell forward, while Slaves, Giant Rats, and Stormvermin all marched alongside.
Tasked with assaulting the tower, a massive unit of Plague Monks--led by a Plague Priest--arrayed toward the right of the center. Supported by more Giant Rats and Rat Swarms, the force chanted unholy prayers to The Blue Rat and the forces of skittering darkness.
The prayers must have been heard, because on the far right of the battle line stalked a towering and decrepit presence: a Verminlord Corruptor. Answering the calls of the monks--enhanced by the magics of the great bell and The Blue Rat--the great daemon burst forth in a cloud of brimstone. Patrons of the nearby inn--"The Equine Elitists"--had not noticed the arrival of the two armies prepared to clash over their watchtower, owing to being deep in their cups with alcohol. However, with the arrival of the Verminlord Corruptor, the beer turned to ash in their mouths as they writhed and died in the putrid miasma that surrounded his powerful magical form.
The left flank of the Skaven brought two engines of destruction: a Hellpit Abomination--a mountain of churning, stitched-together ratflesh--and a Plagueclaw Catapult, poised to deliver its poisonous cargo across the Lizardmen lines.
Initial deployment and movement centered around occupying the great watchtower that stood at the center of the battlefield, seemingly the objective of both forces. However, it was not long until The Blue Rat commanded a strike of the bell that sent waves of unholy sound across the battlefield. With a shaking and crumbling noise, the watchtower that had stood for years suddenly caved in--killing 18 out of the 20 Saurus Warriors who had sheltered inside. The Blue Rat cackled with glee, then reached out with spells and commands to his weapon teams, to finish of the remaining two dust-coated Saurus Warriors. The Watchtower had never been his objective--simply ruin, destruction, and death. As the battle went on, his great bell would level two more buildings on the battlefield: it's tolling death threatening to bring all to ruin.
The Slaan Mage Priest was stunned by the destruction of the tower, but moved quickly to adjust his strategy to the Skaven skulduggery. Reaching his mind into the realm of undeath, the great frog summoned forth a unit of undead hounds set on obeying his commands and slowing the Skaven flanking force. The Dire Wolves scared a unit of Giant Rats into backing down, and then charged into the Hellpit Abomination in an attempt to injure the great beast--or at least slow it up.
The Skinks and their Kroxigor allies chose to charge the unit of Plague Monks, hoping their poison attacks would make work of the unarmored monks. While they did inflict a fair number of casualties, the monks also killed a number of Skinks themselves. In the end, it was the depth of the Plague Monks that carried the day--their ranks seeming endless in the eyes of the Skinks. While they only narrowly lost the fight, the Skinks had a sudden surge of fear in the face of the ratmen (rolling 3 sixes for their break test), fleeing and being run down with ease by the pursuing Plague Monks.
On the left flank, the Saurus Cavalry was harried by the destructive magics of the Verminlord Corruptor. Using the Plague spell to deadly effect twice, the cavalry was reduced to two members and their Scar-Veteran leader. Even when the plague got out of control and bounced to the rat swarms, the swarms survived without a single wound (improbably) while a few of the Lizardmen fell. Unable to manage a charge on the Verminlord, the cavalry instead launched into the swarms. Their losses must have motivated them to fight all the harder, as they cut through the Rat Swarms in a single turn.
With a rumble of dirt, the Stormfiends emerged from the ground and charged directly into the Lizardmen lines. While these deadly rat-creatures were able to kill some of the Saurus Warriors, they were unprepared for the deadly strikes in return. One was killed, and another deeply injured in the first round of combat. While the injuries continued to mount for the Stormfiends, their resolve somehow managed to remain firm--keeping them in a losing combat an improbable three times. Finally the last one submitted to the bites and spears of their foes, and fell to the ground dead.
The Plague Monks had been heartened by the ease of their destroying the Skink Cohort, and they rushed headlong into the path of the Oldblood and his Carnosaur. The euphoric confidence, no doubt bolstered by the narcotic fumes from their Plague Priest's censer, proved to be mistaken as the mighty Oldblood unleashed a wave of suffering on the Skaven. First, he lobbed an egg into the center of their lines, which gave birth to a strange, hobbled creature that proceeded to tear a full ten of their number to bits. The Plague Priest and the Monks realized that they needed to drop the mighty foe right away lest they flee--and their clawing and clubbing inflicted hideous wounds on both rider and mount. Yet both survived their onslaught, answering with the slaying of a full eight more Plague Monks before their attacks ceased. The unit, severely bloodied, fled and were run down by the vicious predators.
Meanwhile, the Hellpit Abomination had chewed its way through the Dire Wolves and reached the Lizardmen lines. It began an assault into the side of the Stegadon, which managed to survive the deadly strikes through only the slimmest of armored plating. The Slaan and his Temple Guard then charged in to try and balance the scales in their favor, only to find the Abomination an improbably deadly foe: he slew all but two of the temple guard in a hurricane of attacks, managed to avoid being slain by the Stegadon despite taking a severe wound from it, and even ducked a Hand of Dust spell leveraged against him by the Mage Priest. The hearty Lizardmen did not fear the beast, however, and all units remained locked in combat.
The rampaging Carnosaur rider continued to press into the backfield of the Skaven, weathering the fire from a Ratling Gun shooting at him through the trees. When he reached the back of their lines, he realized that this force was just the tip of the iceberg: many more Skaven were rushing forward from a distant valley. It was time to end the battle before more losses were taken.
As opposed to the last time I played a Watchtower scenario, the game ended right away at the end of the fourth turn. There had been little chance for the two armies to get into each other, and much of the battle had been maneuvering and positioning units while exchanging spells. Normally the Watchtower scenario revolves around who controls it, but with it destroyed--seeming to be the "in the odd case no one can be said to control the Watchtower" from the rules--the game was settled by victory points. My Skaven forces managed to amass 1,142 victory points. The Lizardmen were close behind with 968. That's just outside the 100-point band for a tie, so the Skaven managed a minor victory with this battle. Destroying the tower was both random and totally Skaven thing, and I rolled a "destroys buildings" result three times in a row in the game. Was definitely a signature outing for my Screaming Bell, and a great game against a really tough army list from Tom.
Battles
Total 2015: 21 (Win/Loss/Tie: 13/6/2)
Total 2014: 15 (Win/Loss/Tie: 8/6/1)
Skaven:
8 Wins (Undead 2, Empire 1, Lizardmen 1, T&T Daemons and Dwarfs, Siege Dwarfs and Bretonnians, T&T Daemons and Empire, T&T Dual Undead)
9 Losses (Lizadmen 1, Skaven 1, Empire 1, Dwarfs 1, Daemons 1, T&T Daemons 1, T&T Dwarfs 1, Special Game Nurgle, T&T Bretonnians 1)
1 Tie (Empire 1)
Dwarfs:
11 Wins (High Elves 1, Lizardmen 1, Dwarfs 3, Wood Elves 2, T&T Undead and Dwarfs, T&T Lizardmen and Wood Elves, T&T Chaos Legions and Lizardmen, Team Daemons and Tomb Kings)
2 Losses (Dark Elves 1, Empire 1)
1 Tie (T&T Dual Undead)
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