New Skaven Discussion

 Had a great game today. Here are some questions I came away with from the game.


Question about the Doom Wheel charging: someone said tonight that on the GLWL forum it was discussed that a Doom Wheel must declare a charge? Are there any other units with 360 random movement and impact hits that do not count as charging when they hit a unit? Yes the HPA says it counts as charging, and the Doom Wheel does not, but the Storm Banner also doesn't say 'one use only', along with other omissions and typos in the Skaven book. And if a Doom Wheel hits a friendly unit it does impact hits and them backs off, so what happens if I hit an enemy unit? Do impact hits but then it can't charge? This doesn't make sense. I believe it should be played as the HPA.

My other question is about irresistible force and the Dreaded Thirteenth Spell. Must I exceed 25 along with at least 2 6's for it to be I.F.? Or must I only need to cast enough dice to possibly be successful (5 dice) and get 2 or more 6's to cast with I.F.? Or must I only get 2 6's on at least 2 dice, possibly casting the spell with 2 dice? I got 3 different answers from 3 different people asked tonight.

And when the DTS is cast, it must be cast on and Infantry UNIT. It then removes 4d6 MODELS. So if there is a cavalry model attached to an infantry unit, if I destroy the unit the cavalry models is removed, because I targeted an infantry unit correctly, and he is a 'model' in the unit? This didn't come up, but I thought of it after correcting another error.

Thanks. I had a lot of fun just trying to get of the DTS tonight, and I am thinking of taking a Grey Seer more often because of that ridiculous spell, rofl. Even after my War-litter conversion.

Holiday Weekend painting checklist

It's going to be a busy weekend. I'm going to the Hockey game tonight, and a full day of driving and eating tomorrow, then painting, gaming, painting, painting, and more painting. Tale of 4 Gamers armies are due for our first games on Tuesday, which means I have a full unit to paint, and finishing touches on another (pictured). I also have some Space Marine vehicles to paint for the Combat Patrol League, based on the list I just wrote up to try in the first week of games. Here is my weekend checklist:

20 Clan Rats with spears
20 Clan Rats (bases and finishing touches)

2 Razorbacks
2 Attack Bikes
1 Land Speeder




Also, I had a marathon game of Warhammer last night. 2 new players playing with large armies lead to lots of rules questions! The Skaven were victorious, with the following observations:

-Hell Pit Abomination is very, very powerful. "Why don't you just take two of them every game"? Because no one would play against a 2 HPA list unless they were forced to in a tournament. He killed an Engine of the gods, Cold One unit, and finished off a Saurus block pretty much solo. I spent all of my anti magic getting him into charge range though. Everyone has an idea of how to kill this thing... lots of fire and missile attacks.

-Doom wheel is very fun in a random blow up your own army sort of way. On 6 shots from it before it died, 3 shots were into my own army, and 3 shots were misfires (although one misfire was a 6, adding d6 to my movement for the remainder). Like Brian said, the Doom Wheel is 190 points. 150 for the Doom Wheel and 40 for a unit of Slaves to drop next to it and soak up first turn or 2 shots.

-BSB is pretty vital for a Skaven army. It saved the game for me, imo. Sort of a General new WHFB player observation.

-I may try to take another unit of Giant Rats. They are great flankers. I ran a 12 model unit for 46 points... 10 rats and 2 pack masters.

-My Furnace didn't get a single round of combat in. I'll have to wait until this weekend to see how it performs.

-Skaven Warlords kitted with a war-litter and other cc gear is still not a combat monster. I'm better off keeping the gear to a minimum and making him survivable. He died to a Saurus Hero in a challenge.

Painted Doom Wheel

I spent the rest of the day/night finishing the Doom Wheel. These two miniatures needed to be painted in separate components, so I had to finish them both this weekend to play on Tuesday. This is the first time I have ever really painted something in components like this and assembled them after. This is also the first time that I can remember that I have painted from about 12pm to 12am. It all worked out in the end to make two great looking, decently painted, characterful pieces that I am looking forward to playing with

Complete Plague Furnace

Done! This is how I spent my Saturday. Not watching college football, and not watching UFC. I painted my Plague Furnace. About 7 hours later (I assembled it last night following the tutorial on GW's website), here it is. Now I'm about to start my Doom Wheel!

Weekend projects

Here are a few shots of the stuff I am working on this weekend. I'm hoping to have the big stuff done for a game Tuesday. I picked up a new Doom Wheel and Plague Furnace yesterday. AMAZING kits. But dear god, they are sharp and pointy. My thumbs were bleeding after gouging myself with the models for 2 hours last night while assembling them! I also finished the majority of my next Clan Rat unit.

Combat Patrol League

Slipwing of the 40K Fight Club is running a Combat Patrol League. It will be running simultaneously with Tale of 4 Gamers, but it is small games and big fun. I have the majority of what I was thinking of using painted, so I will just need to try and squeeze in some more painting along with my Skaven.

This league uses the Combat Patrol rules (download here) with the following changes, or as noted below:

- Patrols need not be fully painted, but will earn extra points if it is.
- No ranged weapons of Strength greater than 7 may be used. Note - this was in the original rules, and still appears in many I have reviewed on the net, but was not included in this particular rule set. Not sure why, but we can discuss if needed.

Games
Each game will be played using the Combat Patrol Mission (see below).

Schedule
Each player is required to play every other player once within a three week period of time (Dec 1 through Dec 21). Games can be scheduled as needed. Players that do not play one another will earn 0 points for that match up.

On the night of Dec 22, all participants will be divided up to play multi-player carnage battles that will be scored as normal.

Experience
Any non-vehicle unit still on the table that is not falling back and is 50% of its starting size or greater at the end of the game may roll once on the following table. The result applies to that unit for the next game only and all results are one use only. If the unit is not used in the subsequent game, the experience is lost.

1: Street Fighters – The unit may re-roll a Difficult or Dangerous Terrain Test. (Jetbikes re-roll this result)
2: Grizzled Veterans – The unit may re-roll failed to wound rolls from a single player turn during an assult or shooting phase
3: Seasoned Campaigner – The unit may re-roll a failed moral check (fearless units re-roll this result)
4: Tank Killers - The unit may re-roll a failed armor penetration roll
5: Natural Survivors - If the unit loses an assault and breaks off, it may re-roll a failed initiative check
6: Rapid Deployment - If the unit is held in reserve, it may re-roll a reserve roll

Any vehicle (excluding dedicated transports) still on the table that is not destroyed, wrecked, or immobilized at the end of the game may roll on the following table. The result applies to that vehicle for the next game only and all results are one use only. If the vehicle is not used in the subsequent game, the experience is lost.

1: Terrifying - The owning player may request that an enemy unit Tank Shocked by the vehicle re-roll its it morale check (Walkers re-roll this result)
2: Hardened Crew - The owning play may request that the result of a glancing hit scored against the vehicle be re-rolled.
3: Reinforced Armor - The owning play may request that the result of a penetrating hit scored against the vehicle be re-rolled.
4: Skilled Gunnery - The vehicle may re-roll a failed to hit roll, or may re-roll scatter dice.
5: Skilled Pilot - The vehicle may re-roll a Dangerous Terrain test (Skimmers re-roll this result)
6: Tank Killers - The vehicles may re-roll a failed armor penetration roll.

Combat Patrol Mission
Deployment: Use the Pitched Battle deployment type found in the main rulebook. Table size is 4' x 4' instead of the normal 4' x 6'.

Victory Conditions: Each game will have both a primary and secondary mission. The Primary mission will always be Victory Points. The secondary objective will be determined randomly. Before deploying, roll a D6 and consult the table below.

1-2: Assassinate – Secondary objective is to kill the opposing patrol’s leader.
3-4: Carnage – A terrain piece is placed in the center of the table. The patrol that holds this objective, uncontested, at the end of the game, wins the secondary objective.
5: Capture the flag – A flag is placed in the center of the table (use any suitable marker). The patrol that is able to get the flag off their table edge, or is in possession of the flag at the end of the game, wins the secondary objective. (Use the flag rules from the Forlorn Hope mission in the Planetstrike book)
6: Sabotage – An objective is placed in the center of the table. It is considered to have an armor value of 12 on all sides. The patrol that destroys the objective wins the secondary objective. On a glancing hit against the objective, roll a d6. If you roll a six, you destroy it. On a penetrating hit, you need a 5+ on a d6. Note - I intentionally tried to make it difficult to destroy this objective.

Due to the size of the patrol, all units in the patrol, with the exception of vehicles, are able to claim objectives in a mission that uses them. Any unit in a patrol may contest objectives.

Games will be scored as follows.

Primary Objective
Win: +10 points
Draw: +5 points
Loss: +1 point

Secondary Objective
Win: +5 points
Draw: +3 points
Loss: +0 point

Bonus Points
Fully Painted: +5 points
Detailed Battle Report: +5 points

Game Length – Combat patrol uses standard game length.
Finale
It would be fun, although will be difficult, to get all the participants together into as many multi-player Carnage battles (as needed) after the 4th period for some extra scoring.

Players
slipwing - IG
globalsmack - ???
circuitse7en - Tau
Gargunki - Orks
Rhellion - Space Marines
??? - Tyranids*
Shining - Space Marines
fadaki - Tau

* - Potential player

Painted Skaven Slaves

I finished the basing on my next To4G period 1 unit: my first unit of Skaven Slaves. I'm interested to hear what everyone thinks of the color scheme. I wanted to be different than the "typical" GW Skaven color scheme with red cloth/robes, and base my army color as green. Snot Green in particular as the cloth colors. The slave fur color is Vermin Brown, te Clan Rat fur color will be Scorched Brown, and the Storm Vermin and Warlord fur color will be Chardon Granite. The Storm Vermin and Warlord will also have Catachan Green robes, different from the rest of the army.

So now I have my 20 Plague Monks, 10 Plague Censer Bearers, Plague Priest, and 20 Skaven Slaves done. 2 units of 20 Clan Rats left to paint before December 1st to be completed on time.Tale of 4 Gamers is a great motivator to start a new army and actually paint it.

 

Also, here is a picture of the Warlord mounted on the War-litter as he will look inside of the Storm Vermin unit. The Storm Vermin might be painted as early as the next To4G period, but the Warlord will be a 4th period addition if he is aded at all (rather than a Grey Seer on a Screaming Bell).

And in worse news, Doom Wheels are out of stock! They are apparently on back order to GW, so I'll be waiting a little while to pick one up.