2500 Skaven vs Daemons of Chaos

Tuesday night 40K was taken over by the Fantasy players last night. A new edition means a lot of new interest in Warhammer. I scheduled a game with John C, and he brought along his old Daemons of Chaos army. John retired them last edition because he believed them to be ridiculously broken, and played his other armies (including his Tournament winning Lizardmen). He is trying to get as many games in as possible, because he will be officiating the 'Ard Boys location that I am playing at.


The list he brought was a pretty solid and balanced Daemon list. It looked something like this:
Bloodthirster
Tzeentch Herald
Khorne Herald
Slaanesh Herald
Large block of Horrors
Large block of Bloodletters
Large block of Daemonettes
2 units of lone Bloodcrusher champions
1 unit of 5 Seekers of Slaanesh
2 units of 3 Flamers

My army list is a smaller version of the list I am wanting to play at 'Ard Boys:
Grey seer on screaming bell, power scroll and skalm
Plague Priest on plague furnace, dispel scroll
BSB with the 4+ ward talisman
Warlock with no magic level, but has the Ruby Ring of Ruin
25 Storm Vermin, storm banner, plague wind mortar
25 Clan Rats with spears, plague wind mortar
30 Clan Rats with hw/sh, pushing the bell
31 Slaves, 5 wide for Steadfast
31 Slaves, 5 wide for Steadfast
25 Plague Monks, banner of swiftness
10 Plague Censer Bearers
8 Gutter Runners, poisoned attacks
Doomwheel
Warp Lightning Cannon



Let me just say, the game was dominated by the 13th Spell. To start, we played Meeting Engagement. John's Khorne and Slaanesh Heralds were put into reserve! My only reserve was my lone Warlock. This made John have to place his units within range of the board edge so the Heralds could join their respective units, totally slowing those units down for the first turns. I placed my entire army on the board first, so he was able to counter my deployment. I was hoping to at least counter his counter with my Scouting Gutter Runners, but I don't think I've got these guys figured out yet. They are their to try and get at war machines, but this game they were chasing Flamers around on the board corner away from the action. I guess they did keep them away from my lines all game!

To start the game, I sent my Doomwheel straight at his Bloodthirster. I had range that I should be able to get close enough to him to blast him, or even charge him first turn! That is, until I rolled a total of 8 on 3d6 coming up short by about 3 inches. I instead had to shoot his Horrors. The cannon came up short as well, rolling 2 for it's strength. But my first turn magic phase I rolled 31 on 6d6 to cast the 13th Spell with no double 6 for Irresistable Force / Miscast! John tried to use all 7 of his dice to dispel, because there was a pretty solid chance he would get double sixes right? Wrong. A tone of dead Daemonettes later his unit had 5 left for the Herald to join.

Daemon first turn was slowed by the Heralds being in reserve. The Horrors and Gutter Runners were dancing around away from all the action, but the Bloodthirster charged and demolished my Doomwheel in one combat. D'oh. One of his Bloodcrushers needed to roll a 6 on 3d6 (keeping the highest 2) and failed, so he watched his other Bloodcrusher buddy getting stuck with Clan Rat spears that were poisoned from Bless with Filth.

Second turn I needed to roll a 3 on 2d6 total to get my Plague Furnace and monks into the lone Bloodcrusher, and hopefully carry into his Daemons beyond. I ROLLED A 2 on 2d6! Epic fail. Hello random Warhammer 8th Edition. We meet again! Shooting was still uneventful, as I rolled another 2 for the strength of my WLC coming up just short of the Bloodthirster. Magic time?! Yes?! 13th Spell! I cast it on 6d6 this time, and used my power scroll. Almost every die rolled a 2 or a 4. Good thing I used my power scroll, this time I warped all but 6 of his Horrors into dead rat pulp.

From here on we could tell the game was tilted towards my side greatly. 2 turns getting the 13th spell of is a bit much to overcome, even for a Bloodthirster. I did charge one of my tarpit Slave units into his Bloodthirster and they performed very well, holding him for 1.5 turns in combat. Plague Furnace did get into combat with the remaining giant Bloodletter unit. Much carnage to be had, but the furnace got his flank and wrecked the unit. My Plague Priest got hit by killing blow in one swing, but the furnace crew, monks, fog, impact hits, and wrecking ball was just too much. Plus on the third turn I cast the 13th Spell AGAIN to turn the remaining Daemonettes into a small Clan Rat unit that helped rear charge the Bloodletters.

The Seekers did get my flank and have an open lane to the back of my line, getting all the way to my WLC! I really should have sent the Doomwheel after them instead of going straight for the jackpot trying to blast away the Bloodthirster. The Bloodthirster himself did eventually get to my Screaming Bell. He was slowed by the Doomwheel, Storm Banner, and tarpitting Slaves... but he got there. The first turn of combat my brave Skaven unit champion challenged the might Daemon! He got instantly split in two. The next turn the Bloodthirster directed all of his attacks on the Grey Seer and only caused one wound!!! The protection of the Horned rat was great indeed. At least until next turn when he got pulped. My Clan Rats and Rat Ogre crew actually did 4 wounds in return to the Bloodthirster in return, but never could kill him.

The game ended and I still had a bunch of models left, including my riderless Furnace AND Bell. John had 4 Seekers, a Bloodthirster, and a few Flamers left. in reflection, the game would have been much different with a few higher charge rolls! Random charge distances made a huge difference in our game. My BSB also survived in the end because of the charge reaction rules. The Bloodthirster declared a charge on his unit of Clan Rats (pre-Screaming Bell charge) that I HAD to accept, or run off the board. When the Seekers also declared, I elected to flee down the board edge instead. They then rallied later before the end of the game to deny John a lot of points. The Seekers and Bloodthirster both then were able to pass their Leadership tests and redirect their charges (including the Bloodthirster into the Screaming Bell). Though the deciding factor was magic. The Dreaded 13th Spell owned the game, going off all first 3 turns. There was really no coming back from it for the Daemons.

We also played some of the mysterious terrain, though we only ended up with 1 piece. The Blood Wood that damages units inside of it if magic is cast in it or into it on a 4+. The wood them MOVES d6" in a random direction. This did actually stop me from casting with my Plague Priest while inside of the woods. I believe terrain, along with the new missions, make the new edition much more about adapting and playing rather than building an uber list that will smash in a pitched battle!

Good game!

Screaming Bell completed

I worked all night to finish my Screaming Bell. 2 Monster Energy Drinks and 1 5-Hour Energy later (and a few hours of sleep) and I have some finished pictures! I was planning on doing WIP shots as I completed pieces, but my internet was totally crapping out on me yesterday. I'm glad to get these up.

I really like the look of it. I also made sure to differ his paint scheme slightly from my Plague Furnace, to really distinguish each of them on the battlefield. I think I'll be using one of each for a while in my upcoming games. After painting them, how can I not!

Now I just cannot wait for the new Island of Blood boxed set. The pictures floating around the internet show that the Clan Rats look almost identical to the regiment boxed set. It should be easy to make a couple large units and add to what I already have pushing the Bell. BTW, the Rat Ogres look amazing!

Island of Blood contents spotted!

Surfing the interwebs today I found some reports of the Island of Blood models being seeing at local GW Hobby Centers! Take these reports for what they are, internet posts, but get ready to be excited...

Over on Dakka dakka, there are rumored sightings of the contents of the new starter set.

"GW stores now are now receiving their display sprues from Island Of Blood. Customers in my local GW store were assisting in assembling the models today. They look absolutely terrific. I've seen Swordmasters and the Griffin assembled. Great detail, poses, etc. The Skaven stuff looked good on the sprue. As rumored, 2 Rat Ogres and a Warp Fire Thrower among all the great smaller stuff."

and

"check out the burning rat on the 'thrower"

and

"Got ahold of the minis today for Island of Blood. Skaven are amazing, High Elves pretty good. Chieftain in the style of Queek, but with a back banner and halberd. 40 Clanrats, Warpfire Thrower (complete with burning rat), Posion Wind Mortar (meh, was disappointed by this, not much detail on the mortar itself), Chieftan, Warlock Engineer, 2 Rat Ogres (tiny heads) and a Pack Master.

On the High Elf side it was a Prince on a Griffon (on a flying stand, really, really, really, ugly. It was stretched out like the Dragon is though, in a "flying motion"), 5 very nice Elerian Reavers (fantastic champion in this unit), 10 Sword Masters (pretty sure they were all unique models- same pose/different style armor and whatnots), and 10 Sea Guard.

That's all I saw, and was told it's going to be $90. I'm getting 2 for my Skaven, unfortunately all the Clanrats have shields sculpted on."

and

"Clanrats are armed with hand weapons"

and

"And no slaves for the skavens? "

I just may have to give my local GW a call and see if they have them available. Apparently they need to have the Island of Blood contents assembled, painted, and on display by the first week in August.



Another quote update:

I'm the 3rd quote there, currently waiting for my Rat Ogre's bases to finish drying before going on to prime them

Be jealous.

But as far as I've seen, there are no Slaves or Globadiers with what I have been sent. The infantry I have are 40 rats, all with shields, 20 with hand weapons, and 20 with spears. So I guess they can still be Slaves, it's just all in the painting, as the models are almost indistinguishable from normal multi-part Clanrats.

The Dreaded 13th Spell

One thing I have learned about 8th edition is not that huge blocks of infantry rule the game, or new monsters and thunderstomps are deadly... it is that most armies have 1 truly devastating spell in the magic phase that they hope to get off and wipe out entire units. Pit of Shades, Purple Sun, all Gateway are similar for other armies, and for Skaven it is The Dreaded 13th Spell.

 25+ cast
May only effect Infantry
4d6 models are removed as casualties, no saves.
If you remove equal or more models than are in the unit, replace with a Clan Rat unit of equal size with any equipment.

The 13th Spell has been truly devastating in 8th Edition for me. The ability to throw 6 dice has gotten me a cast once per game on average. Recently I took out a unit of Saurus Temple Guard and their Slann Mage Priest (who is listed as Infantry in the BRB, by the way). Last night I warped 19 Chaos Warriors, leaving their banner bearer, Chaos Lord, and Sorcerer Lord in their own 3-man unit.

Just throwing 6 dice may not be enough. Warp Stone Tokens allow you to go after your maximum casting dice, but also cause wounds on a 1. I have cast Big 13 on a roll of 25 without IF, but it's been scrolled. There is nothing as heart breaking as losing a 13 Spell cast to a scroll. Well I guess losing your General to the spell is much worse, but you know what I mean.

What I like in the new BRB is the Power Scroll. Declare before casting that you are using the Power Scroll, and ANY roll of doubles causes you to cast with Irresistable Force!

Just remember though, the new miscast chart is nasty but it's not DEADLY (for your Grey Seer) unless you roll a 2-4 on 2d6 and then a 1-3 on 1d6. Wounds are what Skalm was made for, but a strength 10 hit to every model in base with your Screaming Bell (15 models) HURTS. Also watch out for Feedback Scrolls. The spell goes off, but those 6 dice you just used for 13 are all rerolled, and any 5+ will cause you a wound with no armor saves. But remember this can only be used if not cast with IF, because the Feedback Scroll is used instead of attempting to dispel... you cannot dispel a cast of IF!

Screaming Bells and a Meeting Engagement

I bought and started to assemble a new Screaming Bell this weekend after playing my opening day Warhammer 8th Edition games. I'm looking forward to trying out a Bell + Furnace list on Tuesday, hopefully. But I was thinking about a few rules questions based on these models.

I've only played two of the new scenarios so far, the regular pitched battle, and Meeting Engagement. ME is the diagonal board halves deployment, 6" from the center line, one whole side deploying at once. But the kicker, and my question, is that each unit, including warmachines and individual characters, has to roll a d6 and is placed in reserve on a roll of 1.

The Screaming Bell and the Plague Furnace have to be deployed inside a unit (each unit depends on the model in question). If the Bell or Furnace is placed in reserve by rolling a 1 during deployment, it is destroyed! They have no movement, meaning that even if the unit I want them to join when they arrive on the board is also on the board edge, I cannot join because I cannot place any friendly models within 1" of another friendly unit. I don't think they even come on the board though, because they have to be deployed inside of their unit in question. Also this matters if I roll a 1 for Plague Monks, because the Furnace can ONLY be deployed in a unit of Plague Monks.

Is this correct?

Also, Can a Skaven Assassin be deployed/revealed in a Screaming Bell unit? Can he be 'deployed' (and noted on the army list) before the Bell so the unit is not unbreakable yet, and then revealed at a later time? Or can he not be in the Screaming Bell unit at all?

8th Edition FAQ's are out!

The 8th Edition FAQ's have been released. Which is funny because they read "Last updated July 10th". I'm posting from the future! Some big rulings for the Skaven in this one, a massive 7 page FAQ. All of the other army books are 2, 3 or 4 pages.
FAQ LINK

*The Doomwheel can shoot into combat.

*Strength in Numbers works along with Steadfast. Add the rank bonus to LD after Steadfast is determined.

*Storm Banner effects ALL non-BS shooting on a 4+ (including Warpstone weapons)

*Doom-Flayer use the machines strength for Impact Hits

*The 13th spell removes only infantry models, if a larger character joined the unit they are placed 1" away from the new Skaven Clan Rats

*Giant Rats attack in 3 ranks, plus the Handler attacks.


Looking forward to getting some games in tomorrow!

The Vermin Lord couldn't wait for 8th Edition!

While anxiously awaiting my 8th edition rule book, that has already arrived at my local store but I can't pick up until 12:01am Saturday, I finally gave up reading blogs and started painting. So tonight I sat down and finished painting my Vermin Lord after reading some 8th Edition Skaven opinions. I decided I wanted to try him out this weekend if I can get someone to play 2500 points.