It’s been a little bit since I last posted what I was running Skaven-wise.  This is, without a doubt, just as well… it can’t be terribly interesting to folks.  This is doubly true as week-to-week, I just make small changes here and there.

I’ve shifted my army a little more dramatically than usual, though, and figure it’d be nice to think out-loud about it.  This is a slight update to the list I ran last week.  So, here goes:

Lords
Warlord – General, Sword of Swift Slaying, Enchanted Shield, Foul Pendant, Poisoned Attacks
Grey Seer – Dispel Scroll, Talisman of Protection, Skalm

Heroes
Chieftain – BSB, Armor of Silvered Steel, Shield
Warlock Engineer – Lvl 2, Doomrocket, Warp Energy Condenser

Core
Clanrats x29 – Shields, Full Command, Poisoned Wind Mortar
Slaves x30 – Shields, Champion, Musician
Slaves x29 – Shields, Champion, Musician
Stormvermin x29 – Full Command, Poisoned Wind Mortar

Special
Gutter Runners x5 – Slings, Poisoned Attacks
Rat Ogres x6 – Champion
– Packmasters x4
Rat Ogres x6 – Champion
– Packmasters x4

Rare
Doomwheel
Plagueclaw Catapult
Warp-Lightning Cannon

So, what’s going on here? A few things:

For starters, I’m going very character-heavy. All of my dudes are pretty thoroughly kitted out.  I’ve never really done this.  We’ll have to see if this holds up over a couple of games.

• The Warlord is kitted out to be somewhat hard to kill, with a 3+/5+, and should be relatively dangerous in combat with the ASF + Poisoned Attacks.  Last week, I ran him with the Ogre Blade and a Potion of Toughness: I think (I’m not caffeinated enough for the math) that he’ll be more dangerous with ASF (his I7 giving him rerolls against most things) and poison than with S6.  Also, the potion didn’t really seem to make a huge difference last week… and I needed points elsewhere.
• Between Rhellion and Charlie hard-selling the Grey Seer, I’ve decided to try running him.  He was a champ last week, for sure.  He’s got the Dispel Scroll, because he’s the only guy with room for it, the 4+ Ward Save (because, at 240 points before items, he needs as good a save as he can get) and, because it seems prudent, Skalm.  This might be a mistake, and it’s certainly easy enough to move those 50 points somewhere else…. but it made a difference last week.  If I think of each wound on this sucker as being worth 80 points (1/3rd of his cost), it’s steal.
• The BSB is no longer toting the Stormbanner.  I’ve moved that to the Stormvermin.  This lets me give him some magic armor to make him more survivable: a 2+/6+ has got to be more useful than a 4+/6+, you know?
• Down to the one Engineer.  I could easily see myself dropping him to a Lvl 1… but for now I’m sticking with the Lvl 2.  I’m kind of stuck with his options, because they’re both too good not to take.

The inclusion of the Seer means I have to drop Something.  240 points don’t grow on trees.  So: I dropped a block of Clanrats.  I’m a little skeeved to only be running two blocks of significant troops (I don’t count Slaves as significant), but I’ve got to see how it works out before I decide I hate it.

Gutter Runners are in, they’ve been champs for me.  Just five dude but a whole lot of poisoned slingin’.

Rat Ogres are still there: I’ve bumped them up to 4 Packmasters each.  What’s that?  Only six Ogres, but 4 Packmasters?  I got this from the interview with Charlie.

The rule says “A pack consists of 1 Packmaster and 2 Rat Ogres.  Any number of Rat Ogres can be added to the unit.  Packmasters can be added, but no more than 1 per every 2 Rat Ogres.”  The 1:2 ratio applies to additional Packmasters, not total Packmasters (which is what I’d originally thought).  This is supported by the Skaven FAQ, which says:

Q. Can I take a unit consisting of 2 Rat Ogres and 2 Packmasters
when I pick an army? (p104)
A. Yes.

Anyway, I like this, as it makes it a little harder to eliminate Packmasters from the unit and, more importantly, makes the unit look better.  It looks lop-sided with just three Packmasters: two behind the middle Rat Ogre and then one hanging out to either side.

In terms of rares, I still love my Doomwheel, and the Cannon’s performed quite well for me.  The Catapult is back, as I’ve got 100 extra points and I’m giving it a second chance.  I could take a second cannon, but lack the model, or a third block of slaves, but painting another 30 slaves would probably kill me.  So, second chance.

Anyway, I’m going to get in a few games with this style of list and we’ll see how I feel about it in a couple of weeks.  This week sees the real kick-off of the IFL’s 8th Edition League, so there should be a lot of gaming.