I was so unimpressed with the way the Bubonic Court worked last time I played, I think I’m done with it for now.  It sacrifices too much of what it doesn’t have in the name of getting too little.  Plus, if I’m going to play in Dragon Wars, it’d be nice to refresh myself as to how the rest of the army I’ll be playing is supposed to work.

I’m playing a game against Harry on Saturday.  There’s a comp tournament next weekend, so he’s prepping for that.  My list unintentionally meets all of the comp tournament’s rules, save that I’m including a Dogs of War Giant, but he’s okay with that.  (I doubt it will make a difference, anyway).

Ratputin Returns
Skaven – 2,250 points

Lords & Heroes

• Warlord – General, Heavy Armor, Cautious Shield, Foul Pendant
• Chieftain – BSB, Heavy Armor, Storm Banner
• Assassin – Weeping Blade
• Warlock Engineer – Condenser, Warp-Blades, Dispel Scroll, Storm Daemon

Core

• Clanrats x27 – Musician, Standard, Ratling Gun
• Clanrats x26 – Musician, Standard, Ratling Gun
• Giant Rats x24 – Packmasters x4
• Giant Rats x24 – Packmasters x4
• Night Runners x10 – Throwing Stars
• Night Runners x10 – Throwing Stars
• Poisoned Wind Globadiers x2
• Poisoned Wind Globadiers x2
• Slaves x20 – Musician
• Slaves x20 – Musician

Special

• Gutter Runners x7 – Poisoned Hand Weapons, Poisoned Throwing Stars
• Gutter Runners x7 – Poisoned Hand Weapons, Poisoned Throwing Stars
• Warplock Jezzails x7

Rare

• Giant
• Warp-Lightning Cannon

That’s 15 drops with 205 models.

I’m trying a number of different, new things out here.

• The Giant, for one.  This started out with a decision to include some Ogre Ironguts but transformed into a “A Giant is more likely to suck down (and survive) all of my enemy’s fire,” decision.  Plus, it looks like it’ll be goofy and fun.
• Gutter Runners.  I’m probably making a mistake here by taking so many of them, and by making them so expensive (those poisoned weapons increase their cost by 50%), but it’s something I’m not used to using.  I really need a way to deal with enemy warmachines, and these are it.  Initially one of these was a Tunneling Team, but after rereading the rules on that… no way.
• Similarly, I’m taking slightly larger than usual Night Runner units of 10.  In a few months, I’ll be taking blocks of 25, but for now they skirmish and I’m used to units of 5.  I hope that, with groups of 10, they’ll be better at screening.  I’ve given them Throwing Stars to eat points: this Mainstay Unit stuff makes list construction difficult: if you can’t afford to buy another unit of Clanrats, you’re sort of stuck trying to find places to spend a few more points.  It will, hopefully, make them a bit more of a threat, though.
• I’m only taking seven Jezzails for two reasons.  Seven is the magic number for these small units: it keeps them small (and cheap) while maximizing the number of models you need to kill before they break and run away (note that I don’t say “test to see if they break and run away”).  I’d take two units of them… but I only have ten Jezzails.  I hope we see plastic ones in a few months before I buy up to fourteen (but I’m not holding my breath).
• As it turns out, I’ve always done The Cautious Shield wrong, thinking that if I give up my attacks, I can force a model to lose an attack.  What it actually does is automatically force a model to lose an attack and, if I give up all of my attacks, it forces them to lose two attacks.  That’s twice as useful!
• I’m probably going to get my teeth kicked in on Magic.  (Heck, I’m probably going to get my teeth kicked in anyway, since I can’t outfight, outshoot, outmagic or outmaneuver any other army right now).  Just one caster, with one scroll probably isn’t going to be enough… but I want to play with the Assassin.