Thursday 21 October 2010

First blood with the rats

Well, had the first 2 "official" league games with my rats this week, which makes a grand total of 4 games played with skaven, ever.
First up was against some High Elves. The game was far closer than it had any right to be, due to some decent rolling from me and some fairly abysmal rolling from my opponent (obviously the new warchief dice I was using!). High point was a motley unit of clanrats holding their own against some swordmasters. In the end though, it ended as it always seems to, with the tattered remains of my army routing from the board.
Second game was against a cool looking (no pun intended; they were snow based) Dark Elf cavalry army. 3 units of Dark Riders and some Cold One Knights. I knew I was in trouble but held up a little better than expected, seeing off a unit of riders and the knights before I was finally outmanoeuvred and out shot. Not enough bodies or fire power to really contend with fast cav. Something to keep in mind for future blocks, I think. The other notable point of this game was it was the first time (in a total of 4 games with my rats) that a weapon team hit something that wasn't my own men! It failed to kill anything, but it's a start at least.

So, 2 losses, and unfinished painting as well. Not a very good start, but hey, the only way from here is up!


Here are my thoughts for expanding to 1k:
2 more pack masters, 4 more rat ogres.
10 more clan rats for each unit
Quezla, level 2 warlock with warp energy condenser
upgrade Rattagantz to a Warlord, give him a Warlock enhanced weapon.

So my list should look like:

LORDS
Rattagantz, Warlock Weapon

HEROES
Quezla, lv 2, WEC, Pistol

TROOPS
30 Clan Rats, Spears/Shields, Warp Fire Thrower

30 Clan Rats, HW/Shield, PWMortar

SPECIAL
6 Rat Ogres, 3 Pack Masters
987 points (Enough left over for an Enchanted Shield for my lord, perhaps?)


Adding a wizard seems like a solid choice, both from a fluff perspective and also from a game play one. Quezla is the core of my army, providing all the fun weapons I'll be adding in at larger points values, and a bit of extra ranged spell damage wont go amiss (or more likely it will, with disastrous consequences).
30 Clan Rats should hopefully help me maintain my rank bonus a little longer, and see each unit be that little bit more survivable. Hopefully.
Upgrading mr.Gantz to a lord is for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's still quite early in the league so whilst skaven lords are not the combat monsters some are, the extra fightiness should help out quite a bit (with the warlock weapon he can dish out 5 strength 5 attacks at a decent I and ok WS). Secondly, bumping him up to a lord frees up some of my hero % points, so I can probably squeeze a cheap BSB into my list next block. Finally and most importantly, the extra point of LD is sorely needed!

4 comments:

Andrew K said...

Maybe forego the Warlord and add in a BSB?

Rob said...

I think the BSB is a bit pricey to add in as well right now.
He'll definitely be in the next block though!
How are your skaven coming along?

Andrew K said...

I've not painted any more! I need to though...

MCT said...

Hey Rob, I'm just getting back into 40k, where you playing atm?