Adepticon – Warhammer Championships– Round 3 – Jeff Swann - Skaven

Jeff had played my friend the previous round, and I had watched the tail end of the game.  I didn’t learn any secrets that I couldn’t have figured out on my own.  He had beaten Sean, and I had complemented him both on his list design and his painting.  I had asked him why he hadn’t horded up to block up the table space and prevent the skinks from getting around.

When I saw we were matched up, I wasn’t sure what to think of my chances.  I have played as skaven a lot, but not much against them with my list (well none with my list and maybe once with the last book).  I had just told him that hording to block space would cause a list like mine problems and was kicking myself for giving him the tip as now he could use it against me.

The game didn’t start out well as Jeff began explaining to me how soft his list was based on some comp that his local group uses.  I knew my list was hard, it’s a tournament, and I built it using the rules of the event.  I’ve taken soft lists to hard events before also.  Seems Jeff took Skaven to Masters, which was also a composition event, and told me this was the same list but then contradicted by saying the Masters doesn’t allow special characters.  But the whole comp question didn’t matter.  We were both playing lists we had designed using whatever balance we wanted and theoretically both were legal.

In the end I enjoyed the game, and ended up giving Jeff my second favorite opponent.  Turned out that despite giving me at least a decent sports score (don’t know for sure as scores are private, but my final score didn’t reflect a poor score in one game), Jeff would go back to his Facebook group and talk trash about me and my list.  He didn’t accurately reflect my list in his post, nor every aspect of the game.  I’m not sure how much was how he felt and how much was just him excusing his loss to his friends.  I do find it interesting though, because at the end of the game he asked for my blogspot and offered me a card with his group’s facebook.  Either he didn’t expect me to actually check or he just didn’t care if he smiled to my face and then said shit behind a computer screen.  I want to say that I enjoyed our game and am disappointed that he did not and regret that he didn’t feel he could communicate such directly to me but instead felt the need to insult me later and publically.

Terrain:  All forests are mysterious.

Deployment: Blood & Glory

Special Rules

Breaking does not end the game.

Bonus Points

+2 for breaking your opponent

+1 for general still being alive

(Plus 3 Points for Terrain)

The List

Warlord, shield, warlitter, sword of anti-heroes, dragonhelm, talisman of endurance, the other trickster’s shard

Grey Seer, power scroll, 2 extra warpstone tokens, foul pendant

Chieftain, BSB, obsidian lodestone, ironcurse icon

Engineer, level 2, doom rocket, condenser

Enginner, brass orb

45 Slaves, musician, champion, shield

45 Slaves, musician, champion, shield

30 Clanrats, full command, shields, poisoned wind mortar

20 Clanrats, full command, shields, ratling gun

39 Giant Rats, 5 packmasters, Skweel Gnawtooth

5 rats, 1 packmaster

5 rats, 1 packmaster

5 Gutter Runners, slings, poison

Doomwheel

Doomwheel

Warp lightening cannon

Warp lightening cannon

I like this list.  Its not my style of Skaven.  I personally can’t stand doom wheels and cannons, but I respect their use and knew they would cause me problems.  I did like to see only one small pack of gutter runners as they can cause me major problems.  The character set up had me assuming both a doom rocket/condenser and a brass orb (he had something modeled and we talked about conversions some).  I didn’t know what the seer had but assumed power scroll which would mean no dispel scroll in the list.  I had no idea what the warlord had, but assumed not fellblade as he was the general.

I knew the 5 large units were going to give me problems as I didn’t really have any tools to whittle them down.

Magic

I took searing doom on my metal wizard and spirit leech and soul blight on my death wizard… that’s right, this game I was packing TRIPLE soul blight.  Crazy.  Too made I had a T1 minimum, but every extra wound I could do would matter with 45 man units.

His engineer took howling warpgale and warplightening.  His grey seer, which didn’t have its spell breakdown on the list, rolled 2 on each lore.  He ended up with Plague, Skitter leap, Scorch and Death Frenzy.  Also 2 warpstone tokens.

At first the skitter leap had been defaulted to 13^th spell, but I pointed out that I didn’t have any infantry and so the spell was uncastable.  I thought that was a good start to the game, my helping him.  He ended up taking skitter leap.  Not sure what the other spell in the lore was, but plague is a great lore and so it probably would have been better.  Plague was what I feared though, as I personally have wrecked face with it (two games in a row irresistibly casting it on turn 1 and bouncing it through their entire army and leaving them with less than half their starting models – doom rocket helped also – it’s in a large part how I took top place at Bay Area Open in 2012).  Anyways, I was deathly afraid of plague getting off.  Major respect.

Skweel would roll extra attack on the rats, putting the unit at 24 attacks plus Skweel.

Deployment

Jeff spread out his deployment fairly widely.  The character bunker went in the center, flanked by the two slave units.  One more step out was the second unit of clan rats and the giant rats.  The corners each got a cannon, a doom wheel and a rat dart.

I also spread out, but focuses my two character bunkers in the center of the table.

The gutter runners didn’t scout, but instead went sneaky to come on a board edge later in the game.

I vanguarded up to mid-field, spreading out my dark riders and relying on my ward save to save me from the upcoming cannons and doom rocket (and limited space prevented me from spreading out too much with the doom fire warlocks).

I get the first turn.

Deployment above, vanguard below.

Turn 1 – Dark Elves

I wasn’t sure what Jeff’s plan was going to be, but if I were him it would be to move the units up along side the building (to cover a flank) and sweep the back with the doom wheels, using their random movement to hunt me down.  I didn’t want that.  I also knew that the way for me to kill his army was through panic checks on the big units, which could then be directed with charges and flees.  To accomplish that I needed to kill the warlord.  But I also needed to kill that dang grey seer.

What I needed to do was to put him on his back foot with a good solid move right now.  Not to brag too much, but what I did was inspired.  What I did was take my extra master and move him up within an inch of his clan rat block but outside of either of the slave units sight.  The idea being that if he does nothing, I can charge him, choosing my placement and kill the wizard.  If he charges, I flee and if I’m lucky he catches me in the center of the table and too far up for the slaves to protect from a counter from my bunker.

On the flanks I also move up, respecting the doom wheel, though on the right I give him 2 units that he can charge with the idea that the other will squeeze by and take out the cannon.  A costly risk given the cheap nature of a warp lightening cannon, but one I felt would pay off in the long game as it would also discourage the doom wheel from moving forward.

I rolled a 9/4 magic phase.  I started with a 3D doom bolt which failed.  A 4D irresistible spirit leech at the grey seer reveals the 2+ WS from the MR 3 and 5+ ward save.  It was something I assumed, but wasn’t something I could assume and so not cast – if he hadn’t had it I would have felt look a stooge.  The miscast kills a warlock and ends the phase.

In shooting I kill the packmaster off the left unit.  The other I kill not only the packmaster, but a rat and cause the unit to panic.  I also put two wounds on the right doom wheel and 1 wound on the left cannon.

Turn 1 – Skaven

The rat dart, now missing its packmaster charges the dark rider unit.  Reacting to my play as I had hoped, the clan rats charge the solo master.  The left unit of slaves also charges.  The clan rats failed, but the slaves caught the master.  The other slave unit moved up to try to block my unit from the counter charge.  There was some going back and forth in the movement phase, for example he took his reform on the slaves half way through his movement phase.  I didn’t mind, its all premeasure anyways.

The doom wheel flanks the centerish dark riders, leaving the left unit alone to fight the giant rats.

The broken dart runs off the table.

A 5/6 magic phase has me dispelling a 3D howling warpgale and allowing a 2D skitter leap on the brass orb engineer.  The engineer is placed in such a way that even a misfire would hit my center bolt thrower.

The doom wheels each kill 3 dark riders in the shooting phase.  I get extremely lucky and the doom rocket misses my bunker.  The brass orb does roll the misfire, killing both the bolt thrower and the enginner – netting him 5 points but shutting down the shooting.  The cannons both misfire on the second roll.  The plague wind mortar kills 3 doom fire warlocks.

In combat the doom wheel kills the dark rider unit and my dark riders kill the giant rats, but get to do so on a chase and so move closer to the cannon.

Turn 2 – Dark Elves

Thanks to the 1” rule, the slaves haven’t successfully blocked up the entire space, leaving room for 1 model to move through.  So I use my potion of foolhardiness and send in my dreadlord to fight the entire skaven character bunker solo.

I also charge the cannon with the dark riders and put the bunker into a doom wheel.  This requires me to clarify.  My first though was how was I charging both the large doom fire warlock and a dread lord separately.  Upon reflection and inspection of my pictures, I should note that I had put fighty characters into the smaller doom fire warlock, creating a split with my casters and fighty characters – unlike in past games.  This allowed me to split my combat effectiveness and explains how I did this turn without cheating.

An 8/6 magic phase has me casting a 2D Soulbilght on the doom wheel in combat, the dispel attempt is failed.  I then 3D spirit leach and pick up the right doom wheel, getting all 3 dice back (11/6).  A 3D soul blight on the general’s unit is dispelled.  A 3D soulblight on the general’s unit then gets off.

In shooting I kill 6 off the smaller clan rat unit.

In combat I pop the doom wheel with my large doom fire warlock unit along with the cannon.  My dread lord gets challenged by the champion, and I do 10 wounds though only get credit for 6.  He holds on steadfast 10.

Turn 2 – Skaven

No charges this turn and the gutter runners don’t come on.

The front slave unit turns around to face the rear of my dread lord, preventing the giant rats from really moving anywhere.  Seems my goals with the characters were successfully confusing his battle plan, even if not yet netting me any points (down 150ish in fact for the play – though it left me open to clean up 500 ish in doom wheels, cannons and giant rats).

An 11/6 magic phase starts with a irresistibly cast 4D howling warpgale.  The miscast wounds the engineer and takes 4 dice (7/6).  I then dispel the 3D warp lightening.

The rattling gun, lined up to kill dark riders in a position to take out the second cannon misfires on the second roll, turning and killing 1 clan rat.  The plague win mortar does 1 wound to my general, who failed his look out sir and kills a doom fire warlock.  The cannon kills 3 more warlocks.

In combat, I kill some clan rats, but lose on static and flee and escape due to the slave unit mess.

Turn 3 – Dark Elves

I charge the cannon, losing a dark rider.  My large warlock moves around the back of his army, while the rest moves around.

The lord does rally.

I roll a 12/6 magic phase.  A 4D spirit leech on the BSB is dispelled.  A 4D doom bolt on the clan rats leaves just the engineer.

In shooting I kill both weapons teams, the engineer and 1 clan rat off the bunker.

In combat the cannon dies.

Turn 3 – Skaven

Down to just the 4 blocks and associated characters, Jeff basically just reforms around.  The slave unit does charge rallied lord.  Both the clan rats and giant rats turn to face the back of the table and the encroaching doom fire warlocks.

The gutter runners don’t come on.

A 4/3 magic phase has a 3D death frenzy on the bunker unit that I fail to dispel.  A 2D skitter leap on the grey seer is dispel (can’t have him running from my charge!).  he used a token for that.  He then picks up 2 extra tokes I didn’t know about, plus 1 did plus the power scroll and casts plague.  I don’t recall why I didn’t dispel scroll it.  It puts a wound on the death caster and kills 1 doom fire warlock.  He then rolls a 1 and instead of giving it to his units and risking it coming back on me, I end it.

The dreadlord kills 2 slaves and holds in the combat.

Death frenzy kills 1 clan rat.

Turn 4 – Dark Elves

With death frenzy up and not knowing what was on the characters, I put 2 dark rider units into the clan rats.  I also knew that the giant rats would be counter charging and therefore expected some space to be clear for counter charges on my next turn.

A 9/4 magic phase has a 3D soul blight being attempted 3 times.  I get 2 off and drop the clan rats to S1/T1.

I shoot and kill 1 giant rant and a pack master on the big block, barely making a dent.

In combat I kill the grey seer, put a wound on the general and then lose 3 dark riders.  He holds, losing his death frenzy.

My lord kills a slave and holds.

Turn 4 – Skaven

The giant rats flank the dark riders.

The gutter runners come in.

With no magic we move to shooting where the gutter runners kill 1 dark rider in his deployment zone.

In combat the dreadlord kills 4 slaves, and he holds.

The dark rider units get owned, with one dying and the second breaking.  At this point I’m content to leave things be.  I have the win, with him not being able to take it back.  We also each have near full points (I’m at full).  But wanting the fleeing dark rider unit, Jeff pursues with both the giant rats and clan rats into my larger doom fire warlock unit.  In order to get full points I need to keep my general alive, and I don’t want to lose the game either.  Don’t mean to say that Jeff shouldn’t have done that, I’m sure he wanted the win also.

Turn 5 – Dark Elves

No charges and my dark rider unit rallies.

I get another 9/6 magic hpase.  I again cast 3 3D soulblights, failing 1, 1 is dispelled and one goes off on the clan rats which will have more attacks directed at them due to Jeff’s placement.

The bolt throwers kill 2 gutter runners which pass their panic.  I also kill 3 slaves in shooting.

In combat, my lord again kills 4 slaves and he holds.

In the big combat, squeel challenges and I accept with my BSB.  My BSB owns him.  My general slaps down his general.  I also kill 3 clan rats and 3 giant rats.  I lose the metal caster in the attacks back.  He holds, or I hold, didn’t mark who won and it was close (I think he won based on a quick count).

Turn 5 – Skaven

The gutter runners join the combat in the flank.  The last slave unit charges dark riders but fails.

In combat, my lord kills 3 slaves and holds.

In the big combat, I kill his BSB and 5 clanrats.  I lose 2 doom fire warlocks.  The clan rats then break and run.

Turn 6 – Dark Elves

Unable to pick up the clan rats I move a little.  A 6/3 magic phase has me 6D bubbled soulblight.

I put some shots into the clan rats, but didn’t note how many I killed.  Only mattered if I got them below 25 percent.

In combat I kill off the gutter runners and kill some giant rats.  Jeff holds and reforms.

My lord again kills 3 slaves and passes his test to hold.

Turn 6 – Skaven

With just rallies for his non-combat part of the game, the clan rats do rally, reforming to claim a terrain feature.

In combat the slaves lose to the lord and fail their panic, killing 3 giant rats.  I kill 8 more giant rats in combat but he holds, ending the game.

Another solid full point win.  Jeff did manage to pick up some of the secondary points but I remained unbroken and his general was dead so I think it was just 2 terrain pieces.

Again, I had a blast with this game.  I was happy with my play, especially with the master maneuver followed up with a dread lord to basically shut down his entire center while I cleaned up the flanks.  There was a little luck thrown in there taking out the doom wheels, but I feel like I put myself into the position to get that luck.  4 years of playing competitive skaven seemed to really help me in playing against them.