WaaaghPaca 2013: Round #1 - Skaven

For Round 1 of the tournament I played Brad Schwandt.

This is Brad, but he is perhaps better known as Rhellion from the forums and his blog. Round 1 pairings were based on RHQ rankings and as Brad and I were close together (I think at the time they pulled rankings he was 29th and I was 32nd) we were paired together.







For this tournament Brad was playing a really nasty Skaven list (especially at 2000 pts.). His list for the tournament was:
Grey Seer

• Screaming Bell, Power Scroll, Lore of Ruin

Chieftain

• Battle Standard Bearer, Heavy Armor

Warlock Engineer

• Level 1 Wizard, Lore of Ruin, Dispel Scroll

Warlock Engineer

• Doomrocket

Stormvermin (40 models, full command, Storm Banner)

Clanrats (29 models, full command, shield)

Skavenslaves (38 models, musician)

Skavenslaves (38 models, musician)
Skavenslaves (38 models, musician)
Gutter Runners (5 models, Poisoned Attacks, slings)
Hell Pit Abomination
Doomwheel
Warp Lightning Cannon

This is an extremely tough list. It was definitely the toughest list I faced all tournament and probably the toughest list at the tournament. This is also one of the hardest, tough-as-nails lists that you can make with Skaven at 2000 points. It is a list that will perform extremely well regardless of Generalship (which is not to say that Brad is not a good general, his top 30 placing in RHQ testifies to his good Generalship skills) as many of the normal units this army has to worry about are not present at 2000 point (like the extra Ironblaster or second Empire Cannon, etc.).

There is no doubt that this list is designed for maximum carnage with no thought to theme or fluff. There are units from every major Skaven clan except for Pestilence (which would be present at 2500 points) and all of the really nasty units and items: the Screaming Bell, Doom Rocket, Hell Pit Abomination, large blocks of slaves, and a Doomwheel. Further, the list includes the Storm Banner on the Stormvermin in an army design that has several different shooting attacks including the Gutter Runners, Doomwheel, Warp Lightning Cannon, and Doomrocket. It simply has the best of everything that could be fit in for the points cost. This is the only army I played all weekend where I felt like I needed to quit playing Wood Elves at tournaments and, as such, this list did not get my check mark for army I would be willing to play again.

Brad, however, did get my check for opponent I would be willing to play again because despite his list, and the fact that we were both a little worse for the wear on Saturday morning (him a little bit more than me I think), we had an enjoyable game and good banter and conversation going on back and forth.

This is Brad's army in all its devastating glory!












And Brad's "Rat of Intrigue."












Pre-Game:
For this round, Brad and I were playing Dawn Attack with the following exceptions: (1) the player who traveled the farthest to WaaaghPaca! decides who picks table sides; (2) any unit generating fortitude does not have to roll for random deployment and may deploy normally; and (3) the player who picked table sides decides who takes the first turn.

The "Man of Intrigue's" special rules for the round were as follows:

• The "Man of Intrigue" is "the party boy." His unit must use the ambushers special rule.
• The ambushing unit will always come in on one of the opponent's deployment areas by rolling a d6 in the same fashion as deployment.

Battle points were awarded as follows:

• 3 battle points awarded for winning the game by more than 100 victory points.
• 2 battle points awarded for winning or losing the game by less than 100 victory points.
• 1 battle point is awarded for losing the game by more than 100 victory points.
• An additional 1 battle point is earned for ending the game with a unit in at least two of the opponent's deployment areas (right flank, center, or left flank).

I was the player that traveled farthest and chose the side I had just walked up to. Neither side offered any advantage as there were four buildings on the board (two on each side) and both were 4 inches from the deployment zone so neither player could start in a building. The only other terrain piece was in the extreme right flank and gave units within 6" a minus one to their leadership characteristic (this terrain piece would have absolutely no effect on the game whatsoever).

We rolled for spells and Brad got Warp Lightning on the Warlock Engineer and Howling Warpgale, Death Frenzy, Crack's Call, and the Dreaded 13th Spell on his Grey Seer. In turn, my Spellweaver ended up withg Wyssan's Wildform, Flock of Doom, Amber Spear, and Curse of Anraheir.

For ambushing units, I chose a unit of Dryads and Brad chose a block of Skavenslaves. And with all the pre-game shenanigans out of the way, I moved onto deployment.

I'm trying something new with these reports and adding a little bit more ongoing narrative theme. We'll see how it goes.

Deployment:

Lord Ashur looked across the desert landscape, his elf eyes looking for any clue that would lead him to understand how he came to this land. The last moments he remembers only provide sporadic images; marching with a small raiding force through Athel Loren and hearing a strange slithering sound - as if the roots of the trees ahead were pulling themselves from the soil. As his force reached a bend in the paths and shadow fell across the trail he remembers taking another step and . . . and what? He draws a blank and looks at the group of scouts returning from the few abandoned Orc huts that scattered the landscape.  

"Lord," Raelle shouted above the wind, "there is nothing left of the Orcs who once populated this valley. They must have deserted this area many seasons ago." 

"And this bothers you" Lord Ashur questioned, noticing the worried look on Raelle's face and the strain in his voice. 

"No, my lord. But we have spotted something else on the horizon; a rather strange sight. It looks like a giant tower being pushed by a large force." 

Lord Ashur smirked. "Prepare yourselves, an enemy is coming." 

"But what enemy, my lord." 

"A most devious kind. It is the foul forces of the Skaven. Their corrupt magics must have pulled us from the shadow paths and to this place. We will make them pay for their error and I will question their master personally." With a curt nod Lord Ashur's troops began to fan out into the surrounding landscape, knocking arrows into drawstrings.

As I had chosen the table sides, I had to deploy my entire army first. I rolled for those few units that did not have fortitude and was lucky to get a pretty standard battle line. In my extreme left flank I deployed a single unit of Dryads and an eagle. Moving further towards the center I deployed each unit of archers in turn with one unit of archers behind each of the two buildings just outside my deployment zone. Finishing out my center deployment zone was the large unit of archers with a unit of Dryads directly in front of them for protection. In my right flank I deployed my remaining unit of Dryads and the other eagle.

Seen here is the Dryads on the right flank as well as the first three archer units deployed in a semi-circle formation.










This is my right flank at the start of the battle.












Brad's deployment was a lot less spread out. Brad rolled well on his units without fortitude and he was able to capitalize by placing everything pretty much in the center of his deployment zone and in a coherent battle line.

From my left flank, Brad deployed a unit of slaves with the Warlock Engineer with Doomrocket, the Warp Lightning Cannon, and the Hell Pit Abomination with the unit of Clanrats with the Battle Standard Bearer behind that. The center of his battle line was held by the Stormvermin pushing the Grey Seer on his bell. Covering his right flank Brad deployed another unit of slaves and the Doomwheel.

After initial deployment, Brad's Gutter Runners scouted on the left flank of the table outside of the Dryad's charge range.

Turn #1:

"My Lord, battle lines are readied and the troops wait your orders." Raelle shouted, hoping his voice carried over the desert winds and the cacophony being raised by the Skaven as the marched their army in position.  

"Fill the skies, of course." Lord Ashur retorted. "Bring their large contraptions and monsters down and the rest of the army will run away. Have the Dryads move along the flanks picking off those rats that try to flee from us. And contact Weaver Kale, I want the unit pushing that giant bell prevented from moving."  

Raelle did not wait to see the small flick of the wrist that he knew meant he was dismissed. He had far more important concerns, like hoping the archer detachments had enough arrows to kill the forces the outnumbered them three to one. 

As I chose table sides, I got to decide who went first and so it was up to the Wood Elves to start the game. I tried to solidify my position in the center by maximizing the number of archer units that could shoot at the Doomwheel on the first turn. Having played Skaven for several years I knew how devastating the Doomwheel could be to an elf army as I would not be able to flee its charge because of its Random Movement special rule.

I kept the units at maximum range as I did not want to get closer to the Skaven battle line then I had to and so I made sure to keep my back rank at 29 1/2" away from the Skaven lines.

On my left flank the Dryads marched straight at the Gutter Runners while the eagle stayed behind to make itself more useful in the coming turns.

On the right flank the farthest unit of archers moved into the building while the other two Dryad units marched cautiously towards the Skaven flank.

I managed to roll a paltry two magic dice for the first magic phase, but was satisfied when the Level 4 manged to cast Curse of Anraheir on the Stormvermin's unit! But alas, it was not to be as the Grey Seer unrolled his Dispel Scroll, snickering as its protective magic kept the Stormvermin from harm.

The first Wood Elf shooting phase of the game was equally disappointing. No less than sixty shots (including the Lord's) were aimed at the Skaven Doomwheel. Although a fair number managed to hit the evil contraption, the arrows bounced harmlessly off its armor plating; only a single wound being inflicted. (I think I managed to hit the Doomwheel roughly forty times, and out of those dice I rolled a single 6 to wound. But at least is was a single wound which Brad was nice enough to fail the armor save on.)

The remaining archer unit that had moved into the building could not see the Doomwheel and instead chose to fire at the Stormvermin unit. In a stark contrast to the rest of the army's shooting, this one unit managed to kill three Stormvermin. And with that, the turn passed to Brad.

It was at this point that I had my first thought that I shouldn't have tried to kill the Doomwheel and instead, should have focus fired on the Stormvermin. Even at long range I would have likely killed a full rank or more of the nasty creatures. In truth, I debated shooting at them first, but when it came time to actually roll some dice, I chose the Doomwheel as my target.

In contrast to my appalling first turn, Skaven Turn 1 was devastating and set the tone for how the entire battle would play out. With no charges to declare, Brad proceeded to the compulsory movement phase which saw the Hell Pit Abomination move straight forward into the center of the board and the Doomwheel slam into the nearest slave unit (to save itself from moving into possible charge range by a unit of Dryads) killing three lowly slaves with its impact hits. The rest of the Skaven movement saw the rest of the army march forward towards the Wood Elf lines.


This was the Skaven battle line after the movement phase. Not pictured are the Gutter Runners on the left flank who moved towards the Dryads but stayed at maximum charge distance.








In the magic phase, the Stormvermin pushing the bell moved forward an additional 5" putting all of my archer units - including the units with the Highborn and the Battle Standard Bearer - into range of the Curse of the Horned Rat spell. Brad rolled very well for magic and the Warlock Engineer successfully cast Warp Lightning at the Dryad unit on the right flank, killing 2. The Grey Seer then successfully cast Death Frenzy on the Stormvermin unit over the Spellweaver's horrible dispel attempt (I managed to roll three 1's). Finally, the Grey Seer used the remaining six dice to cast the Curse of the Horned Rat on the small archer unit with my Battle Standard Bearer. An irresistible force prevented my mage from reading his Dispel Scroll and the Wood Elf army watched in disbelief as the archer unit with the Battle Standard Bearer were mutated into a unit of clan rats (11 strong) before their eyes. The resulting miscast was a 9 which wounded the Level 1 Warlock Engineer while the Grey Seer passed his 4+ ward save. Ouch!!!

The Skaven shooting phase was not quite as epic. The Warp Lightning Cannon targeted an archer unit in the center of the board but the lightning ball fell two inches short of the unit. The Doomwheel failed its test to restrain shooting and rolled a misfire! Brad rolled a 1 for my benefit and put four more wounds on the Doomwheel (only 1 left!). On the left flank, the Warlock Engineer with the Doomrocket fired it at the cluster of archers in the center of the board but fell far short (Brad manged to roll two 1's and a handful of 2's - though I was really hoping for another 1 to be in the mix at this point). Also on the left flank the Gutter Runners took aim at the closest unit of Dryads with their slings and killed four of the forest spirits from five poisoned hits. (The tournament theme for this weekend was that Dryads never make ward saves!!!).

At the end of the Skaven turn, four Stormvermin fell to the effects of Death Frenzy (only 33 left in the unit; sigh!).

Turn #2:

Lord Ashur gasped as he saw the banner drop from the noble's firm grasp. He watched in horror as his elves, kinsmen he had known for hundreds of years, were turned into vile beasts. The shock of such desecration rooted the remaining archers. All eyes turned toward their lord, seeking some sign of what they should do. Lord Ashur attempted to compose himself. 

He opened his mouth, preparing to give fresh orders to the rest of his army, when suddenly the desert wind picked up and clouds of thunder swept over the valley. As he looked into the sky, Lord Ashur could only wonder what strange sorcery was he witness to now.

At the start of Wood Elf Turn 2, the sneaky Stormvermin used their Storm Banner, grounding the eagles and causing a minus 2 to all shooting. On the left flank, the remaining four Dryads declared a charge against the closest slave unit but fell short. In the center of the battlefield, the archer units moved out of the newly formed clan rats' line of sight while attempting to maximize the number of archer units with models in close range of the Stormvermin (I was extra careful in my movement so that the closest unit's rear rank was just within 15" of the Stormvermin). While on the right flank the Dryad units moved into position to be able to charge next turn; one unit moving towards the center of the board while the other turned to face the clan rat unit in my deployment zone.

I also succeeded in bringing my ambushing unit of Dryads onto the board and they entered play in the center of the Skaven deployment zone right next to the Warp Lightning Cannon.

In the magic phase, another low roll for the Winds of Magic saw the Wood Elves with only four dice. An attempt to case Flock of Doom at the Doomwheel failed, as I rolled a 1. As this would have ended my magic phase, I used my re-roll for the round to successfully cast the spell and push through the last wound on the Doomwheel, destroying the infernal construct. Next, the Spellweaver's attempt to curse the Stormvermin was again dispelled by the Grey Seer.

In the shooting phase, every single shooting attack at my disposal (a good portion of which were at short range) was fired at the Grey Seer and bell. Do to a combination of the Storm Banner and poor dice rolls, out of the roughly sixty shots, I only caused a single wound on the Grey Seer and no wounds on the bell.

At this point I knew I had made the wrong decision in not shooting the Stormvermin from the beginning of the game. From now on, every chance I get, I will be targeting the unit pushing the bell until the bell is no longer able to move. 

Skaven Turn 2 began with a charge.

The slaves on the left flank declared a charge at the Dryads who had failed their charge on the previous turn and successfully made it into combat.










The rest of the Skaven army continued its impeccable march forward. The Hell Pit Abomination moved around the side of the building to be out of sight from the large archer unit with the Banner of Eternal Flame while the Stormvermin pushing the bell marched 10" straight towards the nearest archer unit (putting the Stormvermin at just over 4" away from the closest archer unit). The ambushing slaves failed to come onto the table and the Storm Banner continued to cover the battlefield in stormy weather.

In the magic phase, Brad rolled for the bell and succeeded in pushing the bell forward. Luckily for the archer unit, he only managed to roll a 2 meaning that the archers would not be in combat this turn. Unfortunately, Brad wisely chose this dice to re-roll with his and promptly rolled the 5" necessary to make it into combat. Good bye archers!

This is what my line looked like when the bell's unit slammed home. Having that clan rat unit in my deployment zone really tweaked with my ability to move my archer units out of harm's way (and so did the bell's special rules which prevent me from declaring a flee reaction).







For Winds of Magic the Skaven rolled low, as the Grey Seer attempted to cast Howling Warpgale to further diminish my shooting potential with the help of a Warpstone Token. The spell was successfully dispelled by the Spellweaver and the Grey Seer took a wound for his trouble from the Warpstone Token (dropping him to only a single wound remaining).

With the Storm Banner still up Brad neglected his shooting phase and moved on to combat. In the combat on the left flank, the Dryads struck first and killed the Warlock Engineer and a few slaves. In return the slaves failed to kill any Dryads.


The Dryads then successfully passed their break test, but it looked like it would just be a matter of time before the slaves brought the Dryads down through attrition.








In the Stormvermin combat, the elves struck first (as the bell was not in combat with the unit it could not inflict any impact hits) and killed off a few more Stormvermin (yay!). In return, the Stormvermin butchered the elves, leaving only a few left alive. The archer unit then failed its break test and turned to flee but was caught by the over eager rats who then collided into the next archer unit.

Here is the bell crashing into the next unit of archers. This outcome was really inevitable but I was hoping that the other archer unit would at least get away so that I could rally on the next turn and provide an additional speed bump to the Stormvermin before they made it into the more important units (like those with characters or the Banner of Eternal Flame).






Turn #3:

Lord Ashur saw his army collapsing before him. The large bell contraption had managed to hit his lines unscathed and the rest of the Skaven army was working on surrounding his force. The strange wind was grabbing the elven arrows out of the sky causing his massed Glade Guard to miss in uncountable numbers. The few forest spirits he had included in his army were slowly being ground down by untold numbers of hungry rats and the ruinous powers of the Skaven leader, laughing atop the giant bell. If there was any way that he could salvage the situation and bring his forces back from the edge of defeat that ugly grey creature had to die.  

Wood Elf Turn 3 saw my best attempt at changing the momentum of the game. At the start of the turn the Storm Banner ceased its vile magics and the storm swarming around the battlefield quietly dissipated. The Dryads in the Skaven deployment zone charged the Warp Lightning Cannon while the Dryads on the right flank, along with an eagle, charged the other slave unit with the Level 1 Warlock Engineer. Finally, the Dryads in the Wood Elf deployment zone successfully charged the clan rats that used to be the archer unit with the Battle Standard Bearer.

Successful charge #1.












Successful charge #2.

Successful charge #3.












The rest of the Wood Elf forces tried to move away from the Stormvermin. The remaining eagle flew into the far right corner of the battlefield. The large archer unit moved to try and see the Hell Pit Abomination. The Highborn left his archer unit to see the Gutter Runners while the un-engaged archer unit turned around and moved away from the bell hoping to put some distance between the units.

Once again magic failed the Fey and the Spellweaver was only able to cast Wyssan's Wildform on the engaged archer unit. My hope being that strength 4 archers might be able to push through the last wound on the Grey Seer.

In the shooting phase, all enemy units within range were engaged, leaving the remaining archer units no viable targets. The Highborn took aim at the Gutter Runners, but their agility kept all but one from being hit and killed.

In combat, the Dryads attacking the Warp Lightning Cannon made short work of its crew and quickly dismantled the machine, turning to face the rear of the clan rat unit with the Skaven Battle Standard Bearer. The Dryads on the right flank performed well against the slaves, butchering an entire rank of the filthy beasts but two of the forest spirits were destroyed as well. The angry spirits stayed to continue the fight for another round.

Against the small clan rat unit, the Dryads made quick work of their former comrades, killing seven of their number and preventing the unit from being Steadfast. The rats broke from combat and were easily ran down as they attempted to flee.

On the right flank the Dryads slaughtered the slaves killing ten of their number while the eagle killed the Warlock Engineer depriving the Skaven of some of its foul magic. In return, the slaves wounded the eagle. Despite the Wood Elves winning the combat, the slaves passed their Steadfast leadership test. The bloodletting would continue!

Finally, in the center of the board, the Wood Elf archers failed poorly against the Stormvermin. The bell itself accounted for six of the archers from its impact hits, significantly reducing the number of archers that could attack the Grey Seer. The elves struck back, but only managed to kill a single Stormvermin (all attacks against the Grey Seer either failed to hit or failed to wound. Drat!). The Stormvermin then proceeded to kill all of the elves and reformed to face the next archer unit in its path.

Skaven Turn 3 saw the Stormvermin unit charge the next archer unit it could see. The Gutter Runners moved into the center of the board to see the eagle in combat with the slaves and the Hell Pit Abomination continued its move around the building, hiding from the large archer unit. Next the ambushing slaves finally arrive and enter in the right flank deployment zone, next to the Hell Pit Abomination. The clan rats in the northern part of the board attempted to march away from the Dryads who had destroyed the cannon, but failed their march test and sauntered forward only 5", keeping the unit within a favorable charge distance.

Ouch!!! Another unit is about to go down.












In the magic phase, to put insult to injury, the Grey Seer successfully casts Howling Warpgale over the Spellweaver's dispel attempt. Knowing that I had no dice left to try and stop his next spell, the Grey Seer reached into his cloak and pulled out a Power Scroll, hoping to cast Curse of the Horned Rat on the large archer unit with my Level 4. The spell was successful, but now it was time for the Spellweaver to read his own Dispel Scroll, dissipating the mutating energies.

In the shooting phase, and with the Warlock Engineer no longer a concern, the Gutter Runners took aim at the eagle in combat with the slaves. Two successful poisoned attacks later and the eagle crumpled to the ground, yellow foam forming at its mouth.

In the combat phase, more Wood Elf units fell. On the left flank, the slaves managed to kill the two remaining Dryads, clearing the entire left flank for the Skaven. Over on the right flank, the Dryads killed another handful of slaves, but lost three of their number in return (Once again failing all of the 5+ ward saves I was required to make). Finally, in the center, the Stormvermin and the bell crushed the unit of archers completely and overran off the board, thereby sparing the unit a turn of close range shooting.

After combat, the slaves successfully reformed to face the Dryads who had managed to kill sixteen of their number so far.

A good round of combat saw the Stormvermin overrun off the board. This saved the unit not only from a full turn of close range shooting from the remaining archer units, but also from having to lose any more models to Death Frenzy.

Turn #4:

Lord Ashur turned to see the Skaven leader chase down another unit of archers with his clanging bell. The coward had managed to put too much space between the two leaders so Lord Ashur was forced to find other enemies to fight. In the distance he spied the sleek form of rats running in his direction, one carrying a giant banner, that looked like they were in need of a butchering. With a cry on his lips, Lord Ashur lifted his sword and charged. 

With the Stormvermin off the board and the Hell Pit Abomination behind the building there wasn't that much for me to do in my Turn 4. In the north, the Dryads in the Skaven deployment zone charged the rear of the Clanrat unit with the Battle Standard Bearer hoping to make up lost points but the cowardly creatures fled towards the center of the board. Luckily, Brad rolled high and after moving the unit, the Clanrats were now within the maximum charges range of the Highborn. The Highborn then charged the Clanrats causing them to flee again and move back towards the Dryads. Unfortunately (do you see a pattern yet?), the Dryads failed the charge (I only needed to roll a 5 on the two dice, but managed to only roll a 3) and so the Clanrats with the Battle Standard Bearer were not run down. Another poor dice roll in a game of poor dice rolls that saw roughly 300 victory points escape my grasp.

In the magic phase my attempt to cast Flock of Doom at the Gutter Runners was dispelled.

In the shooting phase the two remaining archer units targeted the Gutter Runners, but Howling Warpgale, long range, and skirmishing kept the archers from causing any damage. And here I thought Wood Elves were supposed to have the best (or close to) shooting in the Warhammer world.

In the combat phase, the slaves and Dryads on the left flank continued to duke it out. The Dryads chopped another rank from the slaves, but another two Dryads fell in return. The slaves passed their Steadfast test and combat would continue for another round.

At the beginning of Skaven Turn 4, the Stormvermin pushing the bell came back onto the board and moved towards the Highborn who failed his charge in my turn. The rest of the Skaven army that could, moved into my deployment zone to secure Brad the bonus objective points.

In the magic phase the bell moved forward and crashed into the Highborn (but Brad chose to only base the Highborn with Stormvermin and not the bell, so no impact hits would be inflicted). The Grey Seer continued his magical domination by casting a Crack's Call at my Spellweaver with irresistible force. I picked up a single die and watched as my Level 4 fell into a giant hole that opened up beneath him. The Grey Seer walked (or rolled) away from the miscast unharmed.

In combat, the slaves managed to finally beat and run down the Dryads on the right flank. In the center combat, the Highborn killed a handful of Stormvermin but took two wounds for his trouble. Having only won the combat by a few points the Highborn passed his break test, but it was pretty obvious to both of us that he was going to die on my turn granting Brad leave to charge the large archer unit with the Stormvermin on turn 5.

Rather than continue with the inevitable (and because there was only 10 minutes left in the round) we called the game as both of us had managed to get the major objective of having two units in the opposite deployment zones. Brad walked away from the table with the full 4 battle points and I walked away with 2 battle points for my 1000+ point loss.

Lord Ashur looked up at the snickering grey rat, a sneer etched on his face. He was tired, and bleeding from several wounds. The heavily armored rats attacked him with unrepentant fury and Ashur felt his strength failing. He had tried to call the grey rat to fight, but he was laughed off as the horde of rats surrounded him. With his last ounce of strength he slashed the throat of another rat turning in time to see a rusted halberd descend towards his neck. As the blade fell Lord Ashur closed his eyes and prayed the Fey would have their revenge. 

Unit of the Match:
The unit of the match was undeniably the Stormvermin and Grey Seer on bell. Thus unit accounted for well over 1,000 points of my army including four units of archers, my Battle Standard Bearer, my Level 4, and the Highborn general. Here is the unit in all its glory: