A Topsy-Turvy Battle with the Skaven

Hi guys. I posted a battle report including more pictures on my blog here:

http://dicewalla.com/blog/topsy-turvy-battle-with-the-skaven/

But the full text is below in case you like to stay right here in the Stronghold.

The battle was great fun. It looks like disaster and then turned around amazingly fast.

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The Skaven erupt from the underworld and pillage human town after the harvest. A human lord pays the Slaughterstone awakening to clear the town’s ruins of vermin before their numbers grow out of control. The ogres trundle towards the desolate town at dawn, only to find the rat men lurking behind the ruins with two infernal cannons. Swarms of skaven emerge, a huge abomination leaps from the ruins of the town temple and the battle begins.

The Slaughterstone Awakening
Tyrant (A): Iron Fist, Heavy Armor, Trickster’s Helm,Sword of Swift Slaying. 295
Bruiser BSB (A): Great Weapon, Armor of Silvered Steel, Luck Stone. 191
Firebelly (B): Lvl 2, Dispel Scroll. 180
6 Ironguts (A): Music, Standard of Discipline. 293
6 Ogres (B): Music, Standard, Iron Fists. 244
10 Gnoblars: Trappers. 50
4 Leadbelchers (C): Bellower. 182
4 Leadbelchers (C): Bellower. 182
Sabertusk (D): 21
Sabertusk (D): 21
IronBlaster (E): 170
IronBlaster (E): 170

The Nasty Skaven
Warlord (1): 4+ ward
Skaven Wizard (2): Dispel Scroll, Channeling staff
60 Plague monks (1)
30 Clan Rats (2) and a Poison wind dude
55 Clan Rats (3) and a Poison wind dude
30 Clan Rats (4) and a Poison wind dude
Abomination (5)
Warp Lightening Cannon (6)
Warp Lightening Cannon (6)

We played the Meeting Engagement Scenario. One unit of clanrats (4) was delayed. My Gnoblars and one Sabrertusk were delayed. The numbers in the army lists refer to the annotations on the Turn one photo below.

Turn 1



The Skaven creep forward declaring no charges.  More clan rats creepy into the town. The winds of magic are puny and no spells are cast that the fiercely can’t dispel. The shooting begins, and a globe of Poison Gas explodes  causing 2 wounds to my Ogres, followed immediately by a warp lightening cannon blast that kills all of them except the Firebelly.

Lazy, slow Gnoblars wander onto the field late. The Firebelly rushes to join the Iron Guts. He attempts to bless the Leadbelchers with the Flaming Sword of Rhuin but is stopped by a dispel scroll. The Leadbelchers shoot anyway but each shot they land on the foul abomination takes no effect. The clan rats scurry to under cover and only one is killed by the shrapnel. The Iron Blasters both shoot at a Warp Lightening cannon and cannot aim well enough in the dawn light. A Sabertusk charges a Poison Wind Dude just arriving in town and kills him, then overruns into flank of some clan rats (4).

Turn 2

The Skaven hang back as the abomination runs heads first into the Iron Bellies. The cackles and but then sheiks as he is overcome by sorcerous energies. A dimensional cascade erupts sucking the Skaven Wizard Dimensional  and 14 clan rats in to the warp! One of the 1 warp lightening cannons crackles back to life and kills 3 Lead Belchers where they stand. In combat the abomination pummels a n Iron Gut to elly, but it dearly wounded by the ogres and reduced to one wound. In the background The feline Sabertusk causes fear in the rats, wins his combat by 1 and chases entire unit of clanrats off the board!

Both Ironblasters load too quickly as they see the second Warp Lightening Cannon turning to face them. The both misfire, one is cracked and will need repairs. The Leadbelchers kills one Clanrat again, the vermin are just too slippery to hit, they stow their cannon and prepare to charge. The firebally chants, and the Tyrant’s weapons flicker with magical fire. The tyrant kills the abomination before it has a chance to strike back.

Turn 3

Spotting easy prey one pack of clanrats charged the tardy Gnoblars who scattered before them. A snarling Sabertusk  blocked the path of the plague monks, but attacking it would have left them vulnerable to the Iron Guts. The horde of Clan Rats were also hampered by the plague rats in their path. Perhaps they were also intimidated by the site of the great abomination crashing the ground under Tyrants flickering sword. They hesitated, hoping the warp lightening would blast the huge ogres before the combat began. The ogres braced themselves but one  Lightning Cannons fizzled and the other shot wide of the Ogres.

The Ogres let out a great hurrah and surged forward. Fireball and Last Leadbelcher pummeled the rats pursuing the gnoblars. The last Ironblaster let ourt a roar knocks out one of the lightening cannons in mighty shot. At last! The Ironguts charge the plague monks. They win combat handily, the plague monks flee and are run down. Leadbelchers and both Sabertusks charge the Clanrats Horde, They also win and chase them down as well.

With their leader dead, and little hope remaining the surviving  Skaven flee back to the underworld.

Lessons Learned
Warp Lightening cannons are terrifying for Ogres
There’s no guarantee an Iron blaster will work, but when it does it it great.
Paul really should have brought a BSB. It was unlucky leadership rolls that did the Skaven in.
Successful blocking of the rats by one thundertusk in turn 4 made it possible for the charges that won the game.
Holy Crap ogres are good in a charge!

Excellent report - thanks for writing. How do you think your leadbelchers would have performed if they had been a single unit of 8 vs. two units of 4? It's very brave having a single lvl 2 against a magic heavy army like skaven, but he did fine.

Thanks.

I think two units of 4 leadbelchers was handy in this battle. It gave me more flexibility and they were close enough to the battle standard that one unit got zapped but didn't panic.

In my last battle the my Slaughtermaster Dimensional Cascaded himself, just like the Skaven wizard did in this battle. I' ve had similar experiences a few times, and I really like the tyrant. I was lucky that this particular group of Skaven didn't have a lot magic themselves. I figure the Firebelly is pretty nice even if he doesn't get any spells off.