So yeah, no updates since February eh? So here's whats been happening:
My health has not been the best these last few years and more recently I have been heavily focused on sorting out paperwork and appointments for support that it has been a central focus of what little energy I have. Can report that things are almost set up so with any luck I may have a routine that will hopefully mean I am more motivated to focus on stuff like this, though this also means I am now officially disabled due to my mental illness. Not proud of it, but have to accept it in order to move on with my life. I've cut myself off from things like mobile games and as much political and internet based drama as the first is a terrible addiction while the latter is no good for my mental health.
I still haven't given up my ideas for video projects (such as the ship, puppets, vfx etc.), so with any luck the additional support might help me slowly get started on those. I do occasionally come up with new or altering ideas, so let's just hope things go well down that path.
Miniature wise, projects are still going. I apologise for not getting any photos up (let alone not updating my DeviantArt account), but have manage to achieve the following (which people tell me I should be proud of):
+ 10 Dire Wolves: Made from 9 Fenrisian Wolves and 1 Doom Wolf converted from Thunderwolf cavalry mount. Makes my Death faction feel more like it is in the Realm of Beasts.
+ Re-based 10 Freeguild Archers, 1 Witch Hunter, 1 Unforged and 1 Jade Wizard for my Order faction.
+ Working on a Death Guard Kill-Team. Have 4 Zombies and 1 Marine with Bubotic Axe done. Currently WiP is two more Zombies, a Marine Champion with Power Fist and Plasma Pistol, 1 Marine with Flail of Corruption, 1 Marine with Plasma Gun, 1 Marine with Blight Launcher, 1 Marine with Plague Spewer and 2 Marines with Boltguns. All are nearly finished, just need some slight work but once done will give me some options for getting into Kill-Team games (as soon as I can get some support to actually interact with people for games).
Slow but steady they say. I have lots more to do, but life just isn't right at the moment to deal with that. I do have some Moonstone coming, so I will talk more about that over the next few weeks. As such. I will try to make an effort (and by that I mean really force myself) to get back into writing on this thing again. I know I'm well overdue for another Animated Reflections post and I want to start my video projects soon so I can document actual progress here.
Sadly, things like depression and aggravation really get in the way, plus this being a Desktop PC I work from and not a Laptop means getting up and setting everything up takes more from me then you'd think. I do apologise for the lack of updates, but I hope I can really get back into do a few positive posts in the near future.
Until then.....
Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Friday, 15 February 2019
Short Review: Skaven Battletome
So here was a book that came out of nowhere, but was something people have been wanting for a while. So the big question is, was it worth the wait?
Let's find out.
The Lore
Like all these revamped factions, the Lore section covers events from the Age of Myth up to current events (which in this case is the Soul Wars). Not much is given from the world that was other then the Great Horned Rat saved some of his children and placed them in the various Mortal Realms, commanding them to spread and multiply. Blight City is also hinted that it may have been the original Skaven city (called Skavenblight back in the days of Warhammer Fantasy Battles) and that this city no much larger and is founded on a mass of Warpstone (Magical rock fully corrupted by Chaos according to this book).
Skaven are a cross between the darkest aspects of our society and a cartoon villain. They are egomaniacs, obsessed with their own greatness and believe that they and they alone are chosen and favoured of the Great Horned Rat. They are cunning, cruel and manipulative. They will ally only when it suits them and a quick to back stab them just as quickly. However, for all they posses in such skill to rise to the top, so too do their flaws that equal such benefits. See, arrogance leads to being blind to the flaws of their own self. Not only that, but paranoia is on par with their own ego, so they all believe that everyone is out to get them (and in some sense, that is true). The result sees them spending more time dealing with rivals among their own kind then they do other enemies and even their most cunning of plans can fall apart in battle as they seek opportunities to take out rivals instead of focusing on the opposing army. When things do fail, they are quick to point the finger at underlings to take the fall and shift blame whenever possible. A true Skaven leader is likely to sacrifice a large number of his own minions to escape being killed in combat, for life is cheap in Skaven society and the only life that matters is your own.
Back on topic, the book talks about the Council of Thirteen, which consists of thirteen seats of which twelve are constantly fought over while the thirteenth is left vacant for the Horned Rat himself (because thirteen is the Great Horned Rat's sacred number). When needed, the Verminlord Lord Skreech Verminking will emerge to represent the Horned Rat in order to direct the Council (and punish some of them) in a direction more suited to their God and his own plans.
This brings us to the Shadow Council, consisting of Thirteen Verminlords with, of course, Lord Skreech Verminking being the Thirteenth. Beyond Skreech, the other twelve positions switch and change among the rat daemons on a constant basis. These guys manipulate the Council of Thirteen, but also the various Clans for their own advantages.
Ah yes, Clans. In Age of Sigmar, the term Clans has taken over Clan (so Clan Skryre is now Clans Scryre) and there is a reason now behind this. There are a tone of Clans out there, but all tend to be subsections of one of the main Clans (Verminus, Skryre, Moulder, Pestilens, Eshin and the Masterclan). As such, the term Clans means the various Clans that walk a particular path associated with and aligned to, one of the major Clans. This is also meant to explain why you can play have your army more focused on a particular Clan, yet still have models in another.
But now it's time to address the Elephant (or in this case, Rat Ogor) in the room: Grey Seer Thanquol. Thanquol is one of Games-Workshops most beloved and popular Skaven characters and he is in Age of Sigmar, but unlike other characters from the world that was, he is not a God or Demigod. The last we heard of him was that he had taken a seat on the Council of Thirteen and was looking to seize a seat on the Shadow Council, but that is was hinted that Archaon had killed him. The book has rumored that he was imprisoned by the Great Horned Rat long ago for some major error and that he has gnawed his way out of that prison. Since that time, his ego and paranoia has increased tenfold and is possibly considered insane by other Skaven. None can tell if he is blessed by the Horned Rat or is on the run from him and is extremely lucky, but given the item descriptions, it sounds like his antics have amused the Horned Rat and sometimes he steps in to protect him, but from Thanquol's point of view it seems that his luck is down to his genius and even his Staff of the Horned Rat is more an item he cunningly acquired as opposed to have been blessed with. Clearly, it seems that perhaps he is seeking power beyond that most Skaven can dream of. Maybe he seeks to be the next Great Horned Rat? Given his current state of mind, it maybe possible.
Allegiance Abilities
So this is going to be a big one, as there allegiance abilities are split into two parts, army rules and hero rules. Also note that all Skaven now have the Skaventide keyword and so any army created from this book is a Skaventide army.
Army rules consist of:
Lead From The Back - Skaven leaders have always been cowardly and this rule best represents it, allowing them to gain the Look Out, Sir! rule in the combat phase.
Scurry Away - Instead of pilling in and attacking, your hero instead runs away. Useful if you need to keep him alive a little longer for your master plan.
Overwhelming Mass - The old rules for Clanrats/Stormvermin in which if you have 20 or more models you get +1 to Hit in melee and if you have 30 or more then you get +1 to Wound in melee. This is a rule linked to the Vermintide Keyword, so units from other Clans can now use this rule for their own units.
Strength in Numbers - Skaven bravery tends to be around the stellar number of four, so to show how brave they are in larger numbers, you can add 2 to their Bravery for Battleshock tests instead of 1 for every 10 models in the unit. This makes it more useful to have larger units as they will stand strong early on before tending to break late game (but should buy you all the time you need for your master plan to work).
The second part depends on the Heroes you take. While the General of your army will get to pick their Command Ability (unless their a Clawlord, whom up to six can pick a command ability each) and will determine what units can also be battleline, each Clan hero will have their own style which will effect how they will function in your army. The Verminus Clawlords above are one example, while Clans like Skryre get their Warpstone Sparks from the old Generals Hadbook allegiance (with some alterations) or maybe you have an Eshin Deathmaster, so you can pick one enemy Hero (per Eshin Hero) to be their target that game and Eshin units will get re-roll wound rolls against that Hero.
As such, picking your Heroes becomes more tactical for your army as you may want certain benefits that only some Clan Heroes provide or perhaps you really want to focus on a particular clan, so having more of the same Hero type will work to bolster your army.
Finally, lets talk about Gnawholes. In my Gloomspite Gitz book review I placed the Loonshrine in the Warscrolls section, when really it should have been talked about in this section (since tecnically it is part of having that armies allegiance). Going to learn from that with this review. Anyway, Gnawholes are a free terrain collection consisting of three pieces. These a placed after terrain, but before armies and have restrictions on where they are set up. In battle, if you have a Hero next to it they can send units from their tunnel to another tunnel across the board, essentially allowing you to either secure objectives early or send in counter-attacks later on. They also provide a buff to Skaven Priests and Wizards while counting as deadly terrain to non-Vermintide units. Great feature for Skaven, but you can still play without them and still be effective.
Traits & Artifacts
Oh boy, this one is just too large to have any real discussion on, so I'll really slim it down. The reason is that there are a total of six major Clans and each Clan has its own Command Traits and Artifacts list, which takes up nine pages as it is.
That said, the first three Command Traits are all repeated on each Clan. One let's you re-roll wound rolls of 1 for melee attacks for the General, the other is a sort of 4+ shrug that you use to pass off a wound to a nearby Skaventide unit within 3" of the General and the third is at 1 to Bravery of all Skaventide units wholly within 18" of General. That means the other three Command Traits for each Clan are exclusive to them.
Artifacts are too long to go into any real depth in this short review, but that said, most of Eshin's are Once Per Battle items, with Warpweeper Stars being the only permanent item for battle and since I have no experience with Eshin units I can't really tell how effective these one use items are. Even the Skryre list feels limited to me (apart from the Warpstone Spark generating item, which if you use a lot of Skryre heroes is always a good thing).
Spells
There are three types of Spells for Skaven: Grey Seer Spells, Clans Skryre Spells and Endless Spells. The Grey Seer list has six spells in it, with the ever popular Skitterleap to either send or keep Heroes out of battle and Warpgale to deal with units with the Fly rule.
Skryre on the other hand, has only a list of three spells. This is because they tend to spend more time building machines then mastering their magic. There is a Chain Warp Lightning spell, a kind of overload type spell to let a Skryre unit re-roll hit and wound rolls until your next hero phase, at which that unit then takes D3 mortal wounds. My favourite is the Warp Lightning Shield, which lets you ignore up to three allocated wounds in each phase, but if you suffer four wound in that same phase, the shield immediately unbound and that Hero suffers D6 mortal wounds (the first three wounds allocated in that phase were still ignored, so that fourth wound is instead D6 mortal wounds). I imagine some Skaven yelling 'I'm invincible' before his barrier explodes and he is vaporized.
Finally, we have three Endless spells, Vermintide, Warp Lightning Vortex and Bell of Doom. Warp Lightning Vortex is three models that a placed in a triangle formation 7" apart and cause mortal wounds to units that within 6" of a Vortex model, with bonuses to those rolls if they are within 6" of 2 and 3 of those Vortex models. Bell of Doom is a predatory spell that grants Vermintide units immunity to Battleshock while within 13" and non-Vermintide units within 13" have -1 Bravery, the spell move 3D6, but on a 13" it is dispelled and all units within 13" take D3 mortal wounds. Finally my favourite is Vermintide, a predatory spell which is a giant mass of rats that swarm forth, which can wound models within 6" of it after it has moved, but also to units that move or charge within 6" of it. Oh, and Skaventide units aren't effected by the spell and can move over it as in the same manner as a model with the Fly rule. Rats, Rats everywhere.
Path to Glory
Compared to Path to Glory book, most of the units have been brought together and put in more limited lists for Clans. Pestilens has now been added to the listings as well to complete the lists. The new Warlock Bombardier has been added, Jezzails have gone down from 3 to 2 and now Weapons Teams have their own list, which of course, brings us to...
Warscrolls
There have been a number of changes to some of these Warscrolls, but one I did notice is that the Poisoned Wind Mortar team is no longer in the book. Despite having a plastic mini that they could of repackaged, they instead just straight up removed it. It still has a points listing in the General's Handbook, but don't be too surprised if it disappears in the not too distant future. Oh, and as for the Warpfire team? They decided to just pump out the old metal model instead of the plastic one. Again, no idea why, but since I don't have the old metal one, I guess I could use another one.....maybe. This also goes for the Skaven Deathrunner from the Silver Tower game as well.
That said, nearly all Skryre weapons have the overcharge option, with new ways to fail it and killing you instantly for failing (after the attacks have been resolved first). This reminds me of the days when we had misfire tables. My Warp Lightning Cannon would explode on turn 1, my Mortar team explode on turn 2 and I still won the game. This feels like Skryre, giving you great killing power at the expense of loosing the unit. Very risk vs reward, which is what I love in my miniature games.
So lets look at a few other ones that I noticed while going through the book (since it is a large book and I'm not an expert with most Clans).
Stormfiends:
Did these guys get a nerf or what. If you were a player who equipped these guys with all the same weapons or mostly the same, you might want to check your bitz box to see if you kept the other options. Now, one third of models (rounding up) can have either Warpfire Projectors OR Windlaunchers, one third of models (rounding up) can have either Grinderfists OR Ratling Cannons and finally, one third of models (rounding up) can have either Doomflayer Gauntlets and Warpstone-laced Armour OR Shock Gauntlets and Warpstone-laced Armour. Skryre seems to have had a bit of an overhaul and the Stormfiends are an excellent example of this (I expect raging from some Skaven players on forums over this unit in particular).
Grey Seers (Both mounted and on foot):
These guys no longer have Command Abilities, but to compensate for that, they (being menbers of the Masterclan) count each Clans own battleline units as their own if they are the General. This means if you have a cheap Grey Seer as General, units like Skryre Acolytes, Rat Ogors, Plague Monks etc count as Battleline units. That and the spell list thing.
Also, they removed the rule where if you rolled 13 on the Screaming Bell you automatically won the game. What gives GW? That was a great rule. Trying to distract your opponent before faking your roll with a rigged dice and then having a good chuckle over it with them before doing a serious roll, what happened to having a little fun?
Arch-Warlock/Warlock Engineers/Warlock Bombardiers:
They now have an overcharge on their melee weapons (range weapon for the Bombardier) so that there damage characteristic increases for the attack, but an unmodified hit roll of 1 will dish out D6 mortal wounds to your Hero. Even their Warp Lightning Storm (Arch)/Warp Lightning can be overcharged, but watch out as failure to cast or if the spell is dispelled then you will take a back lash of D6 mortal wounds. This was changed from when the Warlock Engineers were able to overcharge their Warp Lightning spell and only suffer the D6 mortal wounds if the casting roll failed.
Warp Lightning Cannon:
Now has a normal save of 4+, removing the bonus save vs shooting to give it a regular save. It also has it's own overcharge ability (if there is a Warlock Engineer within 3" of it) which lets it roll 12 dice instead of 6 for its attacks, but for every unmodified roll of 1 on those 12 dice it takes D3 mortal wounds. So I guess you either have to roll lucky or use it as a last ditched effort, otherwise you could end up loosing this weapon too early in the game.
Warpfire Throwers (Various units):
So instead of doing D3 mortal wounds (D6 on an overcharged) it is now pick a unit within 8" and roll a dice for each model in that unit and on a 4+ it takes a mortal wound. This changes the tactics of using them against Hero and Monster units and more against grouped units, which in my opinion is more like what a flamethrower like weapon would do. I imagine it will make some players alter their lists to make this change in tactical style.
Deathmaster:
Formally known as Assassins, there have been a few changes with his attacks. His stars now have twice as many shots, but wound on a 5+ instead of a 4+, yet if you roll an unmodified 6 to hit, it counts as two hits instead of one. He can also run and shoot as well. However, he no longer gets the bonus vs heroes (my guess is that if you want a hero killer then you should probably have him as a General) and while his Weeping Blades are still the same, his Fighting Claws option has lost its re-roll to hits of 1 in exchange for upping it's attacks from 5 to 7. Depending on what you want your Deathmaster to do will determine which melee weapon you want, but I will admit I have no idea if the changes are good or bad, mostly cause I've never used them beyond the old 8th Ed Warhammer Fantasy Battle.
Clanrats/Stormvermin:
They have been brought into line with current command units (so 1 banner/1 bell ringer per 20 Clanrats and 1 banner/1 drummer per 10 Stormvermin) and their shields for both units are no simply add 1 to saves if you have 10 or more models in a unit. Stormvermin had the biggest change, having their Murderous Ferocity rule removed, but have had their pitch battle profile changed from unit size max from 30 to 40 (to match the 20 you get in a box), yet the points cost for having the maximum amount is still the same as that in the General's Handbook and now are a Battleline unit regardless of General in the Skaventide army (due to the new Skaventide keyword).
Rat Swarms:
There still here and that just makes me happy.
(Side note, Skaven don't have allies unless your General is of Clans Pestilens, then they can pick Nurgle allies. Yes, any unit with Nurgle keyword, not just Deamons as it once was).
Battalions
With the exception of the Masterclan, each Clan has at least one Battalion, with my mortal enemies of Clan Pestilens getting four (three small ones which a needed to form one big one). The Clans Skryre one still has the same minimum unit limits (minus the Mortars) and for the bonuses granted are still good, with the points cost altered now to adjust for it.
The Clans Verminus one is quite easy to put together (let's face it, most Skaven players have Clanrats and/or Stormvermin) and grants them the bonus of when the Clawlord used his Gnash-gnaw their Bones Command Ability, it effects all Verminus units in this Battalion if the are within 13" of him (and if he is leading from the back, a Skaven wall of bodies around him shouldn't be too difficult to do this). The Clans Moulder one grants a buff to the Master Moulders Command Ability to bring back a destroyed unit on a 4+ instead of a 5+ and in the Clans Eshin one you want the Deathmaster hidden so that in the combat phase in which he reveals himself, all units in this Battalion get to re-roll hit rolls for that phase.
Final Thoughts
Where do I begin. Let's start with what was not here. The removal of units that have a plastic version but not an official packaged version. The Deathrunner and Poisoned Wind Mortar are certainly two that I have no idea why they were removed. Much like the Gloomspite Gitz, I really don't understand this decision and the lack of anything new doesn't help for many other Skaven players (Eshin just lost another Hero and they haven't had much love in some time). Heck, we are still waiting for the return of the Warlord on Rat Ogre Bonebeaker into Age of Sigmar.
I also feel that not a lot of information was given about Thanquol, his motives and his future plans. I can only hope that we get C.L.Werner working on a new Thanquol & Boneripper series, cause I loved his previous series and am so looking forward to new tales of my favourite Skaven by my favourite Skaven writer. While the lore is good and gives you a great idea of what's going on, due to the constantly shifting Council of Thirteen, it feels near impossible to even feel like they are a threat. You knew most of the names of them back in Fantasy Battles because they had secured their seats for so long and were rightly feared, but this lot feels like a bunch of nameless bags of hot air and while Verminking might be the ever powerful Verminlord, we still don't know how much power he has compared to the Great Horned Rat. Like, is he really speaking for him? Is the Horned Rat taking over his body to speak or is he just pretending to speak for him to advance his own plans? I feel this is the one book where I never really got what the Great Horned Rat was really doing beyond 'these are Skaven and this is what Skaven do'. Perhaps a short story with the Horned Rat commanding Verminking or something may have helped established the connection a bit more. Also, strangely no mention of Breeders, female Skaven that are bred and drugged to be large and stupid so they are easier to use for breeding. May not seem like much, but Breeders are an important part of the Skaven race and to get no mention just strikes me as a little odd, considering you have to explain how they are capable of multiplying and spreading so far across the Mortal Realms.
So what about the good then? Well, this book unites the Clans in a way that lets you play them as a mixed bunch or as a single focused Clan. The rules and lore are designed to give you everything you need to form your own sub-faction Clan and create a group of Heroes to add to the playstyle (and hopefully back stab each other after the battle is over). The addition of Endless Spells means you may have to consider getting spell casters into your army, almost as a must have and the Gnawholes grant not only a few neat bonuses, but are an excellent way to move some of those larger units to places they are needed most.
I love the changes to most of Clans Skryre's inventions. The whole 'Risk vs Reward' style is one I'm more familiar with in Skaven and yes, while it was there previously, you had a better chance of surviving D3 mortal wounds then out right obliteration. Still not sure on the overcharges to spells for their heroes as it means that if you were to try to pull it off, it would have to be the last spell you cast for it to have a chance (and of course, be near a Gnawhole for that +1 casting bonus). Still as a massive Skryre fan, I feel I can work with these changes. After all, where's the fun playing Skaven if things don't go wrong so you can blame some underlings and have a few rivals suffer 'accidents'.
Beyond that, I am not too familiar with the other Clans to determine how well a single Clan themed army would go. I naturally assume that Clans Verminus and Pestilens will do fine, but as for Moulder and Eshin, I feel they might not do as well. I guess we'll see in the future how that all fairs out.
Overall, I feel this is the book that Skaven players have been waiting for. It consolidates all the Clans into a single book and still makes playing your favourite Skaven group viable. There are some rules and points changes that players may agree/disagree with, but overall this was a book I can absolutely recommend for any Skaven worth his fur. If GW keeps going in this direction with consolidating factions to be of a similar align with that of the old Warhammer Fantasy Battle, then you can expect not only more fun armies to battle with, but more previous players returning also. From all that I'm hearing at the moment from so many people, this truly is a great time for Age of Sigmar and Warhammer fans alike.
Finally, Skaven given the great-grand treatment they rightfully deserve. The will of the Great Horned Rat will be known and ruin shall be brought forth to all the Mortal Realms. We shall see all fail-fall until Skaven recognized as the true unrivaled and superior species yes-yes! Skaven shall rule all!
~Grey Seer Skratchnsniff
Let's find out.
The Lore
Like all these revamped factions, the Lore section covers events from the Age of Myth up to current events (which in this case is the Soul Wars). Not much is given from the world that was other then the Great Horned Rat saved some of his children and placed them in the various Mortal Realms, commanding them to spread and multiply. Blight City is also hinted that it may have been the original Skaven city (called Skavenblight back in the days of Warhammer Fantasy Battles) and that this city no much larger and is founded on a mass of Warpstone (Magical rock fully corrupted by Chaos according to this book).
Skaven are a cross between the darkest aspects of our society and a cartoon villain. They are egomaniacs, obsessed with their own greatness and believe that they and they alone are chosen and favoured of the Great Horned Rat. They are cunning, cruel and manipulative. They will ally only when it suits them and a quick to back stab them just as quickly. However, for all they posses in such skill to rise to the top, so too do their flaws that equal such benefits. See, arrogance leads to being blind to the flaws of their own self. Not only that, but paranoia is on par with their own ego, so they all believe that everyone is out to get them (and in some sense, that is true). The result sees them spending more time dealing with rivals among their own kind then they do other enemies and even their most cunning of plans can fall apart in battle as they seek opportunities to take out rivals instead of focusing on the opposing army. When things do fail, they are quick to point the finger at underlings to take the fall and shift blame whenever possible. A true Skaven leader is likely to sacrifice a large number of his own minions to escape being killed in combat, for life is cheap in Skaven society and the only life that matters is your own.
Back on topic, the book talks about the Council of Thirteen, which consists of thirteen seats of which twelve are constantly fought over while the thirteenth is left vacant for the Horned Rat himself (because thirteen is the Great Horned Rat's sacred number). When needed, the Verminlord Lord Skreech Verminking will emerge to represent the Horned Rat in order to direct the Council (and punish some of them) in a direction more suited to their God and his own plans.
This brings us to the Shadow Council, consisting of Thirteen Verminlords with, of course, Lord Skreech Verminking being the Thirteenth. Beyond Skreech, the other twelve positions switch and change among the rat daemons on a constant basis. These guys manipulate the Council of Thirteen, but also the various Clans for their own advantages.
Ah yes, Clans. In Age of Sigmar, the term Clans has taken over Clan (so Clan Skryre is now Clans Scryre) and there is a reason now behind this. There are a tone of Clans out there, but all tend to be subsections of one of the main Clans (Verminus, Skryre, Moulder, Pestilens, Eshin and the Masterclan). As such, the term Clans means the various Clans that walk a particular path associated with and aligned to, one of the major Clans. This is also meant to explain why you can play have your army more focused on a particular Clan, yet still have models in another.
But now it's time to address the Elephant (or in this case, Rat Ogor) in the room: Grey Seer Thanquol. Thanquol is one of Games-Workshops most beloved and popular Skaven characters and he is in Age of Sigmar, but unlike other characters from the world that was, he is not a God or Demigod. The last we heard of him was that he had taken a seat on the Council of Thirteen and was looking to seize a seat on the Shadow Council, but that is was hinted that Archaon had killed him. The book has rumored that he was imprisoned by the Great Horned Rat long ago for some major error and that he has gnawed his way out of that prison. Since that time, his ego and paranoia has increased tenfold and is possibly considered insane by other Skaven. None can tell if he is blessed by the Horned Rat or is on the run from him and is extremely lucky, but given the item descriptions, it sounds like his antics have amused the Horned Rat and sometimes he steps in to protect him, but from Thanquol's point of view it seems that his luck is down to his genius and even his Staff of the Horned Rat is more an item he cunningly acquired as opposed to have been blessed with. Clearly, it seems that perhaps he is seeking power beyond that most Skaven can dream of. Maybe he seeks to be the next Great Horned Rat? Given his current state of mind, it maybe possible.
Allegiance Abilities
So this is going to be a big one, as there allegiance abilities are split into two parts, army rules and hero rules. Also note that all Skaven now have the Skaventide keyword and so any army created from this book is a Skaventide army.
Army rules consist of:
Lead From The Back - Skaven leaders have always been cowardly and this rule best represents it, allowing them to gain the Look Out, Sir! rule in the combat phase.
Scurry Away - Instead of pilling in and attacking, your hero instead runs away. Useful if you need to keep him alive a little longer for your master plan.
Overwhelming Mass - The old rules for Clanrats/Stormvermin in which if you have 20 or more models you get +1 to Hit in melee and if you have 30 or more then you get +1 to Wound in melee. This is a rule linked to the Vermintide Keyword, so units from other Clans can now use this rule for their own units.
Strength in Numbers - Skaven bravery tends to be around the stellar number of four, so to show how brave they are in larger numbers, you can add 2 to their Bravery for Battleshock tests instead of 1 for every 10 models in the unit. This makes it more useful to have larger units as they will stand strong early on before tending to break late game (but should buy you all the time you need for your master plan to work).
The second part depends on the Heroes you take. While the General of your army will get to pick their Command Ability (unless their a Clawlord, whom up to six can pick a command ability each) and will determine what units can also be battleline, each Clan hero will have their own style which will effect how they will function in your army. The Verminus Clawlords above are one example, while Clans like Skryre get their Warpstone Sparks from the old Generals Hadbook allegiance (with some alterations) or maybe you have an Eshin Deathmaster, so you can pick one enemy Hero (per Eshin Hero) to be their target that game and Eshin units will get re-roll wound rolls against that Hero.
As such, picking your Heroes becomes more tactical for your army as you may want certain benefits that only some Clan Heroes provide or perhaps you really want to focus on a particular clan, so having more of the same Hero type will work to bolster your army.
Finally, lets talk about Gnawholes. In my Gloomspite Gitz book review I placed the Loonshrine in the Warscrolls section, when really it should have been talked about in this section (since tecnically it is part of having that armies allegiance). Going to learn from that with this review. Anyway, Gnawholes are a free terrain collection consisting of three pieces. These a placed after terrain, but before armies and have restrictions on where they are set up. In battle, if you have a Hero next to it they can send units from their tunnel to another tunnel across the board, essentially allowing you to either secure objectives early or send in counter-attacks later on. They also provide a buff to Skaven Priests and Wizards while counting as deadly terrain to non-Vermintide units. Great feature for Skaven, but you can still play without them and still be effective.
Traits & Artifacts
Oh boy, this one is just too large to have any real discussion on, so I'll really slim it down. The reason is that there are a total of six major Clans and each Clan has its own Command Traits and Artifacts list, which takes up nine pages as it is.
That said, the first three Command Traits are all repeated on each Clan. One let's you re-roll wound rolls of 1 for melee attacks for the General, the other is a sort of 4+ shrug that you use to pass off a wound to a nearby Skaventide unit within 3" of the General and the third is at 1 to Bravery of all Skaventide units wholly within 18" of General. That means the other three Command Traits for each Clan are exclusive to them.
Artifacts are too long to go into any real depth in this short review, but that said, most of Eshin's are Once Per Battle items, with Warpweeper Stars being the only permanent item for battle and since I have no experience with Eshin units I can't really tell how effective these one use items are. Even the Skryre list feels limited to me (apart from the Warpstone Spark generating item, which if you use a lot of Skryre heroes is always a good thing).
Spells
There are three types of Spells for Skaven: Grey Seer Spells, Clans Skryre Spells and Endless Spells. The Grey Seer list has six spells in it, with the ever popular Skitterleap to either send or keep Heroes out of battle and Warpgale to deal with units with the Fly rule.
Skryre on the other hand, has only a list of three spells. This is because they tend to spend more time building machines then mastering their magic. There is a Chain Warp Lightning spell, a kind of overload type spell to let a Skryre unit re-roll hit and wound rolls until your next hero phase, at which that unit then takes D3 mortal wounds. My favourite is the Warp Lightning Shield, which lets you ignore up to three allocated wounds in each phase, but if you suffer four wound in that same phase, the shield immediately unbound and that Hero suffers D6 mortal wounds (the first three wounds allocated in that phase were still ignored, so that fourth wound is instead D6 mortal wounds). I imagine some Skaven yelling 'I'm invincible' before his barrier explodes and he is vaporized.
Finally, we have three Endless spells, Vermintide, Warp Lightning Vortex and Bell of Doom. Warp Lightning Vortex is three models that a placed in a triangle formation 7" apart and cause mortal wounds to units that within 6" of a Vortex model, with bonuses to those rolls if they are within 6" of 2 and 3 of those Vortex models. Bell of Doom is a predatory spell that grants Vermintide units immunity to Battleshock while within 13" and non-Vermintide units within 13" have -1 Bravery, the spell move 3D6, but on a 13" it is dispelled and all units within 13" take D3 mortal wounds. Finally my favourite is Vermintide, a predatory spell which is a giant mass of rats that swarm forth, which can wound models within 6" of it after it has moved, but also to units that move or charge within 6" of it. Oh, and Skaventide units aren't effected by the spell and can move over it as in the same manner as a model with the Fly rule. Rats, Rats everywhere.
Path to Glory
Compared to Path to Glory book, most of the units have been brought together and put in more limited lists for Clans. Pestilens has now been added to the listings as well to complete the lists. The new Warlock Bombardier has been added, Jezzails have gone down from 3 to 2 and now Weapons Teams have their own list, which of course, brings us to...
Warscrolls
There have been a number of changes to some of these Warscrolls, but one I did notice is that the Poisoned Wind Mortar team is no longer in the book. Despite having a plastic mini that they could of repackaged, they instead just straight up removed it. It still has a points listing in the General's Handbook, but don't be too surprised if it disappears in the not too distant future. Oh, and as for the Warpfire team? They decided to just pump out the old metal model instead of the plastic one. Again, no idea why, but since I don't have the old metal one, I guess I could use another one.....maybe. This also goes for the Skaven Deathrunner from the Silver Tower game as well.
That said, nearly all Skryre weapons have the overcharge option, with new ways to fail it and killing you instantly for failing (after the attacks have been resolved first). This reminds me of the days when we had misfire tables. My Warp Lightning Cannon would explode on turn 1, my Mortar team explode on turn 2 and I still won the game. This feels like Skryre, giving you great killing power at the expense of loosing the unit. Very risk vs reward, which is what I love in my miniature games.
So lets look at a few other ones that I noticed while going through the book (since it is a large book and I'm not an expert with most Clans).
Stormfiends:
Did these guys get a nerf or what. If you were a player who equipped these guys with all the same weapons or mostly the same, you might want to check your bitz box to see if you kept the other options. Now, one third of models (rounding up) can have either Warpfire Projectors OR Windlaunchers, one third of models (rounding up) can have either Grinderfists OR Ratling Cannons and finally, one third of models (rounding up) can have either Doomflayer Gauntlets and Warpstone-laced Armour OR Shock Gauntlets and Warpstone-laced Armour. Skryre seems to have had a bit of an overhaul and the Stormfiends are an excellent example of this (I expect raging from some Skaven players on forums over this unit in particular).
Grey Seers (Both mounted and on foot):
These guys no longer have Command Abilities, but to compensate for that, they (being menbers of the Masterclan) count each Clans own battleline units as their own if they are the General. This means if you have a cheap Grey Seer as General, units like Skryre Acolytes, Rat Ogors, Plague Monks etc count as Battleline units. That and the spell list thing.
Also, they removed the rule where if you rolled 13 on the Screaming Bell you automatically won the game. What gives GW? That was a great rule. Trying to distract your opponent before faking your roll with a rigged dice and then having a good chuckle over it with them before doing a serious roll, what happened to having a little fun?
Arch-Warlock/Warlock Engineers/Warlock Bombardiers:
They now have an overcharge on their melee weapons (range weapon for the Bombardier) so that there damage characteristic increases for the attack, but an unmodified hit roll of 1 will dish out D6 mortal wounds to your Hero. Even their Warp Lightning Storm (Arch)/Warp Lightning can be overcharged, but watch out as failure to cast or if the spell is dispelled then you will take a back lash of D6 mortal wounds. This was changed from when the Warlock Engineers were able to overcharge their Warp Lightning spell and only suffer the D6 mortal wounds if the casting roll failed.
Warp Lightning Cannon:
Now has a normal save of 4+, removing the bonus save vs shooting to give it a regular save. It also has it's own overcharge ability (if there is a Warlock Engineer within 3" of it) which lets it roll 12 dice instead of 6 for its attacks, but for every unmodified roll of 1 on those 12 dice it takes D3 mortal wounds. So I guess you either have to roll lucky or use it as a last ditched effort, otherwise you could end up loosing this weapon too early in the game.
Warpfire Throwers (Various units):
So instead of doing D3 mortal wounds (D6 on an overcharged) it is now pick a unit within 8" and roll a dice for each model in that unit and on a 4+ it takes a mortal wound. This changes the tactics of using them against Hero and Monster units and more against grouped units, which in my opinion is more like what a flamethrower like weapon would do. I imagine it will make some players alter their lists to make this change in tactical style.
Deathmaster:
Formally known as Assassins, there have been a few changes with his attacks. His stars now have twice as many shots, but wound on a 5+ instead of a 4+, yet if you roll an unmodified 6 to hit, it counts as two hits instead of one. He can also run and shoot as well. However, he no longer gets the bonus vs heroes (my guess is that if you want a hero killer then you should probably have him as a General) and while his Weeping Blades are still the same, his Fighting Claws option has lost its re-roll to hits of 1 in exchange for upping it's attacks from 5 to 7. Depending on what you want your Deathmaster to do will determine which melee weapon you want, but I will admit I have no idea if the changes are good or bad, mostly cause I've never used them beyond the old 8th Ed Warhammer Fantasy Battle.
Clanrats/Stormvermin:
They have been brought into line with current command units (so 1 banner/1 bell ringer per 20 Clanrats and 1 banner/1 drummer per 10 Stormvermin) and their shields for both units are no simply add 1 to saves if you have 10 or more models in a unit. Stormvermin had the biggest change, having their Murderous Ferocity rule removed, but have had their pitch battle profile changed from unit size max from 30 to 40 (to match the 20 you get in a box), yet the points cost for having the maximum amount is still the same as that in the General's Handbook and now are a Battleline unit regardless of General in the Skaventide army (due to the new Skaventide keyword).
Rat Swarms:
There still here and that just makes me happy.
(Side note, Skaven don't have allies unless your General is of Clans Pestilens, then they can pick Nurgle allies. Yes, any unit with Nurgle keyword, not just Deamons as it once was).
Battalions
With the exception of the Masterclan, each Clan has at least one Battalion, with my mortal enemies of Clan Pestilens getting four (three small ones which a needed to form one big one). The Clans Skryre one still has the same minimum unit limits (minus the Mortars) and for the bonuses granted are still good, with the points cost altered now to adjust for it.
The Clans Verminus one is quite easy to put together (let's face it, most Skaven players have Clanrats and/or Stormvermin) and grants them the bonus of when the Clawlord used his Gnash-gnaw their Bones Command Ability, it effects all Verminus units in this Battalion if the are within 13" of him (and if he is leading from the back, a Skaven wall of bodies around him shouldn't be too difficult to do this). The Clans Moulder one grants a buff to the Master Moulders Command Ability to bring back a destroyed unit on a 4+ instead of a 5+ and in the Clans Eshin one you want the Deathmaster hidden so that in the combat phase in which he reveals himself, all units in this Battalion get to re-roll hit rolls for that phase.
Final Thoughts
Where do I begin. Let's start with what was not here. The removal of units that have a plastic version but not an official packaged version. The Deathrunner and Poisoned Wind Mortar are certainly two that I have no idea why they were removed. Much like the Gloomspite Gitz, I really don't understand this decision and the lack of anything new doesn't help for many other Skaven players (Eshin just lost another Hero and they haven't had much love in some time). Heck, we are still waiting for the return of the Warlord on Rat Ogre Bonebeaker into Age of Sigmar.
I also feel that not a lot of information was given about Thanquol, his motives and his future plans. I can only hope that we get C.L.Werner working on a new Thanquol & Boneripper series, cause I loved his previous series and am so looking forward to new tales of my favourite Skaven by my favourite Skaven writer. While the lore is good and gives you a great idea of what's going on, due to the constantly shifting Council of Thirteen, it feels near impossible to even feel like they are a threat. You knew most of the names of them back in Fantasy Battles because they had secured their seats for so long and were rightly feared, but this lot feels like a bunch of nameless bags of hot air and while Verminking might be the ever powerful Verminlord, we still don't know how much power he has compared to the Great Horned Rat. Like, is he really speaking for him? Is the Horned Rat taking over his body to speak or is he just pretending to speak for him to advance his own plans? I feel this is the one book where I never really got what the Great Horned Rat was really doing beyond 'these are Skaven and this is what Skaven do'. Perhaps a short story with the Horned Rat commanding Verminking or something may have helped established the connection a bit more. Also, strangely no mention of Breeders, female Skaven that are bred and drugged to be large and stupid so they are easier to use for breeding. May not seem like much, but Breeders are an important part of the Skaven race and to get no mention just strikes me as a little odd, considering you have to explain how they are capable of multiplying and spreading so far across the Mortal Realms.
So what about the good then? Well, this book unites the Clans in a way that lets you play them as a mixed bunch or as a single focused Clan. The rules and lore are designed to give you everything you need to form your own sub-faction Clan and create a group of Heroes to add to the playstyle (and hopefully back stab each other after the battle is over). The addition of Endless Spells means you may have to consider getting spell casters into your army, almost as a must have and the Gnawholes grant not only a few neat bonuses, but are an excellent way to move some of those larger units to places they are needed most.
I love the changes to most of Clans Skryre's inventions. The whole 'Risk vs Reward' style is one I'm more familiar with in Skaven and yes, while it was there previously, you had a better chance of surviving D3 mortal wounds then out right obliteration. Still not sure on the overcharges to spells for their heroes as it means that if you were to try to pull it off, it would have to be the last spell you cast for it to have a chance (and of course, be near a Gnawhole for that +1 casting bonus). Still as a massive Skryre fan, I feel I can work with these changes. After all, where's the fun playing Skaven if things don't go wrong so you can blame some underlings and have a few rivals suffer 'accidents'.
Beyond that, I am not too familiar with the other Clans to determine how well a single Clan themed army would go. I naturally assume that Clans Verminus and Pestilens will do fine, but as for Moulder and Eshin, I feel they might not do as well. I guess we'll see in the future how that all fairs out.
Overall, I feel this is the book that Skaven players have been waiting for. It consolidates all the Clans into a single book and still makes playing your favourite Skaven group viable. There are some rules and points changes that players may agree/disagree with, but overall this was a book I can absolutely recommend for any Skaven worth his fur. If GW keeps going in this direction with consolidating factions to be of a similar align with that of the old Warhammer Fantasy Battle, then you can expect not only more fun armies to battle with, but more previous players returning also. From all that I'm hearing at the moment from so many people, this truly is a great time for Age of Sigmar and Warhammer fans alike.
Finally, Skaven given the great-grand treatment they rightfully deserve. The will of the Great Horned Rat will be known and ruin shall be brought forth to all the Mortal Realms. We shall see all fail-fall until Skaven recognized as the true unrivaled and superior species yes-yes! Skaven shall rule all!
~Grey Seer Skratchnsniff
Monday, 28 January 2019
Project Update - Jan/Feb 2019
So yes, I am still working on models. It's actually one of the few things I got back into after a rather low beginning of the year. Expect a few updates on these in the future, but I actually want to be a bit more creative with a few projects:
Terrain:
So I am actually working on a round base mushroom spot, part of a failed mushroom forest idea, but that has also been put on hold while I work on my own Loonshrine design (I will go back to the Mushroom forest idea at some later point).
The idea is simple, a rocky mound with a mushroom like carving with the Bad Moon carved on it (with a Squig moon chained to it to represent the second celestial object that orbits it). The cave entrance will be decorated like a type of Grot tavern called 'Da Bad Shroom' along with a sign recommending Glibbinz pies (an sponsorship idea I worked on when I was trying to make a Skaven/Goblin Bloodbowl team) along with his Brewgit's Brews. I could also use that small Warboss with Squig to be like a Bouncer for the tavern. The rest of it would be covered in moss and colourful mushrooms.
Endless Spell:
There is only one Endless Spell that best represents Glibbins and the Funky Fungus Tribe, Mork's Mighty Mushroom. However, I don't really have money, but what I do have is the right size base, air dry clay, foil (for the base shape) and some gluggy liquid greenstuff. As such, I will create a proxy for it called Mork's Magnificent Mushroom Pie (it acts the same, just looks different). The lower half will be a mushroom similar to the actual model, but the top part will be the crusty pie. The 'X' carved in its middle (with glowing green inside) will be the point where the spore/smoke comes out of. I can imagine Glibbins tossing one of his pies and where it lands it grows into this massive mushroom/pie hybrid with all the horror of a madcap pastry can bring.
Both the spell and the Loonshrine match the character theme of the army, but I guess I should focus on the spell first as it seems to be the more likely to be completed, so we'll see how this all goes.
Other:
As for everything else? Well the Malifaux Beta bummed me a little so it has gotten harder to pick up a brush to work on them (let alone actually painting anything), Death faction has a bunch of unfinished stuff that I may give up on for the moment and all the other odd miniatures I have around are packed up to give me more space and to help stop demotivating me by just hanging around on stuff. In other words, just about everything is on hold while I try to get some stability in my life as the end of 2018 had a lot of things changed and that tends to throw you off doing a lot.
With luck, I might have things sorted before the end of February (trying to maintain a positive outlook) so we'll see what happens by March.
Update:
So I've got a unit of Squig Herd (12) done and just about finished a unit of Boingrot Bounderz (10) completed, which with the Battalion 'Squig Rider Stampede', would bring the faction up to the 1,000 pt mark. As for the other Gitz projects, I have completed the stem of the Mushroom spell. Depending on your view of air drying clay, it can be easy or difficult to use and for me it's a mixture of both. It limits what I can do as I need to give lots of time for each part to dry before moving onto the next, which hinders my creative energy moments, but on the other hand grants me the break I need to not stress over it. I guess if I had a few more models from the Zarbag set then I could ditch the Battalion and then up the Squig Herd unit to 18 and throw in the Mushroom spell. Still haven't started on the Loonshrine, but that is still in the development stage anyway.
One big problem that has occurred is the upcoming release of the Skaven Battletome. Now as a massive Skaven fan I am very much looking forward to it, but on the other it means more re-basing and possibly more crafting. See, the Gnawholes are $90 for the lot and I just don't have that kind of money, so creating my own would be the best bet. As for Endless Spells or the new Warlock Bombardier, I still have no clue just yet what to do. As to what I have re-based so far, well:
+ 1 Warlord
+ 1 Grey Seer
+ 1 Arch-Warlock
+ 1 Warlock Engineer
+ 10 Skryre Acolytes
+ 1 Doomwheel
+ 1 Warp Lightning Cannon
+ 1 Ratling Gun Team
+ 1 Warpfire Thrower Team
+ 2 Poisoned Wind Mortar Teams
+ 4 Rat Ogors
+ 20 Clanrats with Spears
+ 10 Clanrats with hand weapons
+ 10 Stormvermin
+ 6 Warplock Jezzails
As such, going through my collection of miniatures needing re-basing/re-painting I have:
+ 2 Assassins
+ 1 Warlock Engineer with Rifle and Rocket (so might be able to convert to a Bombardier?)
+ 3 Warlords (5 if you include Banner Bearers)
+ 2 Master Moulders/Packmasters (Depending on what they are needed for. Also note that I could use the old Grish Fellfur model as well I guess?)
+ 2 Rat Ogors
+ 10 Stormvermin
+ 42 Clanrats with hand weapons (many were my former Skaven Slaves)
+ 12 Clanrats with Spears
+ 2 Unused Clanrats (no weapon arms attached)
+ 2 Rat Swarm models
As such, I don't have enough bases to do them all, but should have enough to add a few more heroes and to make both the 10 rat Stormvermin and Clanrat units to a full 20. As for the rest, well it depends on what the book has them at, but I wouldn't be surprised to have a list of 2,000 pts. Yes I do have some Clan Pestilens models, but I refuse to have anything to do with that traitorous Clan in my army.
There's no point in me focusing on a full Clan Skryre army as to do so would require units of Stormfiends and those buggers cost $99 a box. Perhaps a more mixed balance of Skryre and Verminus with a dash of Moulder and possibly Masterclan/Eshin would be the flavour. I know I don't have much in the way of heavy hitters, but you have to roll with what you've got. I'm just excited to see what has become to Thanquol and hope he is still the Skaven we all know and love. Certainly would love to see his reaction if he finds out Gotrek has returned.
Terrain:
So I am actually working on a round base mushroom spot, part of a failed mushroom forest idea, but that has also been put on hold while I work on my own Loonshrine design (I will go back to the Mushroom forest idea at some later point).
The idea is simple, a rocky mound with a mushroom like carving with the Bad Moon carved on it (with a Squig moon chained to it to represent the second celestial object that orbits it). The cave entrance will be decorated like a type of Grot tavern called 'Da Bad Shroom' along with a sign recommending Glibbinz pies (an sponsorship idea I worked on when I was trying to make a Skaven/Goblin Bloodbowl team) along with his Brewgit's Brews. I could also use that small Warboss with Squig to be like a Bouncer for the tavern. The rest of it would be covered in moss and colourful mushrooms.
Endless Spell:
There is only one Endless Spell that best represents Glibbins and the Funky Fungus Tribe, Mork's Mighty Mushroom. However, I don't really have money, but what I do have is the right size base, air dry clay, foil (for the base shape) and some gluggy liquid greenstuff. As such, I will create a proxy for it called Mork's Magnificent Mushroom Pie (it acts the same, just looks different). The lower half will be a mushroom similar to the actual model, but the top part will be the crusty pie. The 'X' carved in its middle (with glowing green inside) will be the point where the spore/smoke comes out of. I can imagine Glibbins tossing one of his pies and where it lands it grows into this massive mushroom/pie hybrid with all the horror of a madcap pastry can bring.
Both the spell and the Loonshrine match the character theme of the army, but I guess I should focus on the spell first as it seems to be the more likely to be completed, so we'll see how this all goes.
Other:
As for everything else? Well the Malifaux Beta bummed me a little so it has gotten harder to pick up a brush to work on them (let alone actually painting anything), Death faction has a bunch of unfinished stuff that I may give up on for the moment and all the other odd miniatures I have around are packed up to give me more space and to help stop demotivating me by just hanging around on stuff. In other words, just about everything is on hold while I try to get some stability in my life as the end of 2018 had a lot of things changed and that tends to throw you off doing a lot.
With luck, I might have things sorted before the end of February (trying to maintain a positive outlook) so we'll see what happens by March.
Update:
So I've got a unit of Squig Herd (12) done and just about finished a unit of Boingrot Bounderz (10) completed, which with the Battalion 'Squig Rider Stampede', would bring the faction up to the 1,000 pt mark. As for the other Gitz projects, I have completed the stem of the Mushroom spell. Depending on your view of air drying clay, it can be easy or difficult to use and for me it's a mixture of both. It limits what I can do as I need to give lots of time for each part to dry before moving onto the next, which hinders my creative energy moments, but on the other hand grants me the break I need to not stress over it. I guess if I had a few more models from the Zarbag set then I could ditch the Battalion and then up the Squig Herd unit to 18 and throw in the Mushroom spell. Still haven't started on the Loonshrine, but that is still in the development stage anyway.
One big problem that has occurred is the upcoming release of the Skaven Battletome. Now as a massive Skaven fan I am very much looking forward to it, but on the other it means more re-basing and possibly more crafting. See, the Gnawholes are $90 for the lot and I just don't have that kind of money, so creating my own would be the best bet. As for Endless Spells or the new Warlock Bombardier, I still have no clue just yet what to do. As to what I have re-based so far, well:
+ 1 Warlord
+ 1 Grey Seer
+ 1 Arch-Warlock
+ 1 Warlock Engineer
+ 10 Skryre Acolytes
+ 1 Doomwheel
+ 1 Warp Lightning Cannon
+ 1 Ratling Gun Team
+ 1 Warpfire Thrower Team
+ 2 Poisoned Wind Mortar Teams
+ 4 Rat Ogors
+ 20 Clanrats with Spears
+ 10 Clanrats with hand weapons
+ 10 Stormvermin
+ 6 Warplock Jezzails
As such, going through my collection of miniatures needing re-basing/re-painting I have:
+ 2 Assassins
+ 1 Warlock Engineer with Rifle and Rocket (so might be able to convert to a Bombardier?)
+ 3 Warlords (5 if you include Banner Bearers)
+ 2 Master Moulders/Packmasters (Depending on what they are needed for. Also note that I could use the old Grish Fellfur model as well I guess?)
+ 2 Rat Ogors
+ 10 Stormvermin
+ 42 Clanrats with hand weapons (many were my former Skaven Slaves)
+ 12 Clanrats with Spears
+ 2 Unused Clanrats (no weapon arms attached)
+ 2 Rat Swarm models
As such, I don't have enough bases to do them all, but should have enough to add a few more heroes and to make both the 10 rat Stormvermin and Clanrat units to a full 20. As for the rest, well it depends on what the book has them at, but I wouldn't be surprised to have a list of 2,000 pts. Yes I do have some Clan Pestilens models, but I refuse to have anything to do with that traitorous Clan in my army.
There's no point in me focusing on a full Clan Skryre army as to do so would require units of Stormfiends and those buggers cost $99 a box. Perhaps a more mixed balance of Skryre and Verminus with a dash of Moulder and possibly Masterclan/Eshin would be the flavour. I know I don't have much in the way of heavy hitters, but you have to roll with what you've got. I'm just excited to see what has become to Thanquol and hope he is still the Skaven we all know and love. Certainly would love to see his reaction if he finds out Gotrek has returned.
Sunday, 27 January 2019
Feels Good
I must admit, it is a weight off my back getting these updates done. I'm not happy with them and feel I could have done them a lot better, but none the less they are done and up.
Short Review: Gloomspite Gitz Battletome
So when Malign Portents was released, the Fungoid-Cave Shaman was introduced and with it I was given a reason to bring back one of my favourite characters: Glibbins McGibbinz. I dug out my old Skaven Slaves which had 20 Night Goblins and found some of my Squigs and thus my decent into the mad world of the Moonclan Grots began. With a focus on Fungus and Squigs, I recreated Glibbins into the Age of Sigmar and once again, Warhammer saw the rise of the Funky Fungus Tribe. Then came the Gloomspite Gitz Battletome and having now gone through it, I can certainly see the Grots finally being a real threat to the Mortal Realms. So stick with me as I try to break down into basic parts with a brief look (along with my own thoughts) of the Gloomspite book.
The Lore
The Lore has been brought up to date with the current events in Age of Sigmar, but also has given us a lot of back story as to why these Grots went underground and why they are referred to as the Gloomspite.
While we are never given an exact origin of the Bad Moon which they worship, we do get a few different various religious views on it (mostly that of the Moonclan and the Spiderfang Grots). What is known is that it is a large celestial body with a smaller celestial body circling it, that its light sends the Gloomspite into a frenzy, drives people mad, causes rapid fungus growth and rains meteors down to doom the surface (which is known as Loonstone to the Gloomspite). Sprinkled around the book are small images of Squiggly Beasts and Fungus, with their names and what they are used for to really get you invested in this faction.
There is also a section dedicated to the lore on the Loonking (the main special character of the book), of the commanding characters along with a brief look at the Moonclan, Squigs, Spiderfangs and the Troggoths. There is also sections talking about clans from the various Mortal Realms and their motives, along with a section called 'Age of Loonacy' with a list of short events. Two of my favourites being one about Clan Skryre capturing and bringing back a Loonshrine only for it to start taking over the area with fungus and squiggly beasts and to save face they declare it to be a new weapons testing ground, the other being about a grove of Sylvanneth about to be swarmed by a Bloodbound Warhorde and praying to Alarielle for help, only for the Bad Moon to show up and the Gloomspite and Bloodbound engaging each other. Once the battle is over, the Sylvanneth emerge to see both sides have destroyed each other and so they give thanks for their salvation, only for the Bad Moon to give them one parting gift and wipe out the Sylvanneth with a meteor shower (cause the Bad Moon has a wicked sense of humor).
Finally you have both the model gallery and a short painting section to help get started. The gallery helps give you the inspiration to get the models, while the painting section helps you work on a basic colour scheme, but also some variations to go with it. Again, not big, but appreciated.
Allegiance Abilities
The Bad Moon is this factions only Allegiance Ability. It may not seem like much compared to other factions, but it is what it is. Simply put, you choose which corner of the board the Bad Moon rises from and at the start of turns you roll a dice to see if the Bad Moon stays or moves. This can be a good or bad, depending on how the battle is going as it might stay still on one side too long or speed across the board, both might not be the best. The only way to actually effect it beyond this is with a once a battle command ability from the Loonking.
Depending on where the Bad Moon is determines where its light will shine (not at all, on a single board side or on the whole board itself). While under the light, certain units gain certain bonuses, such as enemies taking mortal wounds, Spiderfang poison being more effective and Troggoth regeneration being far more effective.
This makes the placement of the Bad Moon all the more important as you'll want its light to be at maximum effect as your army moves for their objectives.
Traits & Artifacts
Lists are broken down into four groups: Loonbosses (the Moonclan boss), Moonclan Wizards (only Madcap Shamans but not Fungoid-Cave Shamans can take Artifacts), Spiderfang Heroes (though only the Scuttleboss can choose a Cammand Trait) and Dankhold Troggoth Heroes.
There are some basic ones such as adding 2 to the characters wound characteristics to the more risky but hilarious Glowy Howzit for the Troggoth hero, which grants a 4+ shrug, but on a roll of 1 he instead eats it and can no longer use it. Most of the Traits and Artifacts seem useful and depending on your army will depend on which one you choose.
Spells
There are two spell lores, the Lore of the Moonclan and the Lore of the Spiderfangs. Only wizards from those factions can use those spells and depending on your army layout will certainly effect what spell you choose. For instance, from the Moonclan list if you happen to have large units of Moonclan Stabbas or Shootas, then the spell 'The Great Green Spite' would be very usefull, while the spell 'Squig Lure' works better for Squig focused armies.
That said, I feel the Spiderfang list is the stronger of the two, which is more designed to help in combat for Spiderfang units and by that I mean the big nasty spiders. This makes sense as for most Spiderfang focused armies, you would just fill out the base battlelines and the rest tend to be the big spiders and most tend to have casters as their chosen heroes, so a more focused spell list is needed to help deal with the lack of numbers.
Secondly there are the Endless Spells. All are quite offensive in their own way, with Malevolent Moon great vs spell casting armies, Mork's Mighty Mushroom good for getting at areas held by enemies, the Arachnacauldron if you want to have a main caster at a small life draining cost (could work quite well with the Cogs Endless Spell and the Bad Moon effect) and the Scuttletide is just a must have for any Spiderfang army.
Path to Glory
What's there to say, this is a set of rules and charts for running a Gloomspite Gitz faction in a Path to Glory game.
OK, so that's a bit unfair. To be honest, I really like the look of options for units in their lists. I notices Squig Herds is now the min 12 unit, yet Stabba and Shoota units are in groups of 15. Everything from the book is in there (minus Mollog) and even Zarbag from the Shadespire Nightvault game is a leader Champion option (though you must hire his Gitz as one of your starting followers). Even the Gobbapalooza are on a separate followers list, with you picking three of your own choosing to join your crew.
As for the reward charts, the Champion and Monsters charts are good, but the basic followers chart is a bit hit or miss in my opinion, mostly cause some seem to effect some units better then others. One thing I would like to know is that do Squigs in a Squig Herd count their maw attacks as melee weapons? I know most other Squig groups count them as mounts and even the Fungoid-Cave Shaman has had his rules updated so his pet Squig is counted as a mount. I wonder this as some of these chart results let you get an extra range or bonus attack to a units melee weapons and I would assume that since the unit is more Squigs then Herders that they would not count as mounts for such rules and that their teeth & claws would be their melee weapons.
People tend to interpret rules differently until there is an official clarification, so I might have to look into this one.
Warscrolls
Like with all Age of Sigmar factions, the Warscrolls for these units can be found on their site and their app, so instead I'm going to talk about some of the things I've noticed going through it:
Loonboss:
The replacement for the old Moonclan Warboss, the real reason you would take this guy is for his command ability. Keep him near a large unit of Moonclan Stabbas with spears (and nets) to throw out as many attacks as possible, cause on an unmodified to wound roll of 6 causes a mortal wound instead. Throw in a Spiker's Poison Brewer effect and the light of the Bad Moon and the amount of mortal wounds will prove disastrous to any foe.
Fungoid-Cave Shaman:
So this guy has changed a bit from the Malign Portents book. He looses his command ability for a permanent one where in each hero phase on a 4+ you get an extra command point. He looses his -1 to be hit in exchange for his 5+ shrug to improve to a 4+ and finally his Deffcap Mushroom is still once per battle, but now allows you to simply cast an extra spell the turn you use it (how this will effect with his 'Sign of Da Deffcap' sign from Malign Portents is still waiting for an FAQ). He also can't take Artifacts of Power, which is a real bummer (Though doesn't say he can't use Realm Artifacts from Malign Sorcery book).
Madcap Shaman:
His spell has changed and is good vs ranged attacks, picking a friendly unit wholly within 12" that is visible giving them a -1 to hit to be shot at until your next hero phase and its only a 5 to cast. Sure it is situational, but is has great potential against certain factions.
Gobbapalooza:
While each one has their own profile, you still have to take them as a full unit, which is my only complaint. Looking at them, they a like a mini-hero, complete with a rule that acts like the 'Look Out Sir' one. Each has their own unique ability or spell and can be useful on the battlefield. That said, they really only prove useful in big games due to the cost (though Path to Glory has them in sets of three, so they can be better suited in that game). No word yet in Skirmish, but given the FAQ on Zarbag and his Gitz, I feel you'd have to buy them all as one unit since Zarbag has the same rule.
Moonclan Stabbas and Shootas:
Main thing is the changes limiting you to 1 in 20 models having access to a banner, but you can have 3 Netters in every 20 models too, so I guess that evens it out a bit?
Squig Herds:
They have been reunited once again, Squig and Herder...*sniff*...it's so beautiful. So 1 in every 6 models has to be a Herder, but they grant the unit the ability to re-roll run and charge rolls while they are in it. On top of that, the Squigs now naturally hit on a 4+, which is just nice.
Anyone Riding a Squig (and Manglers):
They have the Fly rule, which is great, unless you find your battling in a Mortal Realm and roll for the effect that damages Flying units when they move.
Boingrot Bounders:
Squig Hoppers who are like Knights on Squigs. They are slower then Squig Hoppers, but have a better save and do more damage in combat (even more so on a charge). A nice new unit for any Squig fan. Also note that the new plastic kit has these guys on a 32mm base and since the kit can also be used to create Squig Hoppers, that means that their bases have now changed from the 25mm from GW's official base size listing to that of the 32mm (they haven't updated the base list yet, so if you have any old miniatures from this faction, cross reference them with the new sculpts on the GW page as new models might also mean base size changes).
Mangler Squigs:
Apart from it being a mount for a Loonboss, its wound table has changed being strong at first, getting a lot weaker when around mid wounds, before going back up to max again near death. This better represents the madness of attacking two panicking large beast that are chained together.
Troggoth Units:
Once again, you can field a full Troggoth (a.k.a Troll) army once more. The Dankhold Troggoths even grant friendly Gloomspite Gitz units wholly within 12" +1 to their Bravery, which is vitally important given how bad nearly all units Bravery stats are in this faction. They have regeneration and can do quite well in combat against most units (as should be expected). I do hope we see some of these armies on the battlefield.
Loonshrine:
The final one I'll talk about, the Loonshrine is a free piece of Terrain you get for being Gloomspite that is set up in your territory, 12" from enemy territory and 1" away from other terrain. Gloomspite Gitz units wholly within 12" of it do not take battleshock tests (vitally important) and it can also help bring back a destroyed Moonclan Stabbas or Shootas unit that was destroyed on a 4+, but said unit is halved (including things like banners, gongs and netters, rounding up). This means that it is really more useful if you are running a Gloomspite Gitz army with large units of Stabbas and Shootas. If not, then make sure the Loonshrine is close to places like objectives or bottlenecks to better hold positions.
Skitterstrand Arachnarok:
While I absolutely hate spiders, these guys are a useful asset in a variety of game types due to their ambushing board deployment ability. Personally, I prefer their lore. These spiders live in Shyish (called the Evercrawl), is believed to be the location where the Spider God lives that the Spiderfang tribes worship and they can weave the web from the strands of mortality itself. They can then use this to create their own Realmgates to strike at foes. They are even aware of Nagash and how much of a threat he is to them, but while they can't deal with him directly, they will defend their land from his forces.
Battalions
There are a number of Battalion Warscrolls to use, with some based more on fielding units of Moonclan, Squig riding units, Spiderfangs and even a Troggherd is you want to run an all Troggoth army (which you probably should if you are going to run them).
I feel some of these are easier to field then others, such as Gobbapaloosa (if you have already got them in the army, just pay the points and boom, a Battalion unit and another Artifact of Power). I also love how you can start with say Squig Rider Stampede with 2-3 Squig Hoppers/Boingrot Bounders and then add a Loonboss on a Great Cave Squig/ Mangler Squig and then add a Mangler Squig, thus giving enough to purchase the Squigalanche Battalion. Then all you need to do is add.....More Squig Units! Squiglorious!.
Final Thoughts
So before I get into my final thoughts of both the book and how it effected my of group, while thinking about this, something occurred to me. Many people online were disappointed about the lack of new stuff for the Spiderfangs, but then it hit me...Where are the Scuttlings from the Silver Tower game?
Yeah, remember these guys. Every other unit got included into their own books, but these guys have vanished. Hell, you can't even find their Warscroll on the app anymore and this is the same app that has the Warscrolls for a tone of out of production models. Worse still, the Spiker model from the Gobbapalooza set looks a lot like them:
So why were they removed? Just update their Warscroll, give them the Spiderfang keyword, pack them in a box and you've got a new unit. I mean, they would still have the molds for them so why were they not incorporated in the book. We may never know.
I do love this book overall. Much like the Beasts of Chaos book, it brings together three factions into a unified group with things like Battalions, Command Abilities, Artifacts and Spells to better define them depending on your focus. I'm still up in the air about some units (particularly the changes and options for my Fungoid-Cave Shaman), but certainly there are options for future expansion. I am not sure if the Bad Moon mechanic is good or not, but then being something that is more uncontrollable compared to other factions, it is growing on me. The Loonshrine is also something that I am also not too sure about as it doesn't really help players who aren't fielding large units of Stabbas/Shootas.
One thing I do not like at all is this Skragott the Loonking. Don't get me wrong, his rules are good and the model looks amazing, but as a character I just don't like him. Maybe it's because I'm still attached to Skarsnik too much, but where as Skarsnik was cunning and had to work his way up to be the greatest Night Goblin ever, Skragott got lucky once and now has to go raiding all the time for people driven mad by the Bad Moon and turn them into raving talking Mushrooms in his Asylum in order to predict the Bad Moons location in order to try and keep the appearance that he was chosen by it so he doesn't get a slitter in the back. To me, he isn't some inspirational character, just some looser trying to look cool, but that's just my opinion.
Overall, as mentioned before, with books like this and that of Beasts of Chaos, they seem to be taking the various broken factions and uniting them in collective books, which (if this book is anything to go by) is something I fully support. Again, I have several questions and concerns with it, but it is a good book and if you are a Moonclan, Spiderfang or Troggoth player, this is sort of a must have. Certainly the Lore is something I absolutely love and really helps you understand the reasoning for this alliance, but also gives you those moments (both good and bad) which really lets you get to know these factions in the Age of Sigmar universe.
Bah! Why waste time on Grot-things when Skaven more important! When will Skaven get book? Skaven demand book yes-yes!
~Grey Seer Skratchnsniff
The Lore
The Lore has been brought up to date with the current events in Age of Sigmar, but also has given us a lot of back story as to why these Grots went underground and why they are referred to as the Gloomspite.
While we are never given an exact origin of the Bad Moon which they worship, we do get a few different various religious views on it (mostly that of the Moonclan and the Spiderfang Grots). What is known is that it is a large celestial body with a smaller celestial body circling it, that its light sends the Gloomspite into a frenzy, drives people mad, causes rapid fungus growth and rains meteors down to doom the surface (which is known as Loonstone to the Gloomspite). Sprinkled around the book are small images of Squiggly Beasts and Fungus, with their names and what they are used for to really get you invested in this faction.
There is also a section dedicated to the lore on the Loonking (the main special character of the book), of the commanding characters along with a brief look at the Moonclan, Squigs, Spiderfangs and the Troggoths. There is also sections talking about clans from the various Mortal Realms and their motives, along with a section called 'Age of Loonacy' with a list of short events. Two of my favourites being one about Clan Skryre capturing and bringing back a Loonshrine only for it to start taking over the area with fungus and squiggly beasts and to save face they declare it to be a new weapons testing ground, the other being about a grove of Sylvanneth about to be swarmed by a Bloodbound Warhorde and praying to Alarielle for help, only for the Bad Moon to show up and the Gloomspite and Bloodbound engaging each other. Once the battle is over, the Sylvanneth emerge to see both sides have destroyed each other and so they give thanks for their salvation, only for the Bad Moon to give them one parting gift and wipe out the Sylvanneth with a meteor shower (cause the Bad Moon has a wicked sense of humor).
Finally you have both the model gallery and a short painting section to help get started. The gallery helps give you the inspiration to get the models, while the painting section helps you work on a basic colour scheme, but also some variations to go with it. Again, not big, but appreciated.
Allegiance Abilities
The Bad Moon is this factions only Allegiance Ability. It may not seem like much compared to other factions, but it is what it is. Simply put, you choose which corner of the board the Bad Moon rises from and at the start of turns you roll a dice to see if the Bad Moon stays or moves. This can be a good or bad, depending on how the battle is going as it might stay still on one side too long or speed across the board, both might not be the best. The only way to actually effect it beyond this is with a once a battle command ability from the Loonking.
Depending on where the Bad Moon is determines where its light will shine (not at all, on a single board side or on the whole board itself). While under the light, certain units gain certain bonuses, such as enemies taking mortal wounds, Spiderfang poison being more effective and Troggoth regeneration being far more effective.
This makes the placement of the Bad Moon all the more important as you'll want its light to be at maximum effect as your army moves for their objectives.
Traits & Artifacts
Lists are broken down into four groups: Loonbosses (the Moonclan boss), Moonclan Wizards (only Madcap Shamans but not Fungoid-Cave Shamans can take Artifacts), Spiderfang Heroes (though only the Scuttleboss can choose a Cammand Trait) and Dankhold Troggoth Heroes.
There are some basic ones such as adding 2 to the characters wound characteristics to the more risky but hilarious Glowy Howzit for the Troggoth hero, which grants a 4+ shrug, but on a roll of 1 he instead eats it and can no longer use it. Most of the Traits and Artifacts seem useful and depending on your army will depend on which one you choose.
Spells
There are two spell lores, the Lore of the Moonclan and the Lore of the Spiderfangs. Only wizards from those factions can use those spells and depending on your army layout will certainly effect what spell you choose. For instance, from the Moonclan list if you happen to have large units of Moonclan Stabbas or Shootas, then the spell 'The Great Green Spite' would be very usefull, while the spell 'Squig Lure' works better for Squig focused armies.
That said, I feel the Spiderfang list is the stronger of the two, which is more designed to help in combat for Spiderfang units and by that I mean the big nasty spiders. This makes sense as for most Spiderfang focused armies, you would just fill out the base battlelines and the rest tend to be the big spiders and most tend to have casters as their chosen heroes, so a more focused spell list is needed to help deal with the lack of numbers.
Secondly there are the Endless Spells. All are quite offensive in their own way, with Malevolent Moon great vs spell casting armies, Mork's Mighty Mushroom good for getting at areas held by enemies, the Arachnacauldron if you want to have a main caster at a small life draining cost (could work quite well with the Cogs Endless Spell and the Bad Moon effect) and the Scuttletide is just a must have for any Spiderfang army.
Path to Glory
What's there to say, this is a set of rules and charts for running a Gloomspite Gitz faction in a Path to Glory game.
OK, so that's a bit unfair. To be honest, I really like the look of options for units in their lists. I notices Squig Herds is now the min 12 unit, yet Stabba and Shoota units are in groups of 15. Everything from the book is in there (minus Mollog) and even Zarbag from the Shadespire Nightvault game is a leader Champion option (though you must hire his Gitz as one of your starting followers). Even the Gobbapalooza are on a separate followers list, with you picking three of your own choosing to join your crew.
As for the reward charts, the Champion and Monsters charts are good, but the basic followers chart is a bit hit or miss in my opinion, mostly cause some seem to effect some units better then others. One thing I would like to know is that do Squigs in a Squig Herd count their maw attacks as melee weapons? I know most other Squig groups count them as mounts and even the Fungoid-Cave Shaman has had his rules updated so his pet Squig is counted as a mount. I wonder this as some of these chart results let you get an extra range or bonus attack to a units melee weapons and I would assume that since the unit is more Squigs then Herders that they would not count as mounts for such rules and that their teeth & claws would be their melee weapons.
People tend to interpret rules differently until there is an official clarification, so I might have to look into this one.
Warscrolls
Like with all Age of Sigmar factions, the Warscrolls for these units can be found on their site and their app, so instead I'm going to talk about some of the things I've noticed going through it:
Loonboss:
The replacement for the old Moonclan Warboss, the real reason you would take this guy is for his command ability. Keep him near a large unit of Moonclan Stabbas with spears (and nets) to throw out as many attacks as possible, cause on an unmodified to wound roll of 6 causes a mortal wound instead. Throw in a Spiker's Poison Brewer effect and the light of the Bad Moon and the amount of mortal wounds will prove disastrous to any foe.
Fungoid-Cave Shaman:
So this guy has changed a bit from the Malign Portents book. He looses his command ability for a permanent one where in each hero phase on a 4+ you get an extra command point. He looses his -1 to be hit in exchange for his 5+ shrug to improve to a 4+ and finally his Deffcap Mushroom is still once per battle, but now allows you to simply cast an extra spell the turn you use it (how this will effect with his 'Sign of Da Deffcap' sign from Malign Portents is still waiting for an FAQ). He also can't take Artifacts of Power, which is a real bummer (Though doesn't say he can't use Realm Artifacts from Malign Sorcery book).
Madcap Shaman:
His spell has changed and is good vs ranged attacks, picking a friendly unit wholly within 12" that is visible giving them a -1 to hit to be shot at until your next hero phase and its only a 5 to cast. Sure it is situational, but is has great potential against certain factions.
Gobbapalooza:
While each one has their own profile, you still have to take them as a full unit, which is my only complaint. Looking at them, they a like a mini-hero, complete with a rule that acts like the 'Look Out Sir' one. Each has their own unique ability or spell and can be useful on the battlefield. That said, they really only prove useful in big games due to the cost (though Path to Glory has them in sets of three, so they can be better suited in that game). No word yet in Skirmish, but given the FAQ on Zarbag and his Gitz, I feel you'd have to buy them all as one unit since Zarbag has the same rule.
Moonclan Stabbas and Shootas:
Main thing is the changes limiting you to 1 in 20 models having access to a banner, but you can have 3 Netters in every 20 models too, so I guess that evens it out a bit?
Squig Herds:
They have been reunited once again, Squig and Herder...*sniff*...it's so beautiful. So 1 in every 6 models has to be a Herder, but they grant the unit the ability to re-roll run and charge rolls while they are in it. On top of that, the Squigs now naturally hit on a 4+, which is just nice.
Anyone Riding a Squig (and Manglers):
They have the Fly rule, which is great, unless you find your battling in a Mortal Realm and roll for the effect that damages Flying units when they move.
Boingrot Bounders:
Squig Hoppers who are like Knights on Squigs. They are slower then Squig Hoppers, but have a better save and do more damage in combat (even more so on a charge). A nice new unit for any Squig fan. Also note that the new plastic kit has these guys on a 32mm base and since the kit can also be used to create Squig Hoppers, that means that their bases have now changed from the 25mm from GW's official base size listing to that of the 32mm (they haven't updated the base list yet, so if you have any old miniatures from this faction, cross reference them with the new sculpts on the GW page as new models might also mean base size changes).
Mangler Squigs:
Apart from it being a mount for a Loonboss, its wound table has changed being strong at first, getting a lot weaker when around mid wounds, before going back up to max again near death. This better represents the madness of attacking two panicking large beast that are chained together.
Troggoth Units:
Once again, you can field a full Troggoth (a.k.a Troll) army once more. The Dankhold Troggoths even grant friendly Gloomspite Gitz units wholly within 12" +1 to their Bravery, which is vitally important given how bad nearly all units Bravery stats are in this faction. They have regeneration and can do quite well in combat against most units (as should be expected). I do hope we see some of these armies on the battlefield.
Loonshrine:
The final one I'll talk about, the Loonshrine is a free piece of Terrain you get for being Gloomspite that is set up in your territory, 12" from enemy territory and 1" away from other terrain. Gloomspite Gitz units wholly within 12" of it do not take battleshock tests (vitally important) and it can also help bring back a destroyed Moonclan Stabbas or Shootas unit that was destroyed on a 4+, but said unit is halved (including things like banners, gongs and netters, rounding up). This means that it is really more useful if you are running a Gloomspite Gitz army with large units of Stabbas and Shootas. If not, then make sure the Loonshrine is close to places like objectives or bottlenecks to better hold positions.
Skitterstrand Arachnarok:
While I absolutely hate spiders, these guys are a useful asset in a variety of game types due to their ambushing board deployment ability. Personally, I prefer their lore. These spiders live in Shyish (called the Evercrawl), is believed to be the location where the Spider God lives that the Spiderfang tribes worship and they can weave the web from the strands of mortality itself. They can then use this to create their own Realmgates to strike at foes. They are even aware of Nagash and how much of a threat he is to them, but while they can't deal with him directly, they will defend their land from his forces.
Battalions
There are a number of Battalion Warscrolls to use, with some based more on fielding units of Moonclan, Squig riding units, Spiderfangs and even a Troggherd is you want to run an all Troggoth army (which you probably should if you are going to run them).
I feel some of these are easier to field then others, such as Gobbapaloosa (if you have already got them in the army, just pay the points and boom, a Battalion unit and another Artifact of Power). I also love how you can start with say Squig Rider Stampede with 2-3 Squig Hoppers/Boingrot Bounders and then add a Loonboss on a Great Cave Squig/ Mangler Squig and then add a Mangler Squig, thus giving enough to purchase the Squigalanche Battalion. Then all you need to do is add.....More Squig Units! Squiglorious!.
Final Thoughts
So before I get into my final thoughts of both the book and how it effected my of group, while thinking about this, something occurred to me. Many people online were disappointed about the lack of new stuff for the Spiderfangs, but then it hit me...Where are the Scuttlings from the Silver Tower game?
Yeah, remember these guys. Every other unit got included into their own books, but these guys have vanished. Hell, you can't even find their Warscroll on the app anymore and this is the same app that has the Warscrolls for a tone of out of production models. Worse still, the Spiker model from the Gobbapalooza set looks a lot like them:
So why were they removed? Just update their Warscroll, give them the Spiderfang keyword, pack them in a box and you've got a new unit. I mean, they would still have the molds for them so why were they not incorporated in the book. We may never know.
I do love this book overall. Much like the Beasts of Chaos book, it brings together three factions into a unified group with things like Battalions, Command Abilities, Artifacts and Spells to better define them depending on your focus. I'm still up in the air about some units (particularly the changes and options for my Fungoid-Cave Shaman), but certainly there are options for future expansion. I am not sure if the Bad Moon mechanic is good or not, but then being something that is more uncontrollable compared to other factions, it is growing on me. The Loonshrine is also something that I am also not too sure about as it doesn't really help players who aren't fielding large units of Stabbas/Shootas.
One thing I do not like at all is this Skragott the Loonking. Don't get me wrong, his rules are good and the model looks amazing, but as a character I just don't like him. Maybe it's because I'm still attached to Skarsnik too much, but where as Skarsnik was cunning and had to work his way up to be the greatest Night Goblin ever, Skragott got lucky once and now has to go raiding all the time for people driven mad by the Bad Moon and turn them into raving talking Mushrooms in his Asylum in order to predict the Bad Moons location in order to try and keep the appearance that he was chosen by it so he doesn't get a slitter in the back. To me, he isn't some inspirational character, just some looser trying to look cool, but that's just my opinion.
Overall, as mentioned before, with books like this and that of Beasts of Chaos, they seem to be taking the various broken factions and uniting them in collective books, which (if this book is anything to go by) is something I fully support. Again, I have several questions and concerns with it, but it is a good book and if you are a Moonclan, Spiderfang or Troggoth player, this is sort of a must have. Certainly the Lore is something I absolutely love and really helps you understand the reasoning for this alliance, but also gives you those moments (both good and bad) which really lets you get to know these factions in the Age of Sigmar universe.
Bah! Why waste time on Grot-things when Skaven more important! When will Skaven get book? Skaven demand book yes-yes!
~Grey Seer Skratchnsniff
First Thoughts: Malifaux 3rd Ed Open Beta
Straight and simple, I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, they still have good gameplay and many of the units abilities have been better adjusted to be both more effective and tactical. On the other hand, I have issues with a number of characters and the lack of options.
I'm not going to go into too much detail (because it's Beta and can still change), but here are a few of my grievances:
- Nightmare Box Sets:
So yeah, no surprises here. At the moment there are no substitute cards for these box sets, but as was feared, the Lucus McCabe set is now a split set as there are no options (or upgrades) for Mounted Guard units. As such, these guys are now just displays for me and will probably only get used for playing 2nd edition
- Lack of Upgrades:
I noticed while some Masters did have upgrades (mostly in line with there abilities), a bunch of them did not. This means it's hard to test out different playstyles when they have such a limited option to them. I just hope that they do bring out lots more upgrades down the road, not just for Masters but also for Henchmen too.
- Missing Humor and References:
So one of the great things with Malifaux 2nd Edition was its humorous references and ability names. There seems to be a real lack of that in this and somehow that bugs me really bad. Call it a nitpick, but to me it was one of those key things that made the game fun.
- Keywords, Themes and Gaming:
And finally, we get to one I have real mixed feelings on. On one hand I love themed armies and story driven fun, but on the other hand I feel that these changes really limit how mix and match your crew could be and what styles you can play as. Oh sure, you can still do it at a slightly higher Soul Stone cost, but the changes in each characters rules means that it feels you are forced into these themed mechanics just to have some average competitiveness.
Like I said, this is still Beta and things might be altered before 3rd Edition goes live, but as such my cautious feeling to it feels justified as there are certainly issues I have with it and feel now I need to just stick to Gremlins and give up the other factions just so I can have at least one usable faction. I'll do a proper review once it is out and I'll make my final decision on my continuation of Malifaux then (though now I know what all those forum posters felt when they went from 1st Ed to 2nd Ed).
I'm not going to go into too much detail (because it's Beta and can still change), but here are a few of my grievances:
- Nightmare Box Sets:
So yeah, no surprises here. At the moment there are no substitute cards for these box sets, but as was feared, the Lucus McCabe set is now a split set as there are no options (or upgrades) for Mounted Guard units. As such, these guys are now just displays for me and will probably only get used for playing 2nd edition
- Lack of Upgrades:
I noticed while some Masters did have upgrades (mostly in line with there abilities), a bunch of them did not. This means it's hard to test out different playstyles when they have such a limited option to them. I just hope that they do bring out lots more upgrades down the road, not just for Masters but also for Henchmen too.
- Missing Humor and References:
So one of the great things with Malifaux 2nd Edition was its humorous references and ability names. There seems to be a real lack of that in this and somehow that bugs me really bad. Call it a nitpick, but to me it was one of those key things that made the game fun.
- Keywords, Themes and Gaming:
And finally, we get to one I have real mixed feelings on. On one hand I love themed armies and story driven fun, but on the other hand I feel that these changes really limit how mix and match your crew could be and what styles you can play as. Oh sure, you can still do it at a slightly higher Soul Stone cost, but the changes in each characters rules means that it feels you are forced into these themed mechanics just to have some average competitiveness.
Like I said, this is still Beta and things might be altered before 3rd Edition goes live, but as such my cautious feeling to it feels justified as there are certainly issues I have with it and feel now I need to just stick to Gremlins and give up the other factions just so I can have at least one usable faction. I'll do a proper review once it is out and I'll make my final decision on my continuation of Malifaux then (though now I know what all those forum posters felt when they went from 1st Ed to 2nd Ed).
2019 - Not the best start
So yeah, the last few months really have been a total bust. It seems the heat has really taken off in the last few weeks, which hasn't helped my main problem, my health.
It's no surprise by now that my mental health has been an ever lasting problem for me and the holiday period has been a real struggle. I had so much planned and very little has come from it. Hell, there was so much I wanted to write about, but the reasons for not are the same as why I try to keep from most media now, you can't have constructive criticism without being labeled as being from one extreme side or the other. This whole 'you're with us or against us' attitude is toxic and as that one gag sadly stated, common sense is a super power. When you have such a negative and fearful view of the world, people like that keep you isolated from seeing the good that's in it.
I'd go on, but I really want to focus away from that and start getting back on track. The Wildstar post and Animated Reflections will still be a bit behind, so instead I want to start with what I have been keeping some positive focus on: Miniatures.
I'll talk about Malifaux and the Gloomspite Gitz in upcoming posts, but one I am looking forward to is a game called Moonstone. Another skirmish miniature game, this one is a fantasy game with a focus on gathering and holding the Moonstones need to win the game and who's miniatures really remind me of classic fantasy creature art (though those Goblins really remind me of the ones from Jim Henson's Labrinth movie).
I like the factions of both the Gnomes and Faeries and will look at possibly getting some in the future to paint up. I suggest checking them out and see if your interested in the game or the miniatures.
I know this wasn't much of an update, but I'm trying to slowly get back into this and so things might not be at the best.
It's no surprise by now that my mental health has been an ever lasting problem for me and the holiday period has been a real struggle. I had so much planned and very little has come from it. Hell, there was so much I wanted to write about, but the reasons for not are the same as why I try to keep from most media now, you can't have constructive criticism without being labeled as being from one extreme side or the other. This whole 'you're with us or against us' attitude is toxic and as that one gag sadly stated, common sense is a super power. When you have such a negative and fearful view of the world, people like that keep you isolated from seeing the good that's in it.
I'd go on, but I really want to focus away from that and start getting back on track. The Wildstar post and Animated Reflections will still be a bit behind, so instead I want to start with what I have been keeping some positive focus on: Miniatures.
I'll talk about Malifaux and the Gloomspite Gitz in upcoming posts, but one I am looking forward to is a game called Moonstone. Another skirmish miniature game, this one is a fantasy game with a focus on gathering and holding the Moonstones need to win the game and who's miniatures really remind me of classic fantasy creature art (though those Goblins really remind me of the ones from Jim Henson's Labrinth movie).
I like the factions of both the Gnomes and Faeries and will look at possibly getting some in the future to paint up. I suggest checking them out and see if your interested in the game or the miniatures.
I know this wasn't much of an update, but I'm trying to slowly get back into this and so things might not be at the best.
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