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Author Topic: Skaven vs Skaven (2500, Illustrated)  (Read 4542 times)

Offline Padre

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Skaven vs Skaven (2500, Illustrated)
« on: February 11, 2011, 08:39:23 AM »
(From the A5 campaign. My first Bat Rep. I know I usually do a lot more of these in a campaign, but I have been painting and modelling instead so far!)

Scabscar's First Battle

Warlord Scabscar had presumed that the first battle against the foe would be fought in the underground realm beneath Estalia, yet here he was leading his vanguard beneath the bright blue sky rather than a ceiling of rock, timber supports and tangled roots. For months now he and almost his entire force had dwelt in the depths of the earth, but now they moved upon its sunlit skin. Not that this worried him, for he knew that this force was more than adequately equipped for a battle above ground. He had ordered that it be so. It was just an unexpected outcome.

Oddly, his own yellow-liveried personal guard of Clanrats were not present, having been entrusted to a task he would not risk giving to any less loyal warriors. Instead he had two of his largest battle regiments, both wearing the dried-blood hued cloth favoured by the majority of his force, and he intended to take the field leading one of these. The rest of his force consisted of a large body of Plague Monks (Clan Pestilens must also be keen to have Clan Skarr subdued for they had generously provided a substantial contingent of their warriors), as well as slaves, giant rats and a variety of Chief Engineer Abdurat’s engines of war. Abdurat himself, unsurprisingly, was not present, and had sent two of his lieutenants to support the vanguard in his stead. Yet one of the Council’s Intermediaries, the Grey Seer Pustulgar the Erudited, had chosen to come along. Hopefully, thought Scabscar, he was here not merely to observe but to lend more active (magical) support.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Warlord Scabscar’s Vanguard Force (2500 Pts)

Warlord (General Scabscar)
Halberd, Hvy Armour, Bonebreaker, Trickster's Helm, Talisman Preservation
Grey Seer (Pustulgar the Erudited)
Warpstone Token, Channeling Staff, Pendant, Skalm
Warlock Engineer
Level 1 Wizard, Warp Lightning
Warlock Engineer
Level 1 Wizard, Opal Amulet, Warp Lightning
Chieftain
Heavy Armour, Weeping Blade, Charmed Shield, Luckstone
Chieftain
Battle Standard, Armour of Fortune

40 Clanrats - Full command, Spear, Light, Shield with Ratling Gun
40 Clanrats - Full command, Spear, Light, Shield with Warpfire Thrower
46 Skavenslaves - musician & Pawleader
40 Plague Monks - Full command, Banner of Under-Empire
24 Giant Rats & 4 Packmasters
9 Poisoned Wind Globadiers - Bombardier & Poisoned Wind Mortar

Doomwheel
Warp-Lightning Cannon
5 Warplock Jezzails   
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Clan Scabscar’s foe was to be an army of rebellious skaven, the warriors of an obscure petty clan called Clan Gobdoth, and although in many respects the opposing armies were similar, what with Clanrats and engineers and a Grey Seer in both forces, there were significant differences too. Gobdoth seemed to favour war machines, for it had a brace of Warp Lightning Cannons as well as a pair of Plague Catapults. Even the Grey Seer (the army’s general) apparently had a liking for constructs, for he rode a Screaming Bell. They also marched with more than twice as many jezzails.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Clan Gobdoth (2500 Pts)

Grey Seer on Screaming Bell
Book of Ashur, Shadow Magnet Trinket; with 35 Clanrats & a Ratling team
Chieftain with Sacred Standard of the Horned Rat
Chieftain with Golden Sigil Sword & Armour of Fortune
Lvl 2 Engineer with Doom Rocket, Portent of Verminous Doom
Lvl 2 Engineer with Warlock Enhanced Weapon, Warpstone Armour

26 Stormvermin with Ratling Gun team
27 Clanrats with Ratling Gun team
7 Jezzails & Sharpshooter
7 Jezzails & Sharpshooter

Two WL Cannons
Two Plague Claw Catapults
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

The two forces approached the ground over which they would fight with trepidation - a fairly common feeling for skaven before battle. Every warrior on both sides could smell the fear of those around him, the strength of which, from so many, would in turn stimulate a new emotion, that of bloodlust. A strong smell of fear aroused most skaven, and so a fearful army of ratmen could often become, quite quickly, quite the opposite in what might appear a quite contrary sort of response, but was actually one that had served the race well for centuries. A lone skaven was often a pathetic sort of creature, but in numbers they could become a vicious and unstoppable force.

Scabscar saw the foe was approaching a river and so ordered several elements of his army to make their way quickly to its banks, and others to cross them, all the better to prevent the foe from employing the river as an admittedly soggy defensive ditch. He had every intention of getting to the enemy’s war machines as quickly as possible, and did not want his main regiments slowed down by flowing waters and thus susceptible to more bombardment as they advanced at the foe.



There was a bridge one of his regiments could employ, while he sent those best able to clear the waters relatively hastily towards the stretch of the river closest to the Clan Gobdoth. The rest of the battlefield consisted of a scattering of ancient ruins and some copses of wiry trees. (Game Note: None of these terrain features were classed as the wacky kinds in the BRB, and we decided the woods would actually - like so often IRL - be dense enough to block LoS.)

His orders given, Scabscar’s army moved accordingly. The Doomwheel and Warp Lightning Cannon flanked his main block of warriors - the Monks, the Clanrats he personally commanded and his slaves - while the second Clanrat regiment headed over the bridge almost in the centre of the line. Giant rats and Globadiers moved up in the bend of the river, towards the flowing water. The latter were pleased to see that the woods concealed their advance from most of the foe.



Gobdoth arrayed themselves symmetrically, with a Warp Lightning Cannon, a Catapult and seven Jezzails on each flank, and the mass of warriors in the centre. Although the regiments were smaller than Scabscar’s, they had better quality troops (Stormvermin) and one of the clanrat regiments was made considerably more battle worthy with the fighting spirit imbued by the Screaming Bell.



Atop his Bonebreaker, Scabscar cursed as he realised that the ruins would either slow down or disrupt his line somewhat (perhaps both) but there was nothing he could do.



Pustulgar the Erudited, perhaps not wanting to wet the hem of his fancy robes, strode at the head of the one regiment who crossed the river by bridge rather than wading it …



… whilst the now dripping wet horde of forty Plague Monks advanced keenly, barely aware of their soggy state, on the right.



For a moment, the army halted as Scabscar took one last look at the enemy. Apart from the underlying noise of hundreds or warriors scratching at the shields, grinding their teeth and clawing at the ground, the only other noticeable sound was the rhythmic hiss of steam from Abdurat’s marvellous engine.

Scabscar hunched forwards, as if moving his head that little amount might bring him closer to the enemy and thus reveal some new detail regarding their composition. As he peered, his hand rested on the lever that worked his stinger, receiving little jolts of energy which made the hairs of his right arm stand and his finger tips sting as if being pricked by the contents of a pin cushion.



He failed to notice these things, however, for he could see the enemy was about to make its move.

(Part 2 next)
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Offline Padre

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Re: Skaven vs Skaven (2500, Illustrated)
« Reply #1 on: February 11, 2011, 08:40:37 AM »
Part 2

Almost as soon as they began to advance, however, they stopped. Scabscar was confused - almost looking behind him to see what had made them suddenly hesitate. Clan Gobdoth had done nothing more than take a few steps to straighten their line, while a lone engineer scuttled from one regiment into the one accompanying the Bell. Little else seemed to happen. Being well versed in the art of Skaven warfare, Scabscar now realised what this meant - a storm of magic and missiles was surely about to be unleashed against him.

Luckily for Scabscar the winds of magic were little more than a wisp of a breeze (4:2) and the only harm done by Gobdoth’s wielders of magic was to kill four jezzail teams with warp lightning. The last team fled the field of battle never to be heard of again. When the barrage of war machine missiles came, however, the effect was much more dramatic. An engineer released his Doom Rocket to land on Scabscar’s own regiment killing a dozen of the warriors at the front (around Scabscar and his now wounded Bonebreaker). The two Plague Catapult crews wanted to join the fun and lobbed their missiles at the same unit. One landed a little off killing only two more Clanrats (but also seven slaves in the adjacent mob) but the other hit full on and ended the (rather squalid) lives of sixteen more Clanrat warriors! Having closed his eyes just before the impact of the noisome missiles, Scabscar now opened them to see what few warriors remained could hardly be called a regiment any more.



Gobdoth’s jezzails aimed at the Doomwheel and the Warp Lightning cannon, wounding the latter. In the process two of their own weapons misfired killing their own crews. Both Warp Lightning Cannons together could only fell one Plague Monk, which the rest of the loudly chanting Clan Pestilen’s warriors failed to notice at all.

Scabscar now realised he had to engage the foe quickly, or risk massive further damage from the enemy’s powerfully destructive machines of war, and so he ordered a general advance. On the left the Globadiers and Giant Rats advanced to the river, where they began to slow their pace a little, while the second (still whole) Clanrat Legion marched boldly over the bridge.



On the other flank, the Plague Monk horde began picking its way through the ruined temple while the Doomwheel rolled along by their side (it’s sudden burst of warp lightning striking out to kill three of them!).



In the centre the Slaves were led boldly forwards by Chieftain Uddleclaw and one of the apprentice engineers, with Scabscar’s badly mauled regiment moving less confidently behind. Scabscar was already wondering how he might reach the intact legion emerging from the bridge.



A sudden strong gust stirred the winds of magic (10:7), yet try as they might, Scabscar’s magic users could not tame it. Pustulgar’s Scorch spell was batted aside by Gobdoth’s Grey Seer, whilst both apprentice engineers failed abysmally to cast Warp Lightning. (Game note: Get this, I rolled two triple ones. Two triple ones! That’s a 1:46656 chance! I apologise for the stupidity of this, but I just had to take a photo of the second triple one …)



A weak eruption from the muzzle of the Warp Lightning Cannon slew two Stormvermin, while a stray shot from the poisoned wind mortar hit the Clanrats with the Bell and killed six. All very nice, thought Scabscar, but nothing compared to what their missiles did to us. He shuddered as he saw that the catapult arms had been hauled back into position and the warpstone of the Lightning Cannons was fizzling with accumulated energy. And now they are about to fire again. His teeth clamped hard together, drawing blood from his gums, as he involuntarily braced himself for the blast.

Once again Clan Gobdoth barely moved, making only the slightest adjustment to their line. They obviously believed their machines would do the necessary and bloody work for them. The Grey Seer smelled the trace of brimstone that always revealed to him that there was magic about (7:5). Feeding off some of this, his engineers released warp lightning. One was foiled by Scabscar’s own engineers but the other blast got through irresistibly and brought down four more of Scabscar’s dwindling regiment. The engineer responsible, however, had let some of the energy spill away from him and by the time it’s coiling tendrils had finished whipping viciously through his own unit seven of Gobdoth’s clanrats were dead too. The disruption threw the Grey Seer off his balance and his subsequently weakly powered attempt at casting Vermintide failed.

The Bell now chimed and sent a disruptive peel through the stones of the ruins. (House Rule: The ruined temple would count as a building for this spell on a 4+ roll, even though it was not put down as a building in terms of terrain. 3 rolled, so the Monks were unaffected.) The Jezzails sent the Doomwheel out of control by damaging some of its components, but such was it’s loss of control that it now rolled even quicker towards them! The other Jezzails killed the Poisoned Wind Mortar team before they could launch another vile globe. Warp Lightning Cannons, Ratling Guns and Plague Catapults all contributed their own particular deadly missiles to bring down four Slaves, four Monks and thirteen more of the Clanrats with Scabscar. Only the regimental champion was left.



Scabscar looked at the bloody mess of writhing and twitching ratmen around him and did not know whether to feel annoyed or angered. In the end more sensible motives, the urge to survive flavoured with tactical considerations, won the battle for his attention, and he knew he would have to reach the other legion - and quick!

As he set off to join them, his army standard bearer following as best he could (and the lone survivor of the first regiment left in a daze behind), the slaves attempted to charge before the enemy’s machines could turn their full attention on them. But there was too much ground to cover and their desperate dash petered out long before they reached the enemy line. The Doomwheel did reach the red-clad Clanrat regiment on the left of the Bell.



Scabscar reached the advancing legion at the moment his magic users tried once more to summon something harmful from the all-pervading ethereal realm of magical currents and tides (11:5). Pustulgar’s Scorch spell was again batted aside, but two warp-lightning blasts knocked five Clanrats with the Bell to the ground (never to get up).

The Globadiers moved from the water to the edge of the trees …



… while Scabscar’s various machines of war let loose as best they could. One of Gobdoth’s Ratling Teams was torn apart by Scabscar’s own similar team, while lightning from the Doomwheel fatally frazzled two Clanrats. But the Doomwheel's momentum was not as powerful as it could and should have been, so that not one enemy warrior fell to it’s impact. The driver decided he no longer fancied the odds and turned the huge machine around to flee from the foe as fast as he had attacked them moments before. Hurtling through the Plague Monks, one of the robed Pestilen’s rats failed to jump out of the wheel's way quick enough and was crushed to a pulp beneath its mighty iron and wood mass; it then smashed through the ruined temple. (Game Note: Passed Terrain test.)

Looking at the enemy before him, Scabscar found a moment’s time to ponder: Would Clan Gobdoth finally charge and so come to blows with his warriors, or would they once more hurl missiles and hope in doing so to break his force’s spirit?



End of Turn 2.

Part 3 (Final Part) to follow when written..
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Offline Odominus

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Re: Skaven vs Skaven (2500, Illustrated)
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2011, 09:14:17 AM »
Well done sir. Floorhammer yes! I am digging the paintjobs :happy:
Odo drops the bombs and laughs at all the clucking.

......, it would really help if you did research before spouting your opinion...

Offline Padre

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Re: Skaven vs Skaven (2500, Illustrated)
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2011, 09:41:04 AM »
Aaah, you think that is a carpet sir! It is actually my gaming cloth laid on the table. I stopped being able to play WFB on the floor about 15 years ago - though yes, I do recall being at Uni in 1987 and playing on the floor. Crazy days!
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Offline Odominus

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Re: Skaven vs Skaven (2500, Illustrated)
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2011, 09:46:05 AM »
I stopped being able to play WFB on the floor about 15 years ago

I tried this again over the summer and paid for it! Broke knees hammer lol

Btw, I think the homemade models (Doomwheel, Bell) have personality :icon_biggrin:
Odo drops the bombs and laughs at all the clucking.

......, it would really help if you did research before spouting your opinion...

Offline Padre

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Re: Skaven vs Skaven (2500, Illustrated)
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2011, 09:54:09 AM »
Doomwheel and steam engine WL Cannon are mine, and finished. Bell is my opponents, and is very unfinished atm. I am loathe to filed anything unfinished, or unpainted, but that's just me and my armies. I have no problem with opponents doing it at all. It helps with reports like this if as much as possible is painted.
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Offline Fandir Nightshade

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Re: Skaven vs Skaven (2500, Illustrated)
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2011, 10:18:26 AM »
The battle of the wounded knee...I can see it right before me.

Offline Von Kurst

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Re: Skaven vs Skaven (2500, Illustrated)
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2011, 01:32:47 AM »
Great report so far Padre, I hope to see the next installment soon.
“Why is the rum always gone?” -Captain Jack Sparrow
"It is, it is a glorious thing To be a Pirate King."
 -Gilbert, Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck)

Offline Padre

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Re: Skaven vs Skaven (2500, Illustrated)
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2011, 11:40:39 PM »
Oops! I entirely forgot I had started this here. Ever so sorry. The final part is here ...

Final Part:

Still clan Gobdoth refused to charge and the only movement across their line (apart from the frantic activity of warmachine crews) was a handful of commanders running between regiments to find what they considered were better positions. Once again the huge Bell rang to no real effect, while the Grey Seer riding atop it cast the spell ‘Wither’ on the Plague Monks. Scabscar’s magic users, fearing still greater spells to come, let this one slip by and prepared to fend off whatever followed. They subsequently dissipated the strength of a ‘Plague’ spell (26 dispel versus 18 casting) and thanked their gods that they had not wasted precious energies on the first spell.

One pack of Jezzails killed a packmaster and three of the giant rats emerging from the river, while the other bunch damaged the fleeing Doomwheel. A ratling team also brought down a packmaster, and then although one Warp Lightning Cannon failed to generate enough of a sting to do more than tickle the Giant Rats, a stinking glob from the Plague Claw Catapult landed squarely upon them to kill another eleven vermin as well the penultimate Packmaster. A stern look from Scabscar, who was now nearby, chased away any thoughts of flight and the rats continued to move forwards. Secretly, however, the warlord was simply happy that they had drawn much of the fire that might have been directed at him instead.

Two Plague Monks fell to the second Warp Lightning Cannon, while the second Plague Claw Catapult fatally misfired in its attempt to harm the same.

This is it, thought Scabscar, it is now or never. Behind him the crew of his own Warp Lightning Cannon suddenly worried that they might soon become a target and so decided they would turn their attention to one of the enemy’s cannons …



… and just as they carefully turned the steam engine to aim their barrel, Scabscar gave the shrieking command to charge!



All three regiments at the front now rushed forwards. All three met the foe: Scabscar and his Clanrats smashed into the Stormvermin; the Slaves hit the regiment with the Screaming Bell while the Plague Monks made sure they hit both that unit and the other Clanrat unit. (Even weakened by the ‘Wither’ spell they reckoned they were a match for both.)



Now the real fight was to take place, the struggle that would determine who won the day. Scabscar had lost an entire regiment to Goboth’s war machines, and now he intended to return the favour using scimitar and spear, claw and tooth. His Bonebreaker was frothing at the mouth from all the exertion of carrying Scabscar so far, yet nevertheless it now found its second wind and set about tearing at the foe with abandon, while the warlord lowered his warp-powered stinger to begin it's work. (Game note: Don’t worry, this isn’t a hitherto unknown Skaven invention, just a fluffy way of explaining how he does some of his many attacks from ‘way up there’.)



Behind this mighty melee, the lone survivor from the other Clanrat unit suddenly wondered why he was running around in the open when warp-stone bullets and bombs were a-flying, and so ran to hide behind the ruins. When he got there he could not press himself close enough to the stone!



The surviving Giant Rats (much reduced in strength) gleefully charged the Plague Claw Catapult before them …



… while the globadiers emerged from the trees on the journey towards Warp Lightning Cannon out on the enemy’s far right flank.



One of the engineers sent fatal warp lightning into a Ratling team, but hurt himself in the process and drained so much magic from the etheric winds that none other of Clan Gobdoth's spells proved effective. The globadiers and the Warp Lightning Cannon now both attempted to harm the enemy cannon but could not do so. The Giant Rats could not overcome the monkish crew of the Plague Claw Catapult and that fight settled down to a messy brawl as rats leapt and monks stamped, then rats stamped and monks leapt and still no harm was done.

In the main melee the Bonebreaker killed three Stormvermin, while Scabscar killed but one. Five of Scabscar’s Clanrats perished, while the engineer andother rats stepped over the corpses to kill two more Stormvermin. Scabscar and his boys knew things were going their way, but with Gobdoth’s Battle Standard Bearer nearby the Stormvermin found the courage to fight on.

The Rat Ogre on the Bell roared mightily but failed to hurt anyone (1, 1 & 2 to hit!). Slaves, Clanrats, Monks and more Clanrats fell (though 41 attacks from the Plague Monks on the two Clanrat regiments resulted in only 2 deaths!). Gobdoth’s warriors were just perceptibly on the back foot, but they would not run and the battle went on.



Clan Gobdoth’s left-wing Warp Lightning Cannon now came rushing around to find better targets. As it careened along, the Screaming Bell now finally rang out an ominous sound (rolling 13) - a noise so ear-piercingly deadly that it killed a Plague Monk, an Engineer, the Ratling Gun team, the Warpfire Thrower, a Giant rat, a Globadier and even wounded the Grey Seer skulking in a ruin near the bridge (where he had been hiding for some time.) The death cries of all these disparate Skaven came from all sides, a short-lived wail of a chorus that halted abruptly as every open mouth clamped shut at exactly the same moment.

The Doomwheel was finally stopped by Gobdoth’s jezzails - it would need major repairs before it would ever move again. The Giant Rats and Plague Monk crewmen continued their violent dance without either side yielding, but Scabscar showed them what a true warrior could do as he and his Bonebreaker hacked an engineer into pieces. The Stormvermin killed five Clanrats but the red-clad warriors could not return the favour, unable to penetrate the foe’s armour. Gobdoth’s Stormvermin refused to run, even against such numbers.

To Scabscar’s right the Plague Monks laid into the Clanrats so viciously that one regiment (the one without the Bell) scarpered away as fast as their legs could carry them. The regiment left with the Bell was reduced to only one ragged rank. Scabscar and his warriors pushed on, their gleeful war-cries drowning out the multitude of groanings and moanings arising from the bloodily injured skaven lying underfoot.



Then, as the Globadiers raised their arms to lob another round of stink-balls …



… and the Plague Monks surged to finish off the weakened foe before them …



… Clan Goboth’s resolve finally snapped. At first it was just one or two warriors who turned to join those already fleeing, but with half a moment everyone else joined in.

Scabscar was victorious. The enemy streamed away from his army. Taking a moment to catch their breaths, Scabscar's warriors then leapt forwards, eager to kill, kill, kill the panicked foe before them.

Game Note: End of turn 4, Gobdoth player concedes defeat  - a combination of lack of time and belief that he really could not recover the game. His two Plague Monk crew were unlikely to continue their luck, and the Grey Seer, Bell and three companions were about to be really hammered. Scabscar’s boys had won every combat against the Stormvermin so far, despite really (I mean really) bad rolls and so even there things should have gone my way. Probably.

Thank you ‘J’ for a great game, and not because I won, but because it was fun and I learned a lot about using Skaven in 8th ed. When you play Skaven vs Skaven you just have to learn a thing or two. I now really want a doom rocket, and I have to get more warpglobe mortars.
Photobucket has now re-destroyed my pictures, so the first half of my collected works thread is no longer working again. To see my website version of the campaign thread, with fully functioning pictures, please go to https://bigsmallworlds.com/

Offline Von Kurst

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Re: Skaven vs Skaven (2500, Illustrated)
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2011, 02:32:04 PM »
Thanks for the report.  I'm glad you are doing narrative reports with no extraneous Rivers of Blood, etc.
“Why is the rum always gone?” -Captain Jack Sparrow
"It is, it is a glorious thing To be a Pirate King."
 -Gilbert, Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck)