This is a battle I played against a friend at our LGS on Saturday. This is only our third game of 8th edition and his 3rd game ever with his Skaven army.
Empire List:
Arch Lector - General - Heavy Armor, Dragon Helm, Shield, Hammer of Might. (in the Halberd horde)
Captain - BSB - Armor of Meteoric Iron. (in the swordsmen)
Captain - Pegasus, Full Plate, Shield, Seed of Rebirth, Shrieking Blade
Wizard - Lvl 2 - Lore of Light - Rod of Power.
Swordsmen x34 - Full Command
Spearmen x34 - Full Command
Halbardiers x47 - Full Command
Free Company x15 - Detachment
Free Company x15 - Detachment
Knights x6 - Full Command
Pistoliers x5 - Musician, Outrider, Repeater Pistol
Cannon
Mortar
Mortar
Helstorm Rocket Battery
Skaven List:
Grey Seer on Screaming Bell
Engineer
Large unit of Rat Ogres with unit character upgrade
Clanrats x50 with Screaming Bell - Ratling gun attachment
Storm Vermin x20 or 25 - Warpfire Cannon/thrower attachment
Jezzails x5 or 6
Jezzails x5 or 6
Doom Wheel
For Magic I rolled Birona's Time Warp and The Speed of Light. His Grey Seer got The Dreaded 13th, Death Frenzy, Howling Wind(?), and Scorch.
We rolled the Watch Tower scenario. Empire started with a unit of 15 Free Company in the Watch Tower and Skaven took first turn.
Skaven Turn 1:
On the left flank the Rat Ogres made a full advance. In the center the Screaming Bell made a partial advance and the ratling gun detached from the unit. The Storm Vermin made a full advance towards the watch tower, the Doom Wheel advanced to directly beside the watch tower, and the jezzails held on their hill and tower.
Magic was uneventful. I dispelled Scorch targeting the Halberd horde and I think he failed casting his second spell. The Grey Seer took a warpstone wound. I dispelled the engineer's warp lightning as well. The lightning from the Doom Wheel was STR 2 and failed to wound any Free Company in the Tower.
Both weapon teams moved so were unable to shoot in the shooting phase. The jezzails killed two of the Pistoliers that were hiding behind a forest after their vanguard move. They passed their panic test.
Empire Turn 1:
No charges declared. On the left flank I angled my Swordsmen to be ready for the rat ogres. The Free Company unit made a full advance to bait charges and to get into a position to put pressure on the lone Engineer and Ratling Gun. The Halberd horde advanced slightly content to let the artillery work on the Screaming Bell's horde before engaging. The Knights angled themselves to be ready for the Doom Wheel. The Spears advanced to defend a wall obstacle and prepare for the Doom Wheel. The Pistoliers moved to the flank of the Jezzails on the hill.
Magic Phase: The Speed of Light was successfully cast on all units within 12". Failed casting Time Warp on the Halberds. I saved 3 dice in the Rod rather than attempting a priest prayer since the Skaven had a pile of dispel dice left.
Shooting: The Pistoliers kill 2 Jezzails and force a panic test, the unit flees. The cannon fires at the Doom Wheel and misfires. It will be able to fire again next turn. The first mortar fires at the Screaming Bell unit and misses widely. The second mortar fires at the Screaming Bell and misfires, it will fire normally next turn. The Rocket Battery fires at the Doom Wheel, misfires, and will have to spend next turn reloading. A rocky start for the artillery!
No HTH occurred in the first turn.
Skaven Turn 2:
The Rat Ogres advanced slightly to prepare for a charge next turn. The Engineer stays put in the ruins. The Ratling Gun stands to prepare to fire. The Screaming Bell advances slightly. The Storm Vermin charge the watch tower. The Doom Wheel aims for the cannon but falls short. The Jezzails stay in their tower.
Magic: The Screaming Bell tolls and attempts to scorch the Halberds. It is dispelled. The Grey Seer casts the Dreaded 13th on the unit of Free Company with Irresistible Force and completely transforms the unit into a unit of clan rats. The miscast kills 9 clanrats in the Screaming Bell Unit and drains the last of the magic dice. The Doom Wheel misfires and causes itself a wound.
Shooting: The Ratling Gun kills 7-8 Swordsmen. The Warpfire Thrower misses. The Jezzails kill 2 more Pistoliers and the remaining one flees.
Combat: The Storm Vermin kill 5 Free Company who do little in return, but they are steadfast and hold the tower.
Empire Turn 2:
The Swordsmen hold position to be ready for the new unit of clan rats or the Rat Ogres. The Pegasus Captain charges the lone engineer in the ruins. The Engineer flees so the Captain redirects to the Ratling Gun. The stand and shoot yields 5 hits that all fail to wound. The Halberds march forward to force a combat next turn. The Knights charge the Doom Wheel in the front and the Spears charge it in the flank. The final pistolier flees the battlefield.
Magic: The wizard is able to get Timewarp cast on all units within 12". This includes the halberds, free company in the tower, knights, and spears. This was a game changer. Speed of light failed to cast, remaining dice were stored in the rod.
Shooting: Both Mortars landed shots this turn killing 15ish clan rats from the Bell unit in total. The cannon sniped the Warpfire thrower who failed his ward save. The Rocket Battery finished reloading to be ready to fire next turn.
Combat: The Captain on Pegasus slew the ratling gun, then overran into the Engineer killing him as well. The Time Warped knights and Spears destroyed the Doom Wheel. The knights overran a whopping 3 inches blocking the path of the Spears.
Skaven Turn 3:
The Rat Ogres charged the Swordsmen, rolled a 1 and 2 and failed moving only 1 inch. The transformed clan rats reformed and moved towards the Mortars. The Screaming bell unit charged the Halberds. The Storm Vermin charged the Watch Tower. The Jezzails remained in their tower.
Magic: The screaming bell tolled and allowed leadership rerolls for all skaven for the remainder of the turn. The Scorch got through on the Halberds this time hitting 21 and kill 9ish. He also got off Death Frenzy on the bell's unit. He failed casting Howling Wind. He took another warpstone wound.
Shooting: The Jezzails killed 2 knights.
Combat: The timewarped Halberds struck first with 41 str 4 attacks with hatred. I believe 20 clan rats were killed. The Arch Lector killed 2 more. A handful of Halberds were killed in the return from the Death Frenzied unit. At the end of the turn the Death Frenzy took a few more rats leaving only a handful in the unit. The timewarped Free Company struck first as well with 30 attacks, killing all but 10 of the Storm Vermin. They once again held the tower.
Empire Turn 3:
The Swordsmen moved to accept a charge from the Rat Ogres in turn 4. The Pegasus Captain attempted to charge the clan rats threatening the mortars but failed. The Free Company abandoned the Watch Tower and the Spearmen entered it, still 34 strong. The Knights charged the jezzails. Stand and fire took out one more knight and then the dangerous terrain test saw two 1's rolled, so only a single knight made it.
Magic: Cast Speed of Light on the Swordsmen preparing for the Rat Ogres. Time Warp was dispelled. Not enough dice left to reliably get a priest prayer off so saved in rod.
Shooting: Two mortar shots managed to kill one handler and cause one wound to a rat ogre. The Rocket Battery misfired and blew itself up. The Cannon's grape shot was out of range of the clan rats.
Combat: The halberds and Arch Lector took out all but one clan rat remaining, the Grey Seer, and did two wounds to the bell. The lone knight did nothing and died.
Skaven Turn 4:
The Rat Ogres charged the swordsmen. The Storm Vermin once again charged the Tower.
Magic: I don't remember what the screaming bell did this turn, but there was no Grey Seer or Engineer left to cast anything else.
Shooting: The Jezzails killed a couple Spearmen I think.
Combat: The Rat Ogres only killed about 4 swordsmen because of the WS 10 and some good parry saves. They ended up loosing by 2, breaking, and being overrun. The Screaming Bell unit was left with 1 Clan rat and a couple wounds remaining on the bell itself. The Storm Vermin were not able to oust the Spears.
At the end of this turn we went ahead and rolled to see if there would be a turn 5. There was not. The Empire held the tower, so victory for the Empire!
As I said above we are both inexperienced with the 8th edition ruleset (and also both played very little in 7th as well). This was also our first time playing the watch tower scenario. So any feedback on anything we played incorrectly is appreciated.
