A novel idea...

So, in this thread I'm going to drop the mother of all bombshells on you regarding my Skaven army. This is going to be some big stuff. Unheard of, especially considering my attitude usually toward the subject. But hear me out...


There will be no pictures in this thread because it is such serious business.

I'm thinking about dropping my Grey Seers.

I'm thinking about running without magic.

thinking about running without magic
running without magic
without magic
magic


Yeah really. And here's why.

I was on the train home earlier today and was sitting thinking about a game I'd had offered to me by a Lizardmen player. Then I got to thinking about some tactics I could use, mostly involving getting my seers to survive dwellers. Which got me thinking down the road of how efficient magic really is. When you're paying 275pts for a seer with a power scroll, that's not bad. I mean, if he nabs a character with 13th he usually makes his points up. But so many spells in this game can kill him before he even gets to. It makes WHFB very alpha strikey in that regard. That's why I think there's only a few wizards that're really all that viable (Teclis, Slann, Horrors, powercaddies) in this new element. It's like having two guys standing naked in pools of water firing electricity guns at each other.

For example, last weekend I was sitting watching a Slann and Teclis try and nab each other with dwellers and pit of shades. Fun for all the family? I think not.

So, won't I get trampled with no magic defense? Well, mostly. See, in 8th ed if you want a big spell off though, you get it off. There's nothing your opponent can do to stop that happening. "But your opponents don't need to make sure they get high rolls to cast, as there's nothing you can do to stop them!". Ok then, lets have us an example. Say I'm up against a life wizard against the new, wizardless army. Dwellers, don't care. Earthblood, don't care. Awakening, don't care. Shield of Thorns, don't care. Throne of Vines, I can dispel it whenever I suppose. Flesh to Stone, this I care about, and will just throw all my dice at it. This means they need to make sure they cast it well.

Obviously that's a simple example but the point stands. So then, you ask, my inquisitive readers, what would a wizardless army look like? Well, it would have to take advantage of what magic can't deal with very well. "What's that?"

MSU.

Yup, my golden boy is back. There are only a few things that bother me magically as MSU. One of them is Chain Lightning. Gift of Chaos, Comet of Cassandora... and I think that's it. I suppose Plague but it's not reliable and it's short range. Ho hum. So how do we build this magically resistant, MSU army. Well, as Skaven we need something to do the killing. For me that's shooting. So on we go to have a gander...

Lord
Warlord
Shield
Dragonbane Gem
98

Heroes
Chieftan
Battle Standard Bearer
Shield
72

Warlock Engineer
Doomrocket
45

Warlock Engineer
15

Core
10 Stormvermin
Standard
Warpfire Thrower
Standard of Discipline
165

10 Stormvermin
Standard
Warpfire Thrower
150

10 Stormvermin
Standard
Warpfire Thrower
150

10 Stormvermin
Warpfire Thrower
140

10 Stormvermin
Warpfire Thrower
140

10 Stormvermin
Warpfire Thrower
140

10 Stormvermin
Warpfire Thrower
140

10 Stormvermin
Warpfire Thrower
140

10 Stormvermin
Warpfire Thrower
140

Special
5 Gutter Runners
Slings
Poison
90

5 Gutter Runners
Slings
Poison
90

5 Gutter Runners
Slings
Poison
90

Rare
Warp Lightning Cannon
90

Warp Lightning Cannon
90

So there we have it. You can of course swap weapon teams around as you please. But now, let us have a review of this list.

First off our general. Well basically he's cheap LD7. One might argue I would be better off with a chieftan, for only one loss in LD. But LD7 is so much better than LD6. I also get LD8 (discipline) but there's a lot of modifiers out here, and anyway, the big killer of this list is panic. The Doomrocket is of course auto include, and the engineers are just redirectors. The Warp Lightning Cannons are auto include and the gutter runners are war machine hunters and unit finisher-offers. So the core. Well.... it's 9 units to get in people's way, and 9 warpfire throwers. They also give my general +1LD which is nice. But yeah, 9 warpfire throwers.

You guys enjoy your dwellers or whatever, I reckon I'm gonna stay here. To be perfectly honest I'm half tempted to get a seer with a scroll just to evaporate big powerful hard to kill units, but I'd be dropping 2 warpfire throwers and 20 stormvermin. Fair enough that could be worth it but the seer is so fragile. I mean, losing him turn one to an opposing caddy is mneh. And Skaven aren't likely to get first turn in most scenarios (so many units).

Hope you enjoyed the article.

What do you guys think?