| Skaven Tortoise Tactic | |||
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| Tweet Topic Started: 26th July 2004 - 11:57 AM (455 Views) | |||
| Warlord Vermindeath | 26th July 2004 - 11:57 AM Post #1 | ||
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Warpstone powered Biker Rat
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I don't know if any of you have used this before but I used it against a HE player last week and it really threw him. Its started out as a standard Refused Flank Defence, mutating into a full on rush by turn 3. Right, the Tortoise consists of a minimum of 6 units, arranged as such: X X X X X X The front corners (red) are 20 strong units of slaves, the rear corners (green) are 30 strong units or Clanrat Warriors. The front centre unit (purple) is a unit of 10 strong unit of Night Runners. The rear centre unit (grey) is your assault unit, Stormvermin or Plague Monks. I used Monks. Characters are placed in the Clanrat units. I had a chieftain, a Grey Seer, and an Assassin. The GS and Assassin were in the right hand CR unit, the Chieftain in the left hand CR unit. Both CR units had Ratling guns on the fringes of the formation. I had 6 jezzails, a WLC, 4 PWG, a WE, and two Rat Swarm bases on my left flank, nothing on the right flank (Refused Flank-ness), and a 8 strong unit of Gutter Runners were to come up under his archers. The armies were set out thus: ......................... M M M SH SH...M.......BT A A A BT...DP ........... G RS....................S N S JJJJJJ W RG.......C P C RG ...WE SH= 8 Silver Helms M= Mage BT= Bolt Thrower A= 10 Archers DP= 8 Dragon Princes G= 4 Globadiers RS= 2 Rat swarms S= 20 Slaves N= 10 Night Runners J= Jezzail RG= Ratling Gun C= 30 Clanrats P= 15 Plague Monks WE= Warlock Engineer Thats roughly how the armies were set out (excuse the dots, its cos the computer won't let me space it). The armies were 24" apart so I was out of range of his magic till I started moving. The "Tortoise" doesn't move till the major threats (Cavalry) are destroyed, then it marches forwards at top speed into the enemies lines. The idea of the Tortoise is to get the assault unit(s) of your army into the enemy's line with minimum casualties, and still with supporting units when it gets there. Turn by turn example of the use of the "Tortoise". All references to flanks are from my view. Turn 1. His DP came round to the centre of the board on my right, and the SH moved up to engage my Rat Swarm, followed by a mage, only one unit making it in. His first BT (on my left flank) fired six shots at the left hand slaves, killing 2. His 30 archers did jack all, killing a further 3 slaves and one Night Runner. His second BT fired a single shot at the right slaves, which bounced off the first slave it hit. I lost one swarm base to the SH, and he lost one SH. In my turn, the RG fired 15 (!) shots at his SH in contact with the RS, killing 6, the PWG took out the last one. The Jezzails fired at short range at the second unit of SH, killing 6. The WE fried the last two with an Irresistable Warp-Lightning. The WLC turned the mage into a polo. Turn 2. The DP moved round again, and were now within 18" of the Grey Seer. His magic was still out of range. I took similar shooting casualties as last turn, 2 NR, 8 slaves died. In my turn, the DP were hit by an Irresistable Plague, killing 6. Turn 3. The DP moved out of range of my Grey Seer. More shooting casualties, this time both slave units ran. One unit rallied, the other continued running. My army now began its assault. Despite the slaves running, the Monks were still shielded from fire. The "Tortoise" moved forward at maximum speed, straight forwards. This surprised my counterpart as there were still 3 mages, two BT, and 20 archers pointing at me. My Gutter Runner Tunnelling team had come up, but not quite where they should have been. Instead, they came up under one of his units of archers, the first in the line of 3 units of ten. The jezzails, PWG, WE, RS, WLC, and RG moved up, to get a firing position on his lines. The GR inflicted 8 kills, to his none, and won the combat. Turn 4. The pointy eared one opened up with his magic and arrows, killing more NR, slaves, and (left flank) CR. The CR on the left took sufficient casualties to run. The GR killed the remaining archers in the first unit. The GR charged the second unit of archers, but only made it to the mage with them, and the Tortoise moved forwards. The running units went off the board. The Grey Seer cast Plague on the third archer unit, killing four. It spread to a nearby mage, who died. The Jezzails fired at long range at the second unit of archers, killing two. The WLC fried a BT crewman, and the WE shot the other between the eyes. The GR mutilated the mage. They Overran into the second unit of archers itself, who ran. Turn 5. The WE was blown apart by a Firery Blast, and the last Night Runners died. The last two DP charged the second ratling gun, but got riddled before they were even close. Some Clanrats died. The entire Skaven army moved forwards. The Gutter Runners charged the second unit of archers, who fled again, this time off the table. More archers died from Plague and Warp-Lightning. This left one mage and a BT. My opponent conceded. As you can see, if the enemy has a shooty army, the Tortoise generally survives till it moves. The Tortoise is well protected, in this instance, half of it survived, if only the CR unit had rallied. I have noticed that the enemy splits their fire over the front units, instead of concentarting fire. Which is good for us. It depends on the army u are facingto how much survives, but generally most of the Tortoise survives, and the assault unit always does. I have had a couple of instances where the entire Tortoise is still intact at the end of the game. Note: I haven't faced a Nuln Gun Line yet, so i can't tell u if it'll work against it. What u think? Phil. Phil. |
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The only Co13 Member shadier than Mik... at the mo... Warlord Skarpaw Vermindeath of Clan Alimaņas-muerte {Vermindeath}. "From Green to Red our Days pass by, We're waiting for a sign to tell us why, Are we dancing all alone? Collect some stars to shine for you, But start today cause there's only a few. Its a sign of times my friend." -In Flames. | |||
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| Chieftain Skittar | 26th July 2004 - 05:57 PM Post #2 | ||
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Battle Chief of Clan Skirrit
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Hmm i'm intrigued now Chieftain Skittar Glory to Clan Skirrit! |
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| phordicus | 26th July 2004 - 06:33 PM Post #3 | ||
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Battlemaster of Clan Skrikkik
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argh. don't leave me hanging. give us movement! |
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Skaveni primi, skaveni infiniti. ![]() if you meet a master swordsman, show him your sword; but do not show your poem to one who is not a poet. - japanese proverb | |||
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| typo | 27th July 2004 - 03:35 AM Post #4 | ||
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Grey Seer
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well, it is an interesting tactic, and one that i will try. But have you considered WFT on the flanks? | ||
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That pesky warmachine keeping you down, or is that combat monster destroying your army? NEVER FEAR... ESHIN IS HERE Wherever there is injustice... I will be there... Wherever crime is going on unhindered... I will be... Oh screw it, cant anyone take the law into their own hands Happy Hunting Cheers, Typo Record (w/l/t) 27/5/7 SoC Record(w/l/t) 13/1/2 | |||
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| Warlord Vermindeath | 27th July 2004 - 09:54 AM Post #5 | ||
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Warpstone powered Biker Rat
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I was trying to keep the points down in tht battle, plus RG are more reliable (and I only have one WFT ).Phil. |
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The only Co13 Member shadier than Mik... at the mo... Warlord Skarpaw Vermindeath of Clan Alimaņas-muerte {Vermindeath}. "From Green to Red our Days pass by, We're waiting for a sign to tell us why, Are we dancing all alone? Collect some stars to shine for you, But start today cause there's only a few. Its a sign of times my friend." -In Flames. | |||
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| Sammy the Squid | 27th July 2004 - 10:18 AM Post #6 | ||
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Back to retirement!
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Interesting tactic... will try it next battle... | ||
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"If the squidman can't do it, no one can!!" Wins/Losses/Draws Skaven Clan Rattenkrieg - 108/58/20 Dark Elves - 44/14/8 Hochland Empire - 33/14/4 Malkavian Vampires - 23/22/4 Beastmen - 50/25/2 Have not completed a Painting Vow since July 07!! | |||
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| Snorkel | 28th July 2004 - 11:21 AM Post #7 | ||
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Chieftain
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Intresting, but in my opinion only good at paper. Give your opponent 8 units of 25 rats each and watch him cast irresistable spells and never miss an arrow. You know what? You won't care!! Whatever his missiles you can't reach him and not outnumber him. If you want to protect them from missles, take four unots of 4-5 T.teams and destroy them. |
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| Shiva | 28th July 2004 - 01:57 PM Post #8 | ||
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Long Lost Warhammer Player
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you put your night runners infront of the assult unit- do 10 night runners last against more missle fire than 20 slaves? | ||
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I love getting Personal Messages... Send one today! Tell me to get my local league started. "See the world as it is. If you put on pink glasses, your eyes will tell you the world is rosy- which it is not." Shiva | |||
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| Warlord Vermindeath | 28th July 2004 - 02:59 PM Post #9 | ||
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Warpstone powered Biker Rat
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They did in the battles I've played. | ||
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The only Co13 Member shadier than Mik... at the mo... Warlord Skarpaw Vermindeath of Clan Alimaņas-muerte {Vermindeath}. "From Green to Red our Days pass by, We're waiting for a sign to tell us why, Are we dancing all alone? Collect some stars to shine for you, But start today cause there's only a few. Its a sign of times my friend." -In Flames. | |||
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| Grey Seer Velqueet | 30th July 2004 - 05:28 PM Post #10 | ||
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Verminfriend
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Interesting, but how did your grey seer cast spells if he was blocked by the "shell" of slaves and night runners? | ||
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| Warlord Kritslik | 10th August 2004 - 06:47 PM Post #11 | ||
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Unregistered
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Yeah, he's got a point.... Also, wouldn't it be hard to get all of your units out of that tight packed formation quickly? |
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| Rattsu | 10th August 2004 - 07:22 PM Post #12 | ||
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Is writing Dragon Age fanfiction
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I'm not sure, but the point might be that the forward units has melted away by the time it is time to charge... I've used similar tactics, but with only skirmishers in front. Why? Because our resident chaos opponent tended to use a similar tactic with chaos hounds/warriors, and we found the way to destroy it. If you have a shooty army, mainly just shoot one shielding unit, so you can start killing the unit behind it. What happens then is that the blocking unit (the red x) is in the way off the killing unit behind it. Either they have to charge, leaving the killing unit behind it ripe for an overrun since it is likely to be destroyed on turn one, or they are left trying to manouver. Meanwhile continue shooting at the exposed unit and keep your lines together. It is a good tactic, but like with all tactics, people might wisen up eventually. *grins* |
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I am currently writing an epic Dragon Age 2 adventure that can be found HERE!! or on my deviantart.
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| Stinkhair | 10th August 2004 - 10:47 PM Post #13 | ||
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Dabbling GM. Clanrat loon. 6th Edition Aficionado. Bitter.
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the whole point is that you sacrifice the 'shield' but punch right the way through the enemy line with at least one, very nasty, very angry, but unharmed unit of troops. you don't need to get out of formation, once the assault unit gets through, you can simply smash flanks/rears with it, any other units can go for frontal charges and cause panic when the rear charge hits home. bye-bye enemy army..... personally, i would attempt to make the enemy units charge my shield (slaves), flee with the slaves, but my main units aren't in charge range, come my turn..... WHAM into the enmy lines (the central unit of slaves will be able to run through the assault unit anyways, can't go left or right, can't flee towards the enemy, so they melt away, through my lines and off the field...) |
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| Rakk RazorTongue | 18th August 2004 - 08:39 AM Post #14 | ||
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Unregistered
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Note that the only thing his grey seer casts is Plague which doesn't need line of sight.
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