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Steam Tank Questions; Not sure I was told the whole truth
Topic Started: 17th September 2007 - 08:48 PM (916 Views)
Lixit
Crazy Canuck
So,

After the thrashing I took this past weekend from an Empire army w/ 2 STanks, I've been looking through different sites to see if there are any solid strategies to defeat them.

The rule that keeps coming up is that only SPELLS with a S value can hurt them.

My opponent told me that any "magical ability" without a S value cannot effect the Stank. Here's the descrepancy.

My question is: Can the Skaven arsenal of crazy weapons effect a steam tank:
Poison Wind Globes
Censor Hits
Brass Orb
Death Globes
Anything else I've forgetting?

Lixit
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Sebrent
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Okay, it does say in the Empire Army Book that only magical attacks with a strength value effect the steam tank.

Luckily for you though, all Skaven spells have a strength value. Poison Wind Globes, Censer Gas, etc. are not magic and thus are not subject to those rules. Thus, Poison Wind Globadiers do a superb job of killing steam tanks.

The same goes for magic weapons as well. They are not magic spells, which are what that special rule effects.

I really hope you were playing a 3k or higher game with your opponent using 2 steam tanks ...
----Skaven Mathhammer
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Lixit
Crazy Canuck
Nope.

2k...

Read my rant in the army list section

he had:

Wizard lord
Level 2 Wizard
2x 10 xbows
2x 10 handgunners w/1 hockland
4x 6 outriders w/ hockland
2x stanks...

96 S4 shots per turn + 6 hocklands & 2 stanks grinding each turn...

Oh boy was it fun...

Question though, does the stank rules state "magical attacks" or "spells"?

Lixit

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lashific the Dominator
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kicking snow since IC 134
yeah, cause what with the "warp-stone weapons" skaven special rule........
"Suffer not the witch to live"
Ordo Hereticus army diary
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Decker_cky
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Master of the Deamonic Leash of Numbers and the Armor of Updates
I believe it states spells.

Thing about steam tanks is that you knock off 3 wounds, and the unit becomes a total liability. It's hard to kill, so taking two of them, you likely won't kill either, but rendering them useless isn't hard at all.

Concentrate 10 shots of Jezzails on them.
10 shots at long range is 1.6667 wounds on average
10 shots at short range is 2.222 wounds on average

So likely 2 rounds to take off those three wounds from the steam tank, after which it really is risky to operate it. To protect the Jezzails, you can even sit them on the ground behind your lines.

Also, an army like that is just begging for a few units of tunnelers to ruin their day. My lists generally have 2 units of tunnelers and 2 units of 5 Jezzails. I'd likely not kill the two steam tanks, but the rest of the army is dead once you reach them with anything, and you can focus your fire to stop one of them (at 5 wounds, a steam tank is essentially scrap metal), then concentrate on the other.

For such a hard model, steam tanks are surprisingly balanced. They're the one model that loses effectiveness as it gets hurt, and it loses it surprisingly fast.

By the way. I've found a nice thing to do against handguns is to deploy just further back than you can in your deployment zone. None of the handguns can shoot first turn, so those 96 shots are wasted for at least a turn per game. This also works nicely in getting out tunnelers in a timely fashion.
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Azhtabak
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Packlord Azhtabak
Agreed...the steam tank just isn't that nasty for us anymore :(

We have all sorts of ways of dealing with it...the wonderful Brass Orb, which probably has a good chance of one-shotting the damned thing now, WLCs, lots of high strength spells/attacks, and lots of things that don't roll to wound, e.i., PWGs/Death Globes.

I wouldn't suggest censer bearers though, because of it's super-high toughness, and I think it still keeps the 'run-you-over' attack?
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HayE
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Chieftain
Fellblade.
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Hello.
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Lixit
Crazy Canuck
Thanks for the updates fellow rats,

As for the fellblade, I can't do that as its a tournament list. I can't afford to give up ~250 points each game when my general kills himself... I don't take the warpstone amulet for the same reason.

I'm intrigued however by the brass orb.

I may try to juggle my list to include an assassin with it. It would be highly useful against Steam Tanks, Slann, Temple guard & Saurus, Cold ones, Orks, Dwarves...

All I have to do is hit... In some game it won't do anything, in others however...
It may be a good alternative to the warpstone stars I was taking before.

In addition, I think the 2 stank list uses the WTF (What the F$#K)??? factor. The steam tank has so many special rules, uninformed people (like me) tend to think they're better than they actually are.

Landing 3 wounds on T6, 1+AS is a much easier task than landing 10 T6 1+AS wounds.

Pays to know thy emeny...

Lixit

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Sebrent
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The special rule only says spells. Magic weapons do not fall under that rule.

Do us a favor: capture your opponent and so I can feed him to my avatar ... or just punch him for me :P

Next time you see him, ask him why his very small contingent of troops contains 2 steamtanks when they are high coveted and only, what, 8 of them are in existence? Hell, the College of Engineers has to sanction use of steam tanks ... unlikely to happen for such a small army. Hit the powergaming punk for me at least one more time.

If you have anyone else to play with, I'd not play with that fellow till he learns that games are for "fun", not "always winning" (we'll send Scarfester to stomp on that guy's current cheesy empire list ... I hear he did quite well at the UEGT) ...

Personally, I don't care if it's a tournament. There is no excuse for taking the fun out of a game.
----Skaven Mathhammer
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Lixit
Crazy Canuck
Its funny,

After all these discussions, I'm not really upset about the 2 steam tanks, I'm more upset about the fact that when I asked about the rules, I was given the wrong answer.

I'm really not suprised as I see this with this opponent all the time.

For your reference, other power lists he's also used in the past include:

~150 dwarfs in 2000K - before the new book came out
~20-30? gobin chariots...

Funny cause he's never won a tournament cause of his soft scores...
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Decker_cky
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Master of the Deamonic Leash of Numbers and the Armor of Updates
Lixit
Sep 18 2007, 08:17 AM
~20-30? gobin chariots...

Err....did nobody call him on this? In the old O&G book, you could have max 8 goblin chariots. In the new O&G book, you can have max 8 goblin chariots.

You'd need core chariots to pull that off, and only mortal or beast chaos can do that.
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Lixit
Crazy Canuck
It's been a while, but he may have been using an appendix list?

I do know it was legal as he did take the list to numerous tournaments including several conflicts.



Lixit
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Rats in the Walls


fishy guy you got there, 2 stanks is evil against most armies.

also most appendix lists are meant for fun, not tournaments.
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Master Assassin Kerqueak
Clanrat
I say feed his Steam Tanks to my Fell blade master ratsassin with amulet of protection, that'll shut him up.(oh and 20-30 chariots is one of the cheesiest lists ever)
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Zavratatar
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Grey Seer
20 Chariots?

30 Chariots!?

Two wlc's. :)

I've never had the opportunity to play against the tank, but I've been thinking about putting a giant in my army just to bash big things like that. Is there some special rule on it that would prevent the 2D6 no armour save wounds a giant does to big things 50% of the time?
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