Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Add Reply
Hello, rat-things; Ultimate Newbie Mode Engaged
Topic Started: 14th September 2010 - 07:20 PM (242 Views)
Scurrilous
Warlord
So I'm new to the hammer. I'm staying with a friend for a while and he is getting into the game after many a year out of it. I have never played before. So to get into it, he purchasedthe Island Of Blood set, and decided that he wished to create a high elf army. While I have the choice of any army to start building, I feel... an affinity to the Skaven.

See, IoB is rather horribly unbalanced (or perhaps my newbish ways and our collective lack of familiarity with the rules is causing it) in favour of the High Elves. In my estimation, they have several hundred points advantage in units alone. I've not yet won a skirmish, though I get closer every time. I decided, after reading up on the skaven, that they were pretty awesome and now I'm set to become a Skaven general.

So hello! The next step for me is the local gaming group, who are just about to start a warhammer campaign. The armies begin at 500 points and increase by 500 for each subsequent round until we reach 2500 point armies. Obviously being a newbie I'm going to lose a lot but I am up for the challenge.

I am concerned at the cost of building a skaven army though. Am I right in assuming that the cost to build skaven armies is more than most? It seems to me you need significantly more models to play skaven, as the army is based on horde tactics. The IoB gives me enough to make a 500 point army (though I'd rather fill it up with Giant Rats and Skaven Slaves.) I'm gonna field the clanrats it comes with, the weapons teams and the warlock engineer as a level 2 wizard.

I'm looking forward to trying them out in an even fight against those pretty-boy High Elves. Some of the topics here have given me some ideas about how to fight sith skaven and while 500 points is hard to use the pins and such I'll be keeping them in mind as I build up for future wars.

Oh I did have one question. The 8th edition rulebook that came with IoB seems to screw up some of the popular skaven tactics. Specifically that a charging units can choose to swap their targets to another unit, if their original target flees. Is this a new change or has it always been like that, and I'm missing something that makes it less problematic. This is relating to the Rat Trap tactic outlined here: http://underempire.net/index.php?showtopic=28800

Other than that, any tips for a newbie? Death to High Elves!
Tournemant results to date:
vs Vampire Counts: 1 victory
vs Dwarves: 1 victory
vs Daemons: 1 Draw
vs Brettonians: 1 draw, 1 loss
vs Skaven: 1 victory
vs Lizardmen: 1 victory
vs Dark Elves: 1 loss
vs High Elves: 1 loss
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
« Previous Topic · The Squeekpaw Guide to the UnderEmpire · Next Topic »
Add Reply