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Building on a Budget; Rounding out and Army on a Budget
Topic Started: 6th January 2011 - 04:27 PM (479 Views)
anthem0x
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Clan Eshin Musician
So, I am new to Skaven, but not WHFB. My previous armies were Dwarves and Daemons of Chaos. Like so many others, though, I have begun a Skaven army because of the IoB box set. A friend bought two boxes (he wanted to start HE) and gave me the two sets of Skaven.

My previous armies have been limited to 1k to 1500 points. I would like to build an army that can progress from 1k, to 1500 and then to 2k.

What I have now:

68 Clanrats + 12 Command Units
4 Rogres + 2 packmasters
2 WFT
2 PwM
2 Warlords
2 Warlock Engineers

I have read through the forums a bit, but I still have a few questions.

First, can I customize the IoB clanrats into slaves, night runners, stormvermin or plaguemonks, or would the pre-attached shield make this unfeasible?

Second, I really like clan Eshin. Any Eshin Lords out there, I'd really appreciate some strats on how to use Assassins, Night Runners, and Gutter Runners effectively.

My general idea for an army is this:

Expendable:
3-4 units of 25 Slaves

Hitty(ish):
2-4 units of 30-40 Clanrats w/doomflayers, PwM or WFT
1-2 units of 30 Stormvermin w/doomflayer, WTF or Warlord
Doomwheel

Hit it from the back:
1 unit of 20 Night Runners w/warp-grinder
1 unit 15-20 Gutter Runners
2 Assassins

Ranged:
1 WLC
3-4 Jezzails

Magic:
1 Grey Seer (Leader)
1-2 Plague Priests
1-2 Warlock Engineers


I know this is probably more than 2k points worth of models. I don't intend to take all of these right off the bat.

My general intent here is to win by out-flanking my opponent. The person I play against most often is playing High Elves, as I said before, and I can't beat his ASF rule and massive amount of magic by meeting him head-on. He loves using mages, sword master of Howeth (spelling?) Lothren Seaguard and lots of fast cav.

Any help on how to build this on a budget and how to improve my strategy would by greatly appreciated. I award bonus internets to anyone who can suggest ways to better it by including more clan Eshin.
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The early bird may get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese.
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Kritch Wormtail
Clanrat
your strategies are great, however there arent any eshin lords, but there is a hero called deathmaster snikch. who is awesome. eshin are the most sneaky and secretive clan and this complements skaven strategies against high elves. a good way to beat them is to rain down magic and shooting, melting them also works, i would suggest using the wft as your weapon teams. also try not to get into too much combat as high elves are superior, and if you do need to then attack on the flanks and rear as they dont get supporting attacks which high elves live for. also using snare nets on the gutter runners is good, you need to get a chieftain bsb for the re rolls.

kritch
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anthem0x
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Clan Eshin Musician
I forgot about the Chieftain, thank you :)
Quote:
 
The early bird may get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese.
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hotwarplead
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eater of rules

the IoB box and your list
Slaves:
You could use about half the Clan Rats as slaves (the ones w/out the armour) with shield, the Slaves can pay for sheilds
What I am thinking of for my slaves is a box of Ogre Kingdoms Gnoblar Fighters($30 for 24 on 20mm bases) with the musician & Pawleader being the only real Skaven in the unit.
Warp-Grinder:
If you are only using 1 (or none) Packmaster/Master Moulder (IMO the guy in the IoB is a Moulder w/ a shockprod) and one WFT & you want to run Runners, you can swap the WFT gunner with the moulder to make a Warp-Grinder

The new Stormvermin modles are IMO rather nice (but not cheap at $50 for a box of 20, your list would use around 3 of them, thats $150) I would see about trying to trade in the stuff you dont plan on using to your LGS and see if they will give you credit on them.

Alot of the others can be done with Clanrats & Monks (jezzails with empire state hand gunners or Kroot from 40k, the gunners would give you some human slaves)

Best of luck on doing it cheap, I just started and my army is getting up around the $300 mark







there is no Skaven Dentist
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Pipsqueek


I am also building up a new Skaven army without spending too much.

I have found 2 batallions and 2 IoB sets to be a perfect core to building a decent-sized army.

Also try to see what you can get out of the kits. For example, the Bell Furnace kit provides a plague priest if you build the Bell, or a Bonebreaker* if you build the Furnace.

*I have seen a couple of good conversions involving the Rat Ogre that rings the bell, on the bell itself holding the couldron aloft with the greyseer or chieftain from IoB on it. I am planning to build one myself in Feb when I have time off work - I will post pics when done!
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Trevor Drake
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Clanrat
I have also build my army on a budget...granted the majority of it was free, but I did get a rundown.

There is a seller on e-bay discout_games_store that has great deals on battleforces. They also at the time had a bundle that was 2 battleforces and a doomwheel for just over $200. I would suggest finding them on e-bay if you have access. They are just a little funny in that they keep the boxes for some reason, but that is neither here nor there.

I have invested a further $180 since that time with Discount Games on a Plague Furnace, a Island of Blood set with 2 frames of extra HW clanrats, and a screaming bell, and I am set for a little while until I expand again.

I guess being able to build an army for uner $400 is nothing to shy away at. In my years of 40k I have often spent twice that to build armies, but again that is neither here nor there. Just keep your eyes open, I am sure you will find one heck of a deal!

Where it goes from there, only time will tell as they say.
Please note that, per my signature, I am looking to procure:
- Island of Blood Skaven Set
-Skaven Clanrat/Slaves
-Skaven Machinery (cannons, Doomwheels, ect)
- plastic poisoned wind mortar or warp fire throwers
- 10 jezzails

I am looking to trade/sell:
- 1 full high elf Island of Blood set
- 1 sealed Warriors of Chaos Batallion
- Warriors still on Sprue
-20 Marauders w/ Flails/Great Weapon counts-as
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Backno


One of the easiest ways to get cheap slaves is Night Goblins off ebay. People have tons of them that they just want to get rid of.

I will also say AVOID STORMVERMIN AT ALL COSTS. Unless you build a list geared around the named warlord (can't remember the name) they cost to many points (and cash) for what they do.
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Trevor Drake
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Clanrat
I have to agree, I regret the money i spent last night for the Stormvermin...although it was not a total loss, got to convert my warlord to hold a couple of severed heads rather than a halberd and hand weapon (do not understand how GW thought that would be cool)
Please note that, per my signature, I am looking to procure:
- Island of Blood Skaven Set
-Skaven Clanrat/Slaves
-Skaven Machinery (cannons, Doomwheels, ect)
- plastic poisoned wind mortar or warp fire throwers
- 10 jezzails

I am looking to trade/sell:
- 1 full high elf Island of Blood set
- 1 sealed Warriors of Chaos Batallion
- Warriors still on Sprue
-20 Marauders w/ Flails/Great Weapon counts-as
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Razuli
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Grey Seer
Units of 10 carrying a stormbanner and with a ratling gun can defend your artillary against most flankers though (before anyone says it, the stormbanner rarely lasts longer than a full game turn, usually less, so no it doesnt really hinder our own units that much).
skavenmatt,Sep 11 2010
10:05 PM
Playing skaven to minimize randomness is like going to prom with your sister, you can do it if you really want, but in the end everyone will still laugh even if you do get lucky.


Clanlord Trask
18th April 2011 - 03:46 AM
I always take at least one Warpfire Thrower. You can't always rely on your opponent to do massive damage to your troops. Sometimes, you just have to do a job yourself.

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anthem0x
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Clan Eshin Musician
Guy just offered to sell me an army. Comes with a box, a plague furnace, around 30 or 40 night runners, about 50 or 60 stormvermin, a plague priest, 4 or 5 jezzails, 3 or 4 PwG, a WLC, 30 or 40 clanrats, and a few other units. Also throwing in a box of sprues, probably about 15 of them, but I haven't gone through them all yet. I may be leaving some units out, also, but it has at least that. He wants $250 for it. Good deal?
Quote:
 
The early bird may get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese.
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Razuli
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Grey Seer
If everything he says is in there is there, than yeah that is a great deal. The plague furnace and that many SV alone (assuming 60 since they come in boxes of 20) costs around $200.
skavenmatt,Sep 11 2010
10:05 PM
Playing skaven to minimize randomness is like going to prom with your sister, you can do it if you really want, but in the end everyone will still laugh even if you do get lucky.


Clanlord Trask
18th April 2011 - 03:46 AM
I always take at least one Warpfire Thrower. You can't always rely on your opponent to do massive damage to your troops. Sometimes, you just have to do a job yourself.

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anthem0x
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Clan Eshin Musician
Good, I was hoping it was so I could stop waffling :P
Quote:
 
The early bird may get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese.
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Rabs
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AVAST YE LANDLUBBERS
Gutter runners are way to expensive. Go out and buy the nightrunner box and use those as gutter runners. Use the Eshin-like weapons from the clanrats box to make them look less baboon-y. For your slaves, I would personally use models from your dwarf army. I'm sure you have a fair number of them and it would easily fit into your fluff.
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Looking to procure empire handgunner-guns or kroot rifles
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