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Skaven Rat Swarms; Pricing/availability....
Topic Started: 18th August 2011 - 09:06 AM (1,797 Views)
Hellpit Bob
Clanrat
Hi guys, I was just wondering if anyone knew where I might be able to find some small rat figures useable as rat swarms? The GW ones are way too expensive and even harder to find presently...and I was thinking there might be another games system that uses tiny rats that would suffice?

Cheers,

Bob.
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SkavenDan
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Krogholt
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Chieftain
I know Reaper sells some rat swarms which are quite cheap: http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/rat/latest/03394, but I don't know whether it fits with a 40 mm base.

Alternatively you could just glue a bunch of small rats on 40 mm bases - e.g. Giant rats, rats from the HPA kit, or small rats from other manufacturers (Reaper comes to mind again...).
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Hellpit Bob
Clanrat
Thanks Guys.

@Krogholt....thanks matey, those look like a good investment...you're right, there doesn't seem to be a size listed....bet it's 40mm though.

@Dan.....Tried Ebay....a lot. They seem to sell for very close to actual cost....or even in excess of it. For some things, Ebay sucks.

Grateful Bob.
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RedPlague
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Chieftain
To be honest I think your best bet would be to buy a box of plague monks...

On the sprues there are loads of little rats that can be bunched together and glued onto a big base to be rat swarms.

Plus you will get some plague monks!

I used most of the small rats as my Giant rats

My Rats

I only created 3 bases of swarms just for my HPA should it bite the dust ;)

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Ratty Gnawtail
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Totally not a magpie

To add onto what RedPlague just said:
For me I used the spare rats in the Doomwheel kit and the rats in the Rat Ogre kit (when I was attempting to build my HPA.) I may have made too many rat swarms for my own good...
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RedPlague
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Chieftain
Ratty Gnawtail
18th August 2011 - 10:16 AM
To add onto what RedPlague just said:
For me I used the spare rats in the Doomwheel kit and the rats in the Rat Ogre kit (when I was attempting to build my HPA.) I may have made too many rat swarms for my own good...
I don't think they very good now due to the squish rule...
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WillQueek
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Got Nerfed
I noticed rats in different sets: Abomb, Doomwheel and Plague monks so far. all of different sizes, you could also mix it with things like chunks of warpstone buckets & Barrels and other spares so you need less rats and keep it swarm-ish.
FOR THE GLORY OF THE HORNED RAT OF COURSE!

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RedPlague
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Chieftain
Yeah, out 2 battalion boxes and a box of plague monks I managed to make about 45 Giant rats and 3 Rat Swarms....

Plus is good to see the young rats earning their keep!

No slackers permitted in the Red Plague *bsb*
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Olorin the Ancient
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The rats in the Plague Monks set are really Giant Rat size, except for one tiny one on each sprue. The ones included with the Hell Pit Abomination are much smaller, and would be more suited to making Rat Swarms. One possibility would be simply to buy the HPA rat bits separately on eBay.

The truth is, though, mostly people only field Rat Swarms when they come free out of the dead HPA's corpse. For the same cost as a minimal unit of two Rat Swarms, giving you 10 Strength 2 attacks, you could take a unit of 14 Giant Rats and a Packmaster, giving you 15 Strength 3 attacks. Or you could take 25 Skavenslaves, which also have Strength 3 attacks. The Rat Swarms do, however, have the advantage of being Unbreakable.
- Olorin the Ancient
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Razuli
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Grey Seer
Well if you know you are doing a scenario involving a building (such as watch tower) they are a pain for the enemey to remove from a building.
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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Olorin the Ancient
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Razuli
18th August 2011 - 03:27 PM
Well if you know you are doing a scenario involving a building (such as watch tower) they are a pain for the enemey to remove from a building.
Good point! Also, Rat Swarms do have to have a certain appeal for painters with limited time. Rat Swarms are extremely easy and fun to paint, plus they use up a lot of points. If I had to get another 100 points of models painted for a competition the following day, I'd rather do four Rat Swarms than assemble and paint 50 Skavenslaves.

Even in terms of monetary cost per point (which I understand is a pricing consideration for GW), Rat Swarms still cost slightly less on a point-for-point basis than the plastic Stormvermin (upgrades aside), and much less than Clanrats or Skavenslaves. Even if you buy the official metal GW models at full retail price, for $17.25 US, you're getting 50 points of Core models, which isn't bad. (Though, unfortunately, Rat Swarms don't count towards Core for purposes of the 25% minimum Core requirement.) So they have their uses!
- Olorin the Ancient
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Hellpit Bob
Clanrat
Thanks for the great suggestions guys....plenty for me to have a go at, cheers!!!

Appreciative Bob.
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