• Tactical Articles
• Modelling Articles
• Fluff Articles
• Battle Reports
• Miscellaneous Articles

The Verminous Horde of Clan Spleen.

By Steve Evans and Alex West

Originally when Alex asked me to do this battle report he was going to use his High Elf all cavalry list. This is a very competitive tournament army and one that I’d have trouble matching up against to make an entertaining report. So it was decided that Alex would go for a more fluffy! High Elf list ….. this made my choice much easier. RATS. I have a large collection of armies for fantasy but without doubt my favourite has got to be my skaven. I have at least 4,000 pts worth and can muster at least one of each option in the army book.

Characters

To lead my horde I’ve taken my warlord Lurkus Spleen tooled up for close combat accompanied by a battle standard bearer, these will both go in my large clanrat unit.

Next I have gone for a warlock engineer with all the usual upgrades (I like to have a little bit of magic!)

Finally I decided on a plague priest to give my plague monks a bit more of a punch during combat.

Core

The must have of any skaven army a large unit of clanrats for my general and battle standard to hide in.

Then I chose some throw away units and for this purpose I’ve gone for a unit of slaves and a unit of giant rats.

Next I chose a unit of storm vermin to back up the clanrats and two rat swarms to protect a flank.

Simply because I am sure Alex will have at least one unit of heavy cavalry I decide a unit of globadiers should come in very handy.

Special

Now things are getting difficult, I would really like a unit of all of these but I am starting to run out of points. (So time to make some choices!)

I had already decided to take my plague monks so they’re in and a unit of tunnelling gutter runners to hopefully take out any repeater bolt throwers I might come up against.

So that leaves me with a choice jezzails or rat ogres and I can only afford one of them.

As we are doing a (fluffy) report and because I don’t get to use them often the rat ogres get the job.

Rare

I have just enough points left for a unit of censer bearers to go with my monks and that’s my army completed.

My plan is easy: swarm forward and overwhelm the high elves with an unstoppable tide of mighty skaven.

“TIME TO DIE, DIE ELF THING.”

Jewel of Ulthuan

As Steve has mentioned, I was originally going to use my tournament high elf list which is an all cav list. However it was decided we would go for a more fluffy report and so I was forced to abandon the cavalry for a more traditional list. As such I dusted off the spearelves and archers…

Characters

For my characters I wanted something to A) help reduce the amount of things getting across the table and into combat with my fragile elves and B) help the elves when said combat occurs. Spearelves on their own wouldn’t win anything bar beating up some goblins…..

So I decided on an archmage and a level 2 to help whittle down the enemy with a combination of magic and shooting and 2 commanders, one of which would be a battle standard to help out in the rough of it when something got across the table. As I don’t like to tailor my army to face one opponent I planned on cavalry and the like so wanted to be able to deal with anything like that when I played a non skaven army.

The combination of jewel of the dusk and the ring of fury gave me a decent magic phase which should in theory be able to get past a level 1 scroll caddy many people take.

Core

For my core choices I didn’t want to load up on cavalry as I know they are good and know how they work. I wanted a challenge and most people will agree that having archers and spearelves as the backbone of an army makes for a challenge!

As such 2 units of 16 spears and 20 archers would be the core of my army. Because I didn’t have enough infantry available and because I like the models I had a unit of silver helms, more for the fear factor than anything else. In my experience elf spearmen have to charge to live. Many people on the net and in games I have seen rely on their high elf spearmen holding a charge because ‘they get to fight in 3 ranks so they must be better when charged right?’. No is my answer….never ever take a charge unless you are certain you will win it. A unit of 16 spears with full command is worth over 300vp’s to your opponent; as such I try not to lose them…..

Special

2 chariots? Well it would be rude not to wouldn’t it?

Rare

n order to stick with the thinning the enemy as they come across the table approach I had to take 2 bolt throwers really. Even though they are overcosted they could still be useful I reckon.

Finally 2 eagles, simply the best unit in the elf list and no more really needs to be said.

The Full Army Lists