Animal handlers in 3rd ed. WFB: The Oddities and random loose ends

This is the final part of ´Animal handlers in 3rd ed. WFB´ -series of articles. Please click here to find the other arcticles.

In this one I´ve tried to bring forward the more esoteric stuff that really don´t fit under the other part of this series. 

CHAOS DWARF BEAST MASTER

We met this guy earlier in the dark elf part of this series. He is a really odd one as the chaos dwarves of 3rd edition WFB exist only as part of chaos ally contingent or as part of a Khornate army. And there is no chaos dwarf beast master unit to take in either of those.

A chaos dwarf handler with four chaos hounds by LM.

If you have the model and wanted to use it in your chaos army I would just change the profile line on the chaos animal hadler to match that of a chaos dwarf and adjust the points value accordingly.

I´ve been trying to find a full 3rd edition chaos dwarf army list - fan made or something but with no luck.Sound out if you know of one.

Me and LM discussed the chaos dwarf handler model a bit just the other day whem LM had sent me these pictures. He pointed out that there is a certain resemblance in him to the 90´s big hat CD´s. And I have to agree - the face is just the same. Only the hat and beard have grown. Conclusion was that as the big hats are Perry sculpts this guy has to be too.

SEA ELF ANIMAL HANDLERS

Sea elf handlers and their... um... creatures. From

this facebook posting by Richard Irvine.

I usually link my postings to Oldhammer community group on facebook to give them added visibility. One article from this series raised some discussion and the picture above was posted to that discussion thread by Richard Irvine.

Sea elves are mentioned both in the 3rd edition rulebook and WFB: Armies. There is no official army list for sea elves but they are well present (or actually included) in the high elf list in WFB: Armies. High elves don´t have animal handlers in their army list but in true Oldhammer spirit I would see no harm done if someone used them.

But what pack animals for sea elves? As per rules the sea elves can swim. Therefore I would be tempted to look for such creatures that can both swim and move on dry land. A giant crab perhaps? Let´s see what the bestiary can offer us.

A giant leech can swim and move on land but can only survive in tropical conditions and is in every way very unelfy thing. For being unelfy I would not use a giant leech.

A giant frog is an amphibian and a lot more suitable to elven style than a leech. But for some reason it can´t swim as per rulebook. A funny things is that a swarm of frogs can move through water, bogs, swamps etc. with no difficulty. Frogs generally don´t live in salt water but require fresh water instead. For reason mentioned before - no giant frogs for sea elves.

Giant snails live in the forests of Bretonnia. In the real world there are sea snails that live in saltwater and can grow pretty big. A giant snail presented in the bestiary is a pretty worthless piece on a battle field with it´s M2. But they are cheapish and a have a slime attack that will put any enemy not killed by it out of action for D3 turns. Perhaps giant sea snails could be used to tie down a valuable enemy unit in some situation. A giant sea snail could be seen as somewhat seaelfy.

There is no giant crab in WFB 3rd ed. bestiary. If you wanted to create one for your sea elf animal handler I would suggest using a giant scorpion profile as a starting point. Poisoned attack would have to removed and no-negative-bonus for terrain changed to water movement. In my opinion crabs are even better armoured than scorpions so I would perhaps give them a basic saving throw of 3+ to compensate for losing the poisoned attack. Points value would stay the same.

Snakes exist in WFB 3rd edition only in the form of a serpent swarm. A serpent swarm can cross narrow bodies of water and in real world snakes are usually pretty good swimmers. And there are sea snakes too. As we are talking about a fantasy setting I could imagine a giant sea snake that can act on dry land too. One could use a 1st ed WFRP stat line for a giant snake as a starting point to creating one for WFB.

Another creature that could be used and even has a model produced is the dragon turtle. Appearing in the Tragedy of McDeath campaing for 2nd edition WFB a dragon turtle is a powerfull creature. Perhaps a bit too powerfull to be a beast pack animal. Realm of Chaos 80´s blog has nice pictures of a painted one.

You could of course create what ever you wanted with guidelines given in the rulebook. Sea mammals could be interesting to make. Imagine a group of walruses or sea lions!

PAN-TANGIAN TYGER HANDLERS

From the Collecting  Citadel miniatures -site:
"In the mid-1980s, Citadel Miniatures held the license to produce figures based on fantasy author Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series of novels. These figures were nominally produced for use with the STORMBRINGER! fantasy roleplaying game. When Citadel lost the Eternal Champion license, many of the Melnibonean figures were recycled into the Citadel High Elf range and some of the Pan Tangians briefly appeared as part of the Citadel Chaos line. A few of the Melnibonean Personalities figures were recycled into the Empire line."

Part of that Eternal Champion series was this Pan-Tangian Tyger Handlers set we´ve already seen with the Slann. 

In Chaosiums 1991 adventure pack "Sorcerers of Pang Tang" the Pan Tangians are described as being: "...a foul people, of unbridled cruelty and misogynism".

In the city of Hwamgaarl there is a "University of lucid perversity". A name that suggest strong Slaaneshi influence on teaching. Or how about "The Gallery of the Quivering Flesh". How Slaanesh does that sound?

Later on under the headline of people and culture it is clearly told that: "The Pan Tangians have embraced Chaos as the means of their success".

Interesting thing is that there are demonic powers listed in the adventure pack and those power resemble a lot certain chaos attributes.

What is really suprising is that a tiger is described in the encounter tables to be the holy animal on Pan Tang that goes where ever it wants and does what ever it wants. We are told that if a tiger enters a city and eats someone there will be no one to prevent that. So having a handler with a whip and leash to lead a Pan Tangian tiger sounds like something that´s pretty much against that goes-and-does-what-ever-he-want tiger, doesn´t it.

But then the tiger handlers are found in the Pan Tang Digest part of the book. There we learn that the handlers are usually encountered alone. If they are in a band they should have a number of tigers with them. And they should be eager for a fight. As by the book the handlers wear light clothes and move bare footed. The models produced don´t match with this that well.

Under the creatures part the tigers are described as huge orange felines with black stripes. They are never encountered in packs but that propably counts only for wild tigers. Being sacred animals has taught them not to fear humans.

TheOttoVonBismark´s colorful sabre-toothed tigers.

 

So how to use Pan Tangians in WFB 3rd edition? Perhaps just the way Goblin Lee is doing. He is building a chaos army using Citadel´s Pan Tang line of models. Lee seems to planning a seaborne paint theme for his army. Don´t know how Slaaneshi colors would sit on those models but University of Lucid Perversity and The Gallery of the Quivering Flesh would just sort of push me that way.

-----

But is there a better way to end this article and at the same time this series of articles than with some heavy metal. At least the name of both the band and the song go with the theme. Here is Tygers of Pan Tang: Hellbound

Animal handlers in 3rd ed. WFB: Hobgoblin Hobhound Handlers

This part of ´Animal handlers in 3rd ed. WFB´ -series of articles is about Hobgoblin Hobhound Handlers. It discusses rules, models, tacktics, pictures, links, pro´s and con´s and everything related to Hobgoblin animal handlers. Please click here to find the other arcticles.

As we see a hobgoblin mercanary contingent can have 0-6 hobhound handlers. And with unit size of 1-4 handlers each with 2-6 hobhounds you can field from 2-6 handler team. Smallest team would have one handlers with two hounds. The biggest one could have four handlers and 24 hounds.

Good thing about hobgoblin handlers is the T4 which gives some resilience vs. missiles. On the bad side is the poor Ld, Int, Cl and WP line. You can´t expect them to keep their cool in a stresfull situation.

Dark elves, Chaos and Orcs & Goblins can employ hobgoblin mercenaries as per WFB: Armies. 

Hobhounds and a houndmaster model from 1987 flyer.

C27 preslotta set of hounds and a handler was produced by Citadel in the early /mid 80´s. A single handler costs about 12€ in ebay. Hounds can be aquired for about 18€/piece. If you are looking for the models in ebay you should search for C36 in stead of C27 to get the right results.

Somewhere the Tea´s getting cold brings us this C27/36 handler and his hounds.

Check out that blog for those alternative handlers!

There are some good alternatives for houndmaster available in the C36 series and DL2 deluxe boxed set. In the latter the is one who´s even named houndmaster. Those guys seem to sell for just under 10€/model in ebay.

 C36 hobgoblin, C36 discipline master and a DL2 houndmaster.

LM´s hobhound pack and their DL2 houndmaster.

Greenskin Wars has a nice range of hobgoblins available including a houndmaster. Check out their facebook site for the whole series.

A Greenskin Wars hobgoblin handler by Diego Serrate.

Rules

 WFB rulebook tells us that hobhounds are riding animals but again there has been a change of mind in GW and WFB: Armies has them only as pack animals. A hobgoblin mercenary contingent does not include any mounted troops. Only the contingent commander can have a mount but his only choise for one is a temple dog.

Wether to use chaos attributes is in my opinion up to players and the GM. As no character will be mounted on a hobhound the 1 in 6 chance would perhaps be for each hobhound pack to see if they have those D3 dominant attributes.

LM´s hounds from another angle of view.

Tactics

A hobhound pack can be difficultish to use. They have great movement, WS4 and 2 attacks. So you want to get them engaged. But they are vulnerable against missile fire. And with low psychology profile of the hobgoblin handlers you are likely to break if you have to make that panic test.

Perhaps setting up to a protected flank where missile fire can´t be concentratred agains the pack and going after skirmishers and warmachines could work. And if opportunity presents itself then taking on othervise engaged enemy unit´s flanks or rear. Again the base size works against usability a bit. You want to have a large pack for survivability but it can become somewhat unwieldy due to it´s size.

Another pack and handler by Thantsants.

 Pro´s:

 Good looking hounds and handlers

Unique to hobgoblins

Fast

WS4 and A2

Handler´s T4

Con´s: 

Handler´s psychology profile

Vulnerability to missiles

Back to Animal handlers in 3rd ed. WFB main article.

Animal handlers in 3rd ed. WFB: Slann Animal Handlers

This part of ´Animal handlers in 3rd ed. WFB´ -series of articles is about Slann Animal Handlers. It discusses rules, models, tacktics, pictures, links, pro´s and con´s and everything related to Slann animal handlers. Please click here to find the other arcticles.

Goblin Lee has disected the Slann army list in this posting. Animal handlers are discussed there on a generel level whereas I have tried to dig in a bit deeper. Lee has a huge collection on Slann and if you are looking for something Slann related go to his blog first.

TheOttoVonBismark blog has article about slann animal handler concentrating on sabre-tooth tigers.

+Copper Oracle+ has written about slann and their beast too.

The Slann get the smallest number of animal handlers with just 0-4 and can divide them into 1-4 units. Each handler can control 2-6 beasts. We see some pretty interesting beasts that are unique to slann: cold one warhounds, giant scorpions, giant spiders and sabre tooth tigers. One would expect to see giant frogs as a neast of choise for such froggy creatures the Slann are but for some reason those have not been included.

Slann profile suits being a animal handler pretty well. T4 gives you some protection versus S3 missiles and good LD and CL should keep you from running. But it´s still a bit risky if you field a large pack of 40 something points creatures. A level 10 hero is 82 points as an animal handler and has T5 and W2. And could be given some magic armor that wouldn´t slow him down but would add protection. It´s of course a question of what kind of risk you are willing to take and how many points you can afford.

C22 Slann Cold One Warhounds and Handler set appeared in the WD96 alongside with other slann models. There are two slightly different warhounds and just one type of handlers.

Another add of cold one warhounds and slann handler.

Two sets were sold on ebay on Q1/2017 for 17€ and 24€.

For giant scorpion and spider models were made available as part of C29 monsters series.

Giant scorpion and giant spider on 1996 catalogue.

Both giant scorpion and giant spider are really nice large models. You can pretty easily reposition their feet, claws and stinger if you want a different pose.

Another add of the giant spider model.

Top view on the giant scorpion from a 1987 flyer.

There is also a Fiend Factory FF50 giant scorpion that looks a lot smaller than the C29 one. The same applies for a FF49 giant spider.

FF50 Giant scorpion.

FF49 Giant spider is really small compared to C29.

As  both giant spider and giant scorpion are big valuable monsters I would go for C29s. In my opinion they present the idea of such creatures better than the smaller ones

C29 Giant scorpions seem to sell for 15-20€per model and giant spiders go for about 10€ in ebay.

If you want you could go for midhammerian forest goblin giant spiders or products from other manufacturers. I still think that the C29s are the best models available for both giant spiders and giant scorpions.

Sabre tooth tigers were produced as a part of Eternal Champion line of models. The set was called Pan-Tangian Tyger handlers.

A couple of sets with two tigers and both handlers were sold for 28€ and 39€ lately. If you are looking for just the tigers be prepared to pay 10-15€ each.

Cold One Warhounds

Rules

The warhound model resembles the description very well. They are indeed ugly, alligator-like creatures with scaly skin and big teeth. Having two attacks is nice but WS3 and S3 reduces their close combat ability a bit. T3 and W1 mean that cold one warhounds are a little fragile agains missiles but basic saving throw of 5 or 6 compensates that a bit. In close combat they benefit from the terrible smell they emit as their opponent gets a -1 to their hand to hand to hit roll.

Cold one warhounds are subject to stupidity before they make their first charge. That means that they have to make a stupidity test in the beginning of controlling players turn vs.the unit leaders Cl. Fortunately the slann have basic Cl of 9 which means that you won´t fail that test very often. Only when it matters the most. And as mentioned the stupidity wears off after making that first charge.

Whipping into a fury -rule reduces cold one warhounds´ usability somewhat as you really have to concider when to declare charge. You propably should try to make that first charge agains an enemy that is already engaged or othervise in such state that it can´t move away from harms way before you get to charge.

Being so furious cold one warhounds must allways pursuit their victims. This is another slight tactical disadvantage that using them has.

Two slann cold one warhounds from Jon´s wargame minis blog.

Tactics

Because of the whipping-rule I would use cold one warhounds to threaten enemy flanks and warmachines. Warmachines can´t manouver to safety and you can pretty safely declare a charge when targeting them. Against normal units I would try to tie the enemy down with another unit and charge them next turn with warhonds. If enemy breaks the warhounds would pursue and the other unit could hold and be used for other tasks.

Because of the disgusting smell rule warhounds could be used to tie down bigger enemy units with same or lower WS.

Goblin Lee´s warhound horde.

Pro´s

Nice models
Only Slann get them
Disgusting smell
Good speed
Two attacks

Con´s

Charge rule

Stupidity

(WS3 and S3)

(Must pursuit)

From Somewhere the Tea´s getting Cold.

Giant Spiders

Rules

When acting without a handler giant spiders are immune to all psychology. This is unfortunately negated by the animal handler rules: All psychology tests are taken using the leader´s profile. Some GM discretion could be used here. In my opinion handlers shouldn´t fear same type of animals they are leading. And if the handlers don´t come in contact with the enemy the panic test for being charged to the flank should not be taken.

The handlers also negate in my opinion the move-through-wooded-areas-without-penalty rule and climb-trees rule. Even if the slann are jungle dwellers. And the packs don´t benefit from the slann ability to cross bodies of water without movement penalty.

Cause fear is a potent ability. You may neutralize your enemy before entering close combat if he fails the psychology check. Keep in mind that if you win a round of combat versus an enemy that fear you he is automatically routed.

Poisoned attacks and -1 armour saving throw bonus are both nice additions to giant spiders´ combat abilities. Chitinous armour combined with T4 and W4 make spiders pretty endurable.

LM´s FF49 Giant Spiders with their Slann handler

Tactics

Giant spiders are strong and tough and can take on almost anything that comes on their way. Still, having only WS3 means that you probably don´t want to engage anything that has WS4 or higher as you would have difficulties hitting them. So pick a WS3 enemy, make sure you get to charge him which you should be able to do with spiders´ M5, win a round of combat and see your enemy flee as you cause fear.

In a pack of giant spiders the handler is the weak point. T4, W4 and basic saving throw of 4,5 or 6 means that the spiders won´t suffer much from normal S3 missile fire. Crossbows and war machines are a far greater threat. A big risk is that some lucky shots could take out the handlers even with their T4. Consider taking a slann hero as a pack leader if using giant spiders.

C29 giant spider models are pretty large and require a board base which means that fielding many spiders will result in a big lump to pushed around. So some consideration in set up is required.

Goblin Lee´s beautiful C29 Giant spider. Be sure to check

this posting as there is also a giant scorpion and a big bug there.

Pro´s

Nice models
 Only Slann get them
Strong and resilient
Cause fear

Con´s

Average WS

 (Dislike of fire)

Another C29 Giant spider. This time from Somewhere the Tea´s getting cold.

Giant Scorpions

Rules

Giant scorpions are very similar to giant spiders in what comes to rules and profile. Same exceptions for psychology and movement rules that were discussed under giant spiders apply to giant scorpions too.

Something that has to be remenbered with scorpions is that tail attacks can only be made to sides and back. And claws can strike to front and sides. As the rules don´t say how many claw and how many stinger attacks a scorpion has I would let the player decide. You could attack two times with claws or stinger or once with each. Claw attacks gice -1 armor piercing bonus and tail attacks are poisonous.

A gourgeous C29 Giant scorpion by Martin

of the Shamutantis Helte blog.

Tactics

Just look above. All that was said about giant spiders applies to giant scorpions too.

Yet another one from The Somewhere the Tea´s getting cold.

Pro´s

Nice models
 Only Slann get them
Strong and resilient
Cause fear

Con´s

Average WS

 (Dislike of fire)

Black and very chitinous looking spider from Goblin Lee´s collection.

Sabre-Tooth Tiger

Rules

Wild cats on steroids! Not as fast as the smaller elven kitties but WS4, S5 and A3 is a formidable close combat profile combined with -2 armor piercing modifier. T4 and W2 provide some endurance but still you want to close in fast and not let enemy shoot them or their handlers to pieces. No really weak points here.

TheOttoVonBismark´s colorful sabre-toothed tigers.

Check his blog for another look on slann animal handlers.

Tactics

Move in. Don´t get shot. Charge. Rip your opposition apart. Pack of sabre-tooth tigers is a good alternative for cold one cavalry as they are not restricted by whipping-to-fury rule. You will attract missile fire so again taking a hero as a unit leader could be a good idea.

A Celtos sabre-tooth tiger from "Amanthas the Huntress with Sabretooth" -set.

This image comes from Warmasterdk blog.

Pro´s

Nice models
 Only Slann get them
Deadly

Con´s

Can´t think of any

Back to Animal handlers in 3rd ed. WFB main article.

Animal handlers in 3rd ed. WFB: Skaven Clan Moulder Beastmaster

This part of ´Animal handlers in 3rd ed. WFB´ -series of articles is about Skaven Clan Moulder Beastmasters. It discusses rules, models, tacktics, pictures, links, pro´s and con´s and everything related to Skaven animal handlers. Please click here to find the other arcticles.

WD137 is a very good source of material for skavens including beastmasters as there is a lengthy article by Andy Chambers describing his then new skaven army. Andy´s army includes a pack of rat ogres and another pack with giant rats.

Andy Chambers points out in his article that you could in theory field colossal 48 rat-ogres if you wanted to. I really didn´t understand how he got that number. Eight teams,each with four handlers, each with six rat ogres: 8 x 4 x 6 = 192. But 8 x 6 =48. That could only mean that I´ve been completely wrong with the way how you count how many animal handlers you can have. I always thought that the number on top meant number of packs. And model per unit how many handlers you can have in a single pack. How embararssing - now I have to go back and rewrite parts of three previous articles. Hope no one noticed :D

But it´s always nice to learn something new. And this is yet again a good example of how 3rd edition WFB rules are perhaps not the most comprehensive ones out there.

So infact you can have up to 8 handlers divided in 2-8 units. Each handler can have 2-6 beasts in his control. This way you could build two units of 4 handlers and 24 rat-ogres.

The beast choise is pretty nice with rat-ogres and giant rats that only skavens get. Chaos hounds are powerfull as discussed in dark elf and chaos articles but there must be some mistake with the points per model value. For others the hounds cost 23 but for skaven only 20. Giant wolves are another cause of confusion. Points per model cost is given as 2 which is a lot less than their cost of 8 points in rulebook bestiary. I haven´t seen this corrected anywhere but 2 points per model just can´t be right. The points value should be corrected to 8.

And where are wolf-rats? WFB: Armies tells that they are Clan Moulder creations but don´t appear on skaven army list - anywhere!

What happened to wolf-rats?

The Pariedolia blog knows that: "Wolfrats, oddly, were excised from the army roster as of 4th edition and (besides a brief appearance in the Moulder Hell Pit army list in White Dwarf #310) were only recently re-introduced via Forgeworld and the 8th edition supplement Storm of Magic (infamous for also re-introducing Fimir and Zoats, albeit in a rather limited fashion)."

What I am seeing is that the wolf-rats for some reason never made any further than WFB: Armies bestiary. To make things even more curious Andy Chambers tells in the WD137 article that he is planning on converting some wolf-rats for his army. That would suggest to wolf-rats being a troop choise for skaven but I´m not seeing that in the WFB: Armies.

I would personally allow a skaven player to take wolf-rats as pack beasts. By the description in bestiary they are clan Moulder created creatures and in style much more skaven than normal giant wolves.

Rat-ogres and their handlers by Pete Taylor from WFB: Armies

Citadel did produce a set of handlers and pack creatures. The beast choises were giant rats and rat ogres. They were sculpted by none other than Jes Goodwin.

Skaven beastmaster page from the red famous catalogue of 1991.

Clan Moulder beastmasters were sold in blisters with either rat-ogres or giant rats. There was no giant wolf and chaos hound dedicated set produced. You can always use wolf riders or other wolves and chaos hounds from chaos/dark elf animal handler set if you want to use those.

The C22 skaven handlers sell normally for 3-9€ on ebay. A pack of 6 giant rats should cost you about 15€. Jes Goodwin rat-ogres can be purchased for a price of 16-20€ per model.

MM32 and Citadel goblin wolfboy wolf prises range normally 5-10€ each. In BC2 monster starter set there is a vicious giant wolf model that can be bought for less than 5€. FF69 giant wolf will sell for around 20€ and often comes with an orc rider. For wolves there are many allternatives from different manufacturers. Just google for warhammer wolf and choose the ones you like.

Chaos hounds are usually around 10€ BIN.

There is a Forgeworld wolf-rat set available at a price of £32 for five models.

Forgeworld wolf-rats.

Giant Rats

Rules

A giant rat described here matches pretty well the models that were produced. Rats have good speed and because of venomous attacks great strenght. But their usability is somewhat reduced by their low WS. Propably the best thing about them is their cost - for just 2 points per model they are cheap. The empathy rule is a strange one in my opinion. I can understand it if rats were to act unlead but with a handler whipping them into action I don´t think empathy would really be an option for rats.

If you have read my earlier articles you propably know what I think about mutations. They are a nice addition but should be used with care. But that´s just me - I´m not telling you how run your game. D4-1 - that´s a lot of mutations.

Base size of 25 x 25 mm is nice as they do not take so much room on the battlefield as the 50 x 25 mm mounted collegues.

A big pack of rats from Tales From the Big Board

Tactics

The cost effective way to field giant rats is like Andy Chanmbers says - take maximum number of rats for each handler and divide them into units that support you battleplan. Small units for harrassing flanks, skirmishers or warmachines. Bigger ones for screening action and close combat against chosen targets. If you take the maximum unit size of 4 handlers and 24 rats you can get maximum rank bonuses that will help you against smaller enemy units. And can even take some casualties before you start losing those bonuses.

Rats are not that endurable and you can expect them to take losses from missiles and in hand to hand. Taking a big unit lets you take some damage before rolling for rout/panic. And with skaven handler profile you can expect to fail that roll.

A giant rat unit is propably something you field as expendaple. You sort of expect them to die or run eventually. Therefore I would unneccesarily boost their value by assigning them a character model of some sort. They are cannon fodder, a speed bump or a nuisance to enemy at best - don´t put more points there than is needed to do the job. Four handlers and 24 rats costs you just 86 points. I think that pretty good value for money.

A pair of beastmasters with giant rats. From Orcsbains miniature world.

Giant Rat Pro´s:

Unique to skavens

 Very skaveny

Fastish

S3 + venomous

CHEAP!

Giant Rat Con´s:

Low WS

Low combat endurance

Rat-Ogres

Rules

Strong profile for close combat. Rat-ogres cause fear which is a very good ability. If you win a round of combat and enemy is pushed back he is automatically routed. And when you charge the enemy of he charges your rat-ogres he has to for fear. Mutations are pretty rare as you get maximum of one on a D4-3 roll.

Some rat-ogres and beastmasters from Snickit´s Tail

Tactics

Charge! You want to get your rat-ogres engaged in combat. Their WS is an average 3 but 2 attacks and good strenght will compensate. They are very tough with T5 and W3 but the handlers aren´t. Lucky missile fire can take the handlers out and then your rat-ogres are useless. I would really concider taking a hero to lead them. Both for sustainability and leadership bonus. Rat-ogres are a good substitute for heavy cavalry the skaven don´t have.

Some of LM´s beautiful rat-ogres.

Rat-ogre pro´s:

Great close combat profile

Cause fear

Unique to skaven

Jes Goodwin

Rat-ogre con´s:

Value per model

Vulnerability of handlers

Giant Wolves

Rules

So the rulebook bestiary tells us that giant wolves are almost as large as a horse. Well - the wolfboy wolves are pretty close to metal elven horses so I´m confortable with that. Base size is 25 x 50 mm. The bestiary description says nothing about skaven and points out that giant wolves are riding animals. Perhaps they were originally not thought to be used in a pack of beasts?

Giant wolves must always follow up and pursue as they are difficult to control. Being hungry for combat a unit of giant wolves must charge if they begin their movement phase within charge range of an enemy unit of half it´s size or more. This can be avoided by a 2D6 test versus units LD.

A minor weakness is that the giant wolves fear fire and must make a paniv test if attacked by fire weapons or if they come closer than 4" of a fire.

The point value feels a bit high. They are fast and have WS4 but are they really worth 8 points. Maybe.

Tactics

As wolves are really fast and pretty good in close combat with WS4 you could use them as light cavalry. Threaten flanks, harrash skirmishers and war machines. Just keep in mind that you can only make that one maneuver per movement phase and that a big unit will take quite a lot of space. A small pack of wolves could perhaps be held back to protect you jezzail teams or warp fire throwers. With that M9 you should be able to charge first and buy time for weapon teams to do their work.

Once again T3 and no armor means that this type of pack is vulnerable to missiles.

Three BC2 Vicious wolves and a FF69 Giant wolf by Goblin Lee.

Giant wolf pro´s:

Really fast

WS4

Giant wolf con´s:

No very skaven

Bit pricey

Vulnerability compared to value

Chaos Hounds

I know I´m repeating myself now with chaos hounds. Things saud here have been said in previous articles about dark elves and chaos.

Rules

 

Rules say that chaos hounds 25 x 25mm but models are supplied with 25 x 50mm and propably won´t fit a smaller one less rank up at all on those. The profile is strong for close combat. Chaos attributes can be a curse or a blessing. And in any case should be generated as mentined under GM´s supervision. We don´t want to take the fun away from anyone by some lucky/unluncky rolls before the game has even started. But everything that all players can agree on should be fine.

The points value has to be a misprint and should say 23 as for darkies and chaos.

Tactics

These dogs are deadly in close combat so you want to get them engaged. They are hard to kill with T4 and W2 but will propably draw missile fire as the enemy wants to take out the whelp masters and send the hound on their way to wilderness. Take a hero to lead the unit and concider armoring the handlers.

As chaos hounds are pretty valuable I wouldn´t waste them on harrassing skirmishers or war machines. Like rat-ogres they are a substitute for heavy cavalry so a simple staright forward advance followed by a charge should work. But once again - a large pack takes a lot of space.

A large pack of chaos hounds from Realms of Chaos blog.

Chaos hound pro´s

Nice models

Look good in large packs

Very powerfull in close combat

Good speed

Strong overall profile

Chaos hound con´s

Vulnerability of the handlers

Pricey

Wolf-Rats

Rules

Compared to ´normal´ giant rats wolf-rat have better WS but no venomous attack. They fear fire and are not affected by mutations even though the description says that they are horribly mutated.. Base size is 25 x 50 mm so your unit will become much larger. And they cost more than giant rats.

Tactics

Pretty much the same applies here as for giant rats. Or for wood elf war hound packs that have almost the same profile as wolf-rats. I don´t see much sense in taking wolf-rats if you can field giant rats as rats cost less and can do the same things as wolf-rats.

Pirate Viking Painting blog Forgeworld wolf-rats.

Wolf-rat pro´s:

Unique to skaven

Wolf-rat con´s:

Price compared to giant rats

No oldhammer models available

Lame rules

Back to Animal handlers in 3rd ed. WFB main article.