Guest display: LM´s Skaven force - Clan Vashkish

I´m very proud to present another Guest Display here at Vanhaa Vasarointia. LM is a great gaming friend of mine with a magnificent collection of mant things Oldhammer. Due to great distance between the places where we live we get to play too rarely but we keep in touch via Watsapp pretty regularly.

I´ve fought LM´s skaven twice - once winning with my high elves and once losing with green skins. Battle report of the first engagement is here. With elves I think I fared pretty well as elven morale held at the crusial points of that battle. My O&Gs on the other hand got soundly thrashed.

But let´s hear it from LM himself. Clan Vashkish.

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My skaven army started in 1991-2 as a handful of models to be used with Advanced HeroQuest and it was inspired by Andy Chambers’ legendary article in White Dwarf #137. I didn’t have enough models for a full army back then (I mainly played Orcs & Goblins), but later on I bought models from friends who’d quit the hobby and finally bulked up the units during the early days of eBay starting around 2005.

The majority of models were painted in 2015, but there are a lot of paint jobs dating back to the early 90s. I’d still like to add some more clanrats with double handed weapons and have contemplated adding a unit of skavenslaves with slings from the 1993 skaven range.

Since I finished the army, I’ve played maybe 20 games with it, mostly at 3000 points. We usually play using the deployment rules given in the Warhammer 3rd Edition Rulebook and keep playing until one of the armies has lost 50% of their forces (characters and full units dead/routing).


CLAN VASHKISH

My warlord clan is called Clan Vashkish. Its field army is led by Sewertyrant Kargshak (level 20 hero, Hellhoned Blade, Spellshield), but the real brains behind the operation is Warpsquealer Ungoltwitch the Mad (level 15 wizard). They’ve shown up in every game I’ve played so far.

Ungoltwitch’s superior, White Skaven Sorcerer Thrikch the Twisted (level 20 wizard) makes an occasional appearance, but he usually prefers the delights of Skavenblight to camp life. Garroters Haskquol and Karkquol (both level 15 assassins) from Clan Eshin are such masters of concealment that they’ve rarely been seen on the battlefield.

Clanrats 

This is my main clanrat unit. It follows the template given by Andy Chambers in White Dwarf #137 and does most of the heavy lifting. It is led by Kargshak and also includes Slagskitter (level 5 hero) who carries the battle standard with Relic Banner and Dread Banner enchantments. My most common enemy is a Dwarf army and the Dread Banner almost guarantees that I’ll be able to break at least one of the opposing units. With the characters included the unit is 36-strong and deploys in a 6x6 formation.

My second unit of clanrats is only 25-strong and is used in a more defensive role. It is spear-armed and usually includes Ungoltwitch the Mad. Without a magic banner the unit is very susceptible to panic although with Ungoltwitch in the lead their coolness rises to a dizzying 7.


Clanrat Stormvermin and Black Skaven Clanrats

 Storm vermin

Black skaven

The biggest advantage of using elites in a skaven army is the fact that they can take a Relic Banner. On the other hand they are hindered by their maximum unit size of 20 and being lightly armoured
they can easily lose their maximum rank bonus due to archery. I usually take Verminlord champions (level 15 heroes) for both units. With these leaders and the magic banners they are some of the rare units in the army that can operate semi-independently. I usually deploy my elites on the flanks.


Skavenslaves

My main skavenslave unit is 49-strong and has no upgrades or a champion. If I manage to roll Cause Frenzy for one my wizards (I always pick it on doubles), I cast it on this unit pre-game and watch them go. Otherwise they stay back and try to look menacing.

The small unit of skavenslaves has 36 slaves with spears and shields. These upgrades are pretty worthless, but make them look more like real soldiers and might fool somebody. If I take any plague censer bearers, they often go into this unit.

The biggest selling point for skavenslaves is their price. For a grand total of 254½ points I have 85 models that the enemy can’t completely ignore. And you never know, you might get lucky with chaotic attributes!


CLAN ESHIN

Night Runners

Night Runners I’ve rarely used. Their maximum number of 10 really hampers their use as a line unit, but they can’t skirmish either. Two (poisoned) hand weapons are neat though and the minis are among the best in the range. I’ve tried using them with a strong hero (level 15 assassin) and sent them on a flank march. The results have been mixed, but they did once manage to take out a Dwarven artillery park.


Gutter Runners

I always take 10 Gutter Runners with slings. They usually try to hold congested terrain or sneak up a flank. They will rout easily and often cause disappointment, but every once in a while they manage to get in close and pepper somebody with 20 poisoned sling shots. I have contemplated taking a second unit of Gutter Runners, but since slings are limited to a single unit, the others stay largely unplayed.


CLAN PESTILENS

Plague Censer Bearers

I rarely take more than 1-2 of these. Any more than that and they would cost the same as a new unit. I often put these in a skavenslave unit to inflict at least some damage to the opponent before the slaves are slaughtered.


Plague Monks

Plague Monks suffer from being limited to a maximum of 20 models, but they can take a Relic Banner if Panic is proving to be a problem. Warp Scrolls are fun, but they are also very pricy and you have to be sure the target unit does not have any magical defense (I usually probe the target first with a Fireball or something similar).


CLAN MOULDER

Rat Ogres

I almost always take a largish (8-12) unit of Rat Ogres. This is more due to stubbornness than their combat effectiveness. They cost a lot and the handlers tend to get killed by arrows before the unit makes it into a melee. However, I like the minis and they tend to draw a lot of attention from enemy units so I’ll keep on fielding them.


Giant Rats

Small units of giant rats are very cheap and work nicely as distraction on a flank. However, they have to be over 12” from your other troops or their eventual rout might (will) cause panic. On a 8 x 4’ board this is doable, but I wouldn’t try using them in this role on a 6 x 4’. I haven’t tried using large units of Giant Rats.


CLAN SKRYRE

Poisoned Wind Globardiers

Poisoned Wind Globardiers are cheap, but I haven’t been able to use them to any great success. They follow the rules for grenades so AFAIK they can’t move and throw and only have a range of 6”. I have sometimes put them in buildings to lob globes out of windows, but then the enemy just avoids the buildings…


Warpfire-Throwers

Warpfire-Thrower teams I have had mixed success with. Their slowness and inability to move and fire makes them better on the defense, but my tactic is to advance and thus they often fail to get any good lines of fire. Against an aggressive opponent such as Chaos they might fare better.


Jezzaillachis

I almost always bring 2 teams of Jezzaillachis in a 3000 point game. We have toned them down with house rules, but they are still excellent. They penetrate ranks like cannons, but don’t accrue heat points and can hide in units. What’s not to like?


ALLIES

Skaven can get three types of allies: Chaos Allies, Orcs and Goblins and Dark Elves.

I once employed the help of Pharinyen Aleurden, a Dark Elf Commander leading a unit of 19 crossbow-armed Dark Elf Warriors. On the second turn of the game they took four casualties from Dwarven crossbow fire and promptly rolled boxcars for the rout test. Never again will we accept help from the sneaky elves!

A far more reliable ally has been the Chaos Dwarf Makru and his 19 Chaos Dwarf Warriors. They bring along a mortar team and provide some sorely needed stability in the lines.

I have never taken any Orc and Goblin allies as we have enough cheap bodies to field on our own…


CHAOTIC ATTRIBUTES

I love chaotic attributes and always roll them up prior to a battle. And skaven get a lot of them: D6-3 per unit and D6-4 per character. To retain my sanity, I assume that champions share the dominant attributes of their unit and only roll personal attributes for independent characters (i.e. level 20 or level 25 heroes and all wizards and assassins).

There are a couple of crippling results, but on the whole the vast majority of chaotic attributes are good and they can benefit the skaven immensely.

I would advise ignoring von Kortez’s previous suggestions of using some sort of GM fiat or common sense when rolling the attributes. That is not the way Chaos works! I’ve had the main clanrat unit become subject to stupidity or enormously fat (half move), but then I’ve also gotten stormvermin with both +1 strength and +1 toughness.


GENERAL THOUGHTS AND TACTICS

In the beginning the abysmally low leadership and coolness caused me a lot of trouble and a single lost combat would make the whole army run away in panic. You can get decent leadership scores using heroes, but unless you use high level wizards as unit leaders, coolness (and thus panic tests) will be tough to manage. Fortunately careful positioning and some key upgrades (Relic Banners,
Battle Standard) can mitigate the problem. Even so, it is an army that has be used very aggressively before the low morale catches up with you.

When using the deployment rules in the rulebook you’re almost guaranteed to win the Scouting Turn against foot armies. Enemy cavalry will still cause you trouble though. I’ve often had to deploy first when facing a Dwarf army employing allied Border Horse. You can counter this by taking Chaos Centaurs from the Chaos Allies list and use them for scouting.

A 3rd edition skaven army is a lot of fun! It has a wide variety of cool units and a nice range of minis. It also offers an interesting tactical challenge and once mastered can be very powerful.

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A BIG Thank You to LM! Hoping to get another for him as he has a beautiful Bretonnian army too with giant snail monstrous host and all.

Animal handlers revisited

This is the 100th published posting in this Vanhaa Vasarointia blog and to celebrate that I wanted to return to one of my favorite subjects - the animal handlers.

I came across this document on the other day and noticed that I had completely forgotten it ever existed. It´s the ´get-you-by´ army lists for 4th edition Warhammer fantasy battle. As you might have noticed I´m not a fan of the great dumbing down othervise known as 4th edition. But this ´get-you-by´ list is well worth looking into as it bears many echoes from 3rd edition that were later removed from the official army books.

 Elven boar handler I painted for this posting. Looks

like he´s really into bench press and bicep curls.

Let´s take a look at skaven, wood elves and dark elves as those were the races that still had animal handlers in the ´get-you-by´ army list.

SKAVEN

That´s a pretty odd profile for a skaven there.  Both WS and BS are 4 compared to normal skave 3 and L7 is full two points higher than what the skaven normally have.

No number for how many pack masters you can take here. Unit name has been changed as they used to be called beast masters. Handler has gained a light armor and with that a point value raise from 9 1/2 to 10. Here we get a number for how many pack beasts a single handler can lead. For some reason giant rats have lost their poisonous bite and gone from costing 2 points to 2 1/2. I my opinion they used to be a pretty good choise in the 3rd edition but like this they´ve certainly become a lot worse.

With WS raise from 3 to 4 the rat ogre is even more fearsome than it used to be. 5 point raise in point value is pretty justified.

Special rules for using Skaven packmasters can be found in the Battle Bestiary p.68. The rules are pretty much the same as in 3rd edition. There is no rule for where to Place the packmaster in the unit but the logical Place would be the back rank.

Check out what I wrote about 3rd edition Clan Moulder beast masters.

Same bulky arms from another direction.

WOOD ELVES

Wow! Wood elf beaster master is a beast himself in this list: S4, T4 and 2 attacks! And the Battle Bestiary includes a beastmaster champion too. This is explained in the Battle Bestiary. Some of the elves have the ability to change form and fight alongside their animal companions. An interesting connection to elven shapechangers here.

Special rules for hand-to-hand fighting, leadership and shooting are pretty clear and in line with earlier edition. Oddly a single beastmaster can only lead one beast. This renders then pretty close to useless.

Bears, Wild hogs, Wild cats and Hunting dogs are listed only here and under the wood elf beastmasters in the Battle Bestiary. That means that bears have lost the cause fear ability and wild cats no longer can leap upon their enemies. Pretty big nerfing of both, especially bear losing the cause fear.

Bears have gained one point of both strenght and toughness but now they cost 30 points vs. 20 points they did in 3rd ed. And as said no fear now.

Wild hogs compared to Boars have better WS and higher T. Costing just 2 points more than before they have become a pretty good choise of troops actually.

Wild cats have gone down 3 points in value losing that leap attack. A big loss and even if they still are quite effective with WS4, S4 and 2 attacks I would propably take two hogs for smaller cost. But as we see that is not possible as you can only have one beast per handler.

Warhounds of the old have become hunting dogs which in my opinion suits the elven style. It´s a very different dog now with higher M, WS, T and A than warhounds. But they are triple the price and as with Wild cats I get the feeling that you are not getting that much bang for buck here.

You can compare editions here.

The elf boar is a really small one compared to

an orc war boar.

DARK ELVES

Number of handers has gone down from 0-8 to 0-6. And now they are called beast masters instead of whelp masters. Points value for handler is the same as in 3rd edition but now you get a light armor for that same amount. Shield option has been removed. War hounds are just the same as in 3rd edition. Chaos hounds have lost a wound and are 7 points cheaper than in 3rd edition.

What is strange is that there are no rules for using beastmasters here or in the Battle Bestiary. But that is not a big problem as you can follow the rules given for skaven and wood elves.

Nothing said about unit size - is it like with wood elves or with skaven?

Want to compare editions youself? Click here for my article on 3rd edition dark elf whelp Masters.

As a conclusion we can see that there has been some thought given to carrying the animal handlers from 3rd to 4th edition but in the end it did not happen at this scale. I sort of like the idea of combining the elf shapechangers with their animal handlers but sadly that was dropped too. The list has clearly been put together quite hastily as it carries multiple confusing details as shown above.

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As the last thing for this posting I want to promote another thing of my interest - the baggage trains. There is a Legacy Crew project going on in the Oldhammer Forum with a baggage train theme. If not a member of that forum yet - please sign in and join the project! Check this posting for inspiration!

The greeny vs. The skweeky

Yesterday I had a chance to play for the very first time with the new O&G army I've been painting. Just a normal pitched battle vs. LM's skaven with 2000 point limit. I didn't have much choise of troops as I have just a tad over 1000 points of rank & file ready.

We used full deployment rules and as I had my wolfboys as an advance force I was able to make the skaven set up first. It also allowed me to designate a flanking force. 

All pictures by me and LM.

The situation after scouting moves and skaven turn 1. The skaven line from bottom to top: beastmasters with giant rats, ally chaos dwarf mortar, clanrats, a jezzail, slaves, clanrats, slaves, ally chaos dwarfs, behind trees a jezzail, stormvermins and scouts.

On the top right behind the trees is the main orc unit of 28 boyz. On the other side of that forest is the orc general and his three troll bodyguards. The light green area marks the orc baggage train. Next the the yellow field is unit of goblin stickas. Then in thin line orc arrer boyz and in deep formation gobbos. Another unit of orc arrers and a goblin chariot are just outside of this picture.

Here´s the end on the long goblinoid line with chariot and arrers facing the giant rats. My mecrenary giant and a orc shaman were sent to flanking action. They would enter on turn 3 from skaven right flank. My plan was to try to hold the center with a weak force and try to crush the flanks with my main units.

 First combat occurred between the goblin wolfboys and stormvermin. I charged with the wolves as I didn´t want them to be shot to pieces by that jezzail and skaven scouts. I also wanted to give time for my orc boyz and general and his trolls to ove in. Gobbos lasted for several rounds though being pushed back multiple times and not winning a round of combat.

To my suprise the skaven center didn´t push hard in the beginning. Only the chaos dwarfs moved forward to counter my boyz and trolls.

The chaos dwarf mortar managed to score a direct hit on gobbos killing 5 and forcing a panic test but the brave gobbos held on.

Gobbos before being mortared.

Gobbos after being mortared.

On the orc far left goblin chariot charged the giant rats and their handlers and managed to push them back.

On my turn 3 the flanking force entered the battle. Mercenary giant stayed loyal to the orcs and was now threatening the skaven right flank. Orc shaman cast a mystic mist on the mortar and the closest skaven clan rat unit.

Around turn 4 our centers started closing on each other. A total of two plague cencer bearers and two fanatics were released clogging the battle field effectively. The cencer bearers decimated 12 goblin stickas and the rest did the only reasonable thing and fled the field. My fanatics fell short of their target but were blocking the slaves pretty effectively.

Goblin stickas after being hit thrice by cencer bearers.

On turn five everything went terribly for the orcs. First both my fanatics died by rolling snake eyes. Then the wolfriders who had fought the stormvermin for so long finally broke. And because of that the boyz mob panicked. Just when everything would have been ready for them to charge the skaven. Then skaven scouts managed to sling shot down a troll and the orc general broke. My right flank vanished in seconds.

At that point more than half of my troops in points value were either killed or running and that was the break point we had agreed on. Orcs and goblin fled the field. The skaven were victorious.

Thank you LM for a good game once again. I´ll be back!

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This was my first time playing 3rd edition WFB with green skins and I learned a lot.

- Goblins are not as bad as you would think

- Orc arrers are pretty useless as missile troops, I´ll use

them as bow wielding boyz in the future

-  I sould have contested the center with my best troops,

it takes a way too much time to march from the flanks

to get to where the action is

- Don´t expect your orcs to manouver like elves

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.