# Skaven Help



## deathnote (Jul 19, 2010)

greeting my fellow Heretics so last week i got the new Island of Blood set :biggrin: and played my first game of WFB. So far so good im playing Skaven and the models are sooo nice.

My problem is this how in the name of the Horned Rat am i meant to win??
I get the feeling that the box is unbalanced:ireful2: 
I understand that we Skaven are going to lose nearly everytime in a straight fight but until payday i can't get anymore units i have the army book but my Flatmate does not have the HE one so we are playing using the PDF summery sheet that explains the units etc.

Magic is a no go even with the 'proper' Skaven army as HE can basicly rule the magic phase i have little to no shooting as the Warpfire thrower is too short range and the Poison Wind morter is meh ok i guess but need somthing with a bit more punch am thinking Jezzles come payday as well as more clanrats and maybe some plague monks am i going on the right route and if not can someone point me in the right direction ?


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## turel2 (Mar 2, 2009)

Ratling guns would be good against massed low toughness armies.

Plague monks are always a good choice also.


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## Cpt. Loken (Sep 7, 2008)

doomwheel, Grey seer, Stormvermin, Plague Furnace


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## deathnote (Jul 19, 2010)

ok cool thanks for the advice guys but untill payday i cant get anything so as i said how do i win with the contents of IoB?


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## Maxwell256 (Mar 15, 2008)

The box is unbalanced, somewhere I saw a point total for IoB and it is a significant difference in the number of point. Off the top of my head I think that it might be 200pts more of HE.


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## deathnote (Jul 19, 2010)

that's obscene how the hell can GW justify that


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## VeronaKid (Jan 7, 2010)

If you and your mate are playing straight up with just the contents of the box, good luck. The Elves have at least a couple hundred points more than the Skaven as-is, so it will never be a fair fight. I would recommend playing the scenarios that GW has listed on their website, as I suppose they have been designed with unbalanced lists in mind.

You guys should also play with the understanding that there is no way that the HE's can field a "legal" army out of the IoB box, as well. . .if you put that Prince on his Griffon into the HE force, you're looking at needing to field about a 1700 point army for it to be legal. Since there's only around 1200 points worth of elves total in the box, that aint happening.

My advice-before you get any more models, get the High Elf and Skaven army books. That way, you can look at point values, and plan your army expansions that way. Plus, you can actually set up reasonably even battles between the forces you already have in the meantime.

Best of luck and welcome to the game!


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## Masked Jackal (Dec 16, 2009)

Actually, I believe the total is that Skaven are around 400 points while HE are around 800 points.


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## Barnster (Feb 11, 2010)

The skavens only real hope of winning is to get good results using the weapons teams to kills off the swordmasters and hurt the griffon, clanrats will struggle against those far more than the reavers or the seaguard.


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## HiveMinder (Feb 8, 2010)

As far as being a stand alone game GW really dropped the ball with island of blood. As previously mentioned, the elves have a good couple hundred points on the skaven, and the elves can't even legally field what comes in the box. So I imagine that the box was intende to be a launching point to build armies from.

That being said, the only thing you can really have any control over are the magic items your characters have. A doomrocket or death globe on the warlock engineer could cut down abunch of elves before they flay you in combat. Another trick is to position your warp fire thrower in front of your clanrats. The elves will be forced to charge your weapon team amd you can get at least one good stand and shoot reaction shot, maybe even routing them if they fail their panic test. However, its still an uphill battle for the ratmen.

Also, you might want to peruse my skaven tactica thread: http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=66611


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## deathnote (Jul 19, 2010)

thanks for the advice guys will have to have a look at funds come payday and see if i can justify the expense


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## deathnote (Jul 19, 2010)

so payday came and went i worked out that i can afford to get some plague monks also found a spare clanrat i had laying around so a clanrat with a bit of GS makes an extra body 
and used a monk with some bits and pieces to make a plague priest  maybe i can out magic her HE's now lol all i need some luck i mean just how hard is 1 lone HE mage


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## FATHER NURGLE (Oct 10, 2009)

Dont use stormvermin just use more clanrats much cheaper =)


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## deathnote (Jul 19, 2010)

when you say dont use stormvermin do you mean the mini's or the unit as tbh i was not going to use either


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