2500 Skaven vs. Dwarfs

Me and my buddy Tazzz had a game yesterday evening. We tried out my attempt at making a balanced tournament scenario, I played the rats and he went for Dwarves. Enemies for many years, this should prove a good fight!

I went for something a bit more balanced this time, not opting for my "big stuff" list but instead trying a more ratty approach. Here's my list:

2500 Pts - Skaven Roster

Grey Seer (1#, 290 pts)
   1 Grey Seer @ 290 pts (General; Hand Weapon)
      1 Warp-Energy Condenser
      1 Foul Pendant

Warlord (2#, 255 pts)
   1 Warlord @ 255 pts (Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour)
      1 Rat Ogre Bonebreaker (Causes Fear)
      1 Warlock-Augmented Weapon
      1 Enchanted Shield
      1 Rival Hide Talisman
      1 Skalm

Chieftan (1#, 85 pts)
   1 Chieftain (Battle Standard Bearer) @ 85 pts (Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Battle Standard Bearer)
      1 Standard of Discipline

Clanrats (41#, 261 pts)
   38 Clanrats @ 261 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Light Armour; Shield)
      1 Clawleader (Hand Weapon; Light Armour; Shield)
      2 Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team (Poisoned Wind Mortar; Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour)

Stormvermin (26#, 308 pts)
   23 Stormvermin @ 308 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Halberd; Heavy Armour)
      1 Fangleader (Hand Weapon; Halberd; Heavy Armour)
      1 Razor Standard
      2 Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team (Warpfire Thrower; Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour)

Rat Swarm (2#, 50 pts)
   2 Rat Swarm @ 50 pts (Swarm; Unbreakable)

Giant Rats (18#, 69 pts)
   15 Giant Rats @ 69 pts
      3 Packmaster (Hand Weapon; Whip; Light Armour)

Giant Rats (18#, 69 pts)
   15 Giant Rats @ 69 pts
      3 Packmaster (Hand Weapon; Whip; Light Armour)

Clanrat Slaves (42#, 86 pts)
   42 Skavenslaves @ 86 pts (Musician Mus; Hand Weapon)

Plague Monks (24#, 223 pts)
   23 Plague Monks @ 223 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon; Extra Attack; Frenzy)
      1 Bringer-of-the-Word (Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon; Extra Attack; Frenzy)
      1 Plague Banner

Plague Censer Bearers (9#, 144 pts)
   9 Plague Censer Bearers @ 144 pts (Plague Censer; Frenzy; Hatred; Skirmishers)

Rat Ogres (10#, 419 pts)
   6 Rat Ogres @ 419 pts (Causes Fear; Frenzy)
      1 Master-Bred Rat Ogre
      2 Packmaster (Hand Weapon; Whip; Light Armour)
      1 Packmaster Skweel Gnawtooth (Hand Weapon; Light Armour)

Doomwheel (1#, 150 pts)
   1 Doomwheel @ 150 pts (Causes Terror; Immune to Psychology; Large Target)
      1 Crew (Warlock & Rats)

Warp-Lightning Cannon (1#, 90 pts)
   1 Warp-Lightning Cannon @ 90 pts
      1 Engineer & Crew

Validation Report:
Army Subtype: Skaven Army; Edition: 8th Edition; Game Type: Normal Game
Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules

Total Roster Cost: 2499

I went for something alround, hence the many units. Idea was for the Plaguemonks, Censer Bearers and the Rat Ogre unit to be the heavy hitters, and use the Rat Swarm and Giant Rats to outflank and get to warmachines or flank charges.

All in all, the plan looked good, until I saw the host of dwarves. His army was something like this:

2500 Pts - Dwarfs Roster

Runelord (4#, 390 pts)
   1 Runelord @ 390 pts (Hand Weapon; Gromril Armor)
      1 Anvil of Doom
         2 Anvil Guards (Hand Weapon; Gromril Armor; Shield)
      1 Runic Talisman (Master Rune of Balance; Rune of Spellbreaking x1)

Josef Bugman (1#, 155 pts)
   1 Josef Bugman @ 155 pts (General; Crossbow; Gromril Armor; Shield; Scouts)
      1 Rune Axe (Rune of Cleaving; Rune of Fury)

Thane (1#, 135 pts)
   1 Thane (Battle Standard Bearer) @ 135 pts (Hand Weapon; Gromril Armor; Battle Standard Bearer)
      1 Runic Talisman (Master Rune of Challenge; Rune of Brotherhood)

Dwarf Warriors (38#, 547 pts)
   38 Longbeard Rangers @ 547 pts (Always Strikes Last; Upgrade to Longbeards; Upgrade to Rangers; Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Heavy Armour; Scouts)

Dwarf Warriors (20#, 295 pts)
   20 Longbeard Rangers @ 295 pts (Always Strikes Last; Upgrade to Longbeards; Upgrade to Rangers; Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Heavy Armour; Scouts)

Artillery Battery (4#, 130 pts)
   1 Cannon @ 130 pts (Rune of Burning; Rune of Forging; Cannon)
      3 Crew (Hand Weapon; Light Armour)

Artillery Battery (5#, 145 pts)
   1 Grudge Thrower @ 145 pts (Rune of Accuracy; Rune of Penetrating x1; Stone Thrower)
      3 Crew (Hand Weapon; Light Armour)
      1 Engineer (Hand Weapon; Light Armour)

Artillery Battery (5#, 170 pts)
   1 Grudge Thrower @ 170 pts (Rune of Accuracy; Rune of Penetrating x2; Stone Thrower)
      3 Crew (Hand Weapon; Light Armour)
      1 Engineer (Hand Weapon; Light Armour)

Miners (10#, 120 pts)
   10 Miners @ 120 pts (Always Strikes Last; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Pick; Heavy Armour)

Miners (20#, 270 pts)
   19 Miners @ 270 pts (Always Strikes Last; Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Pick; Heavy Armour)
      1 Prospector (Hand Weapon; Steam Drill; Heavy Armour)

Airborne Assault (1#, 140 pts)
   1 Gyrocopter @ 140 pts (Flyer)

Validation Report:
Army Subtype: Dwarf Army; Edition: 8th Edition; Game Type: Normal Game
Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules

Total Roster Cost: 2497

His idea is that he places a set amount of warmachines, and...that's pretty much it. Rest of them is either scouting (rangers) or coming in from side/rear (miners).

Alright, we deployed, forgot to nominate units (doh! haha) and he deployed his scouts in front of my large clanrat unit with Grey Seer and BSB in it, about 15" from my Rat Ogres. I won first turn, and he then used his master rune of challenge to entice my clanrat unit to charge his large unit of rangers. I had to mitigate this somehow, and declared charges with plaguemonks and rat ogres. Plague monks made it in, clanrats rolled below (hurray!) and my rat ogres didn't quite make it.

From here on, the game was one-sided. My plaguemonks, even with plague banner, managed to kill two dwarves and wound Tazzz' BSB once. He killed 15 of mine, and overran them, charging my Slaves in the process. My Censer Bearers, who had started the game next to my Plague Monks, had charged the smaller unit of rangers, but failed horribly as well. Magic was bad (I think I rolled 6 and 4, which then totalled out to him having 10 dice and me having 9 - I IF'ed Howling Warpgale, but that was it - lost remaining dice and exploded, killing a few clanrats and taking a wound), shooting was even worse - lost my Warpfire Thrower to dangerous terrain (Venomthicket) and my Mortar blew itself up first turn. My Warp Lightning Cannon flew short and missed.

His turn, he charged my cannon with the smaller unit of rangers, blew up my Doomwheel with one shot from his cannon and killed a few Rat Ogres with his Grudge Throwers. His anvil made my Rat Ogre unit move slower next turn...

He proceeded to kill 15 slaves, breaking them (I forgot the rule about them scattering), and could then reform to face my clanrats. His other ranger unit decimated the cannon.

My next turn was pretty much as expected...shooting was gone and my flankers was still short of this warmachines. My Rat Ogres failed their charge move, needing a 9'er once again. My Grey Seer left his unit, and tried for a Cracks Call down the frontline of the 40-man ranger-unit, but since I had so few dice compared to him I got dispelled.

His next turn was as expected, his large Miner-unit came in from behind my Rat Ogres, and broke them in melee the same turn, since the anvil helped them to charge. His large Ranger-unit destroyed my clanrats, just barely removing the one rank I had more than him, and by now the game was very much lost.

I had fortune enough to get both Grudge Throwers and Cannon destroyed or occupied by my third turn, but the Anvil proved too much for my unit of Giant Rats. In the end, he also got my Grey Seer, and we could tally up the score.

I didn't get any points, he got 6 - 4 for killing my models (my Rat ogre unit was nominated and was still fleeing at the end of the game, barely!) and 2 for taking and holding two objectives.

I'm actually not that sad that he sorely beat me, I'm just upset that this game was so unfit for testing the scenario that I can't use the result for anything at all. What I can see, however, is that the Dwarves are one heck of an army in 8th edition. Rangers are immensely good.

I'll get you next time, Tazzz! You and your dwarves' days are doomed!