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AoS Chaos Skaven Clan Moulder Tactics

AoS Chaos Skaven Skryre and Moulder Stormfeinds

Clan Moulder is the clan of  Skaven race that love to meddle in bio-genetics. By grafting body part from different creatures they create monsters that rival Frankenstine’s.  Clan Moulder also have an affinity with the smaller and more feral rat creatures that accompany the Skaven in to battle.

General Clan Moulder Tactics

It is possible, but rare to play a pure Clan Moulder army. If you do want to play a Clan Moulder only army then you will need a good number of Ratings Swarms and Giant Rats, herded by Pack Masters followed up with Rat Ogors, and a brood horror or two to tack on more difficult enemy units.

A more usual way to play Clan Moulder is to use them as auxiliary units to a more inclusive Skaven army. A common example of this is adding Pack Masters and Rat Ogers to back up basic Skaven, adding mussel when needed.

Clan Moulder Pack Master Tactics

Pack Masters are the core of Clan Moulder. The junior Pack Masters are in charge of herding swams of Rat Swarms and Giant Rats. More senior Pack Masters get to herd Rat Ogers that they have created. The most senior get to create the massive Hell Pit Abominations.

As the Pack Master has such a key role in the army in will be a key target for your enemy. Following this line of thought it makes sense to give your Pack Masters plenty of protection. This is where the Wolf Rats come in their own.

Pack Masters can be armed with one of three different herding tools/weapons. There is surprisingly little difference between the three weapons. The knife and whip has more attacks but causes less damage. The Shock Prod hits less frequently but causes plenty of damage if it does hit. The Thing Catcher lies somewhere in the middle.

Clan Moulder Rat Swarm Tactics

Rat Swarms are the smallest of the rat folk. They are so small several are placed on one base to make them large enough to make them playable. So does this mean that the Rat Swams should be overlooked? Absolutely not! I know that they will take wounds and they are not particularly quick, but 5 attacks per base adds up! One base with 5 attacks has a 55% chance of wounding (before saves). Add this to the 4 wounds per base and you can see that the Rat Swams will hang around longer than you would expect, and hopefully catch you opponent off guard!

As we see, each base of Rat Swarms has bite. But hang on, there’s more! The special rule will allow you to add an extra base to the unit each Hero Phase. This means that if you have a single base, and can keep it alive for one hero phase then you double its value by adding a second base to the unit. It also means that fielding two single bases is far more valuable than starting out with a unit of two! Make sure you have enough bases to allow for reinforcements. Remember that you can reuse dead units to act as newly spawned ones.

Because the Rat Swarms reproduce so quickly they are worth saving and allowing to grow in number before you send them in to the fight. Using them to defend an objective is a good example of this.

Clan Moulder Giant Rats Tactics

Age 0f Sigmar Chaos Skaven Giant Rats and Rat SwarmLarger than a rat swarm, but smaller than Skaven are Giant Rats.

Giant Rats definitely work better in larger numbers. If you look at the basic stats line their hit and wound rolls look terrible. 5+ to hit and 5+ to wound means you have a 1 in 9 or 11.11% chance of wounding per model! However if you look at the special rules you see that as packs get larger they get more useful too. With a pack of 10 you effectively only need to roll a 4+ to hit. This means that you have a 16.66% chance of wounding (before saves). With 20+ models in the pack you get +2 to hit and an extra attack. This is a 44.44% chance to wound per model! And with 30 models you get +3 to hit and 2 extra attacks each.

Skaven Clan Moulder Rather Ogor Tactics

Rat Ogors are Clan Moulder creations. As the name suggests they are Ogor sized rat creations that can add extra mussel to your army.

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AoS Chaos Scaven Skryre Warlock Engineer and Arch-Warlock 

Age of Sigmar Chaos Skaven Skryre Warlock Engineer

In the Skryre Skaven army the Warlocks are part engineer and part wizard.

Warlock Engineer Tactics

The Warlock Engineers have two main uses. The first is using their Warlock Pistol they can offer some covering fire as your clanrats some cover as they engage with the enemy, the other is as a wizard casting and unbinding spells. The Warlock Engineer does have a melee weapon, but he is far more useful behind the front line than he is in combat.

The Warlock Pistol is a one attack 9″ ranged weapon with the usual 3+,4+ to hit and wound (33.33% chance of wounding). So don’t depend on it wounding. However if it does wound then the -1 rend and D3 wounds will bite.

Skaven Skryre Warlock Engineer Magic

Age of Sigmar Chaos Skaven Skryre Warlock EngineerThe Skaven Warlock Engineer can dispel one enemy spell if they are in range during the enemy command phase. This means that they are a useful addition to any units that are going wizard hunting.

The Skaven Warlock Engineer can cast the usual Mystic Shield and Arcane Bolt spells.  If you are new to Age of Sigma battles I highly recommend that you get use to these spells as they will pop up  very regularly.

The Warlock Engineers also has a signature spell Warp Lightning. This casts on a roll of 5+ on 2d6 and causes D3 wounds. So just like the Arcane Bolt. So why have a second spell?  The first reason is that in games using the rule of one (found in the Generals Handbook) it means that you can fire off two Arcane Bolt like spells if you have 2+ wizards in your army.  The second reason is that the Warp Lighting spell can be powered up by the Engineers Warp-power Accumulator! This causes the Warp Lightning spell to cause D6 mortal wounds instead of D3. Be careful though! If you use the Warp-power Accumulator and fail to get the spell off (eg.  roll 4 or less) then it will back fire can cause 1 mortal wound to your Engineer!

So how can you increase the probability of getting spells off?  One way way is to seek out Arcane scenery. If you are within 3″ of a piece of Arcane scenery then you get +1 to you spell cast roll. This means that you only have to roll 4+ to get the Warp Lightning spell of (11 in 12 chance of success). Another option is to take a Chaos Familiar. These add 1 to casting rolls for Chaos Wizards near by. Skaven Warlock Engineers are Chaos Wizards, so this would work. Note that taking one would make your army a Chaos Grand Alliance army and not a pure Skaven one. This in turn may affect some of the special rules available.

Where can I get Warlock Engineers?

The usual way to get Warplock Engineers is to go to the Games Workshop site. Also there is a Warlock Engineer in the ‘Spire of Dawn’ box set that is a splash re-release of the ‘Island of Blood’ 8th edition of Warhammer Fantasy models with Age of Sigmar rules (minus the rulers and dice!)

Chaos Skaven Skryre Arch-Warlock Tactics

Age of Sigmar Chaos Skaven Skeyer Arch-Warlock EngineerIf you want to scale up your Skaven Warlock Engineer then you get the Arch-Warlock Engineer. These grey bearded Skaven are the masters of their art.

There are differences between Skaven Warlocks and Arch-Warlocks, the main one is that the Arch-Warlocks only have a one shot ranged weapon but better melee weapons. This means that you will need to ballance the Arch-Warlock’s ranged magic with his combat skills and how valuable he is to your army. 

The best way to balance the Arch-Warlock’s skills is to set him up with a heavy hitting bodyguard (Stormfeinds or Stormvermin), and may be your general, and then pick your fights carefully. 

Skaven Arch-Warlock Strength and Weapons 

As mentioned above the Arch-Warlock has a single shot weapon and two melee weapons. 

The ranged weapon is a Warpfire Gauntlett. With a range of 8″ you will need to be in charge range for it to work. However it automatically hits and does D3 mortal wounds. This is a great way to peal off a few wound from a hero or monster just before getting into combat with them. 

The Arch-Warlock’s melee weapons have quite a bite. The Piston Claw has the usual 33% chance of wounding and with a – 2 rend, a strong chance of causing its 3 damage. So one in 3 melee rounds he will be doing quite a lot of damage,  if he lives long enough! 

The Stormcage Halberd is a 2″ weapon with 2 attacks each with a better 44.44% chance of wounding. This works out at a 88% chance (most of the time) of landing a wound. Add with a -1 rend, and causing D3 damage and your Arch-Warlock is not to be sniffed at! 

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AoS Skaven Stormfiends Tactics

AoS Chaos Skaven Skryre and Moulder Stormfeinds

Stormfiends are Rat Ogors creations created by the Clan Skyre. Designed to be front-line shock troops they have the brute force strength of the Rat Ogors with one or two Skyre weapons graphed on to them to give the Stormfiends a shooting attack or better close combat abilities.

General Stormfiends Tactics

Stormfiends are great all-round tactical unit. Armed with the right tools the storm fiends are more than a match for most other units.

Are Stormfiends Clan Skyre or Clan Moulder?

If you are looking for the Skaven Stormfiends rules on  the AoS app or in the Chaos army book, then you will find them in the Skaven Skyre section.

Unusually Skaven Stormfiends have both Skyre and Moulder keywords. This means that they fit it very well to either army. It also means that Clan Moulder Herders are great at herding your Skyre Stormfiends if you are fielding a mixed army

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AOS Skaven Warp Lightning Cannon Tactics

AoS Chaos Skaven Warp Lightning Cannon Battery

Warlock Skeetch screeched with pure delight as his new creation rolled out of the workshop. He had harnessed the green energy from a warpstone to create a bolt of lightning that will fry anything in its path. “Behold the Warp Lightning Cannon!”

The assembled throng gasped in awe at the new contraption as Skeetch’s assistants swung the spot lamp  lights on to the prized exhibit. “This weapon will rip through our enemies and bring glory to Clan Skryre, and the riches that follow!” Turning to his assistants, “light it up!”

There was a crackle from the warpstone as it changed from a dull green glow to an ever brighter intensity, then all of a sudden lightning shot out at the first row of spectators, followed almost immediately by a colossal bang and plumbs of smoke.

The crowd laughed and jeered at the ineffectual light and smog show. “Wait, wait!” Skeetch pleaded as the throng slipped in to the tunnels, “It works, just let me try again!” But it was too late, his chance had passed and there will be no glory. At least not today.

The Warp Lightning Cannon is an artillery unit created by Clan Skryre to even the odds when fighting monsters and behemoths that inhabit the realms of Age of Sigmar. They are hilariously unpredictable, but when they do work well they can be game winners! Read on to find out why all Skaven armies should have one!

Also buy: Discount Warp Lightning Cannons / Plagueclaw Catapult from Wayland Games

How Skaven Warp Lightning Cannons Work

Warp Lightning Cannons are 24″ weapons with 1 shot per turn, but can cause up to 6 mortal wounds per turn. You don’t need to roll to hit.

What you do is:

  1. Pick a target within 24″ and in line of sight. Remember you can measure distances before picking your target.
  2. Roll a dice for power. You want a nice low score for this roll.  Keep this dice to one side for reference.
  3. Roll 6 more dice. Each time you roll equal or higher than the power dice you inflict a mortal wound.

Statistically you should get 3 mortal rounds per turn. However because there are two rounds of dice rolls the results will vary wildly resulting with zero to six mortal wounds a round.

The only way to even out this variance would be to have two or three Warp Lightning Cannons working together. If you do this then one machine should balance out any poor results from the other. Do be sure to target units big enough to make all the mortal wounds count. An unused wound is a useful as a miss!

Warp Lightning Cannon Movement And Placement

Warp Lightning Cannons have a 24″ range. This means that they need to be close to the front line to be in range of your targets.Usually just behind any 18″ range wizards. However the Warp Lightning Cannon only has a 3″ movement, so you will not be able to run away from trouble!

The best place to set up your Warp Cannon is just behind an objective that your opponent will be going for ( check the mission objectives ). This should bring your opponent to you and negate the need to run around the table looking for targets!

There are many units that can assault more than the Warp Cannons 24″ range. Because of this I highly recommend giving the Warp Cannon a bodyguard unit to protect your precious artillery. At the very least have units in the area that can be moved in for support.

Skaven Warp Lightning Cannon and Pitched Battles

The Warp Lightning Cannon is a Skaven unit so it can easily be added to Skaven or Chaos Grand Aliance armies. At 180 points the lightning cannon will take up a chunk of your points allowance. Also it`s effectiveness is very random.

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AoS Chaos Scaven Screaming Bell Tactics

AoS Chaos Skaven Screaming Bell

The Skaven Screaming Bell is both a war machine and a carriage for the Grey Seer that rides on it. In this section we will have a look at the Skaven Screaming Bell and Tactics on using in it Age of Sigmar battles.

Because the Screaming Bell carries a Grey Seer the Bell has the Masterclan keyword and it’s stats can be found in the Skaven Masterclan warscroll section of the Age of Sigmar app.

When buying the Screaming Bell Model remember that the box for the Skaven Plague Furnace can make the Skaven Screaming Bell instead. It is one or the other and both.

General Screaming Bell Tactics

The Screaming Bell has a number of options when it comes to attacking. There is the bell it’s self, there is the Grey Seers magic, and there are a number of close combat attacks too.

The main use for the screaming bell it to provide some monster killing close support for your clan rats.

The Screaming Bells main use is when you roll to see what effect ringing the bell has. This is the ‘Peel of Doom’ special rule and is done in the Command Phase. As this roll may effect other Command Phase actions (like the effectiveness of your wizards) I recommend that you do it at the beginning of that phase. There are more notes about the Peel of Doom special rule below.

How Does The Screaming Bell Move?

Left to it’s own devices the Screaming Bell is slow. It can move 4″ a turn at full strength and this reduces as you suffer wounds.

There is help at.hand though. With the ‘pushed in to battle’ special you can get the Screaming Bell to move an extra 1″ for each 3 SKAVEN keyword models within 1″ of the Screaming Bell model at the beginning of the movement phase. This loose wording does give a broad range of options.

The rules are expecting that you will have a ring of Clan Rats encircling the Screaming Bell and that the Bell  and the Clan Rat will be moving together. Also note that you can get more Clan Rats within 1″ on the old 1″ square bases  than you can on the 25mm round bases, even when you overlap bases.A way to abuse the slack rules is to add outboard planks to your Screaming Bell big enough for Clan Rats to board. This means that the Clan Rats can move along with the Bell. With 18 Clan Rats onboard you can move at 6″ plus the Bell move roll. As the Clan Rats are onboard they will be there at the beginning of the next turn too.

To be really tricky you could have two Screaming Bells side by side. In this formation the Clan Rats can be counted as being within 1″ of both Bells and they can both gain the benefits.

Ringing the Skaven Screaming Bell and Peel of Doom Range

The Skaven Screaming Bell is not used in the shooting phase like most artillery. Instead of shooting in the shooting phase you use the Screaming Bell in the Hero Phase. This is great because you can discover the effect it has before you move or shoot with your other units. If you plan the order you activate units in the Hero Phase correctly, you should be able to peel and Screaming Bell before you do your other Hero Phase actions.

2D6-ProbabilityTo ring the Screaming Bell you roll 2 dice and look up the result on the Warscroll. Remember that the average of a 2D6 roll is 7 so this is the result that you will get most often ( 6 in 36 times or 1 in 6 ). However with the Screaming Bell table rolls of 5 and 6 get the same result, so does the rolls of 8 and 9. The change of getting one of these results ( 5,6 or 8,9) is 9 in 36 each, or 1:4. This means that you will want to get familiar with these 3 results.as you will get one of them 2/3rd of the time ( 66.66% ).

How do I get a roll of 13 using the Skaven Screaming Bell?

On the Screaming Bell results table you will see an entry for a roll of 13. This is. here as a joke only. The Peel of Doom roll can not be modified in any way, so yo can never roll a 13!

Screaming Bell Peel of Doom Range

When you roll for the Peel of Doom results some of the results have a range quoted as the ‘Peel of  Doom Range’. This range starts at 13″ and decreases to 5″ as the Screaming Bell looses wounds. But 13″ from where? I suggest that you measure from the edge of the model and not from the Bell it’s self.

As the Peel of Doom Range is in all directions it means that the Peel of Doom actions are area effect events with the Screaming Bell being ground zero. This means that for the best effects you want the Screaming Bell to be right in the middle of the thick of the action. This leads to a strategy of g punching a hole in the enemy lines with shock troops, forcing the gap wider with massed clan rats, and then push the Screaming Bell in to the gap where it can cause chaos in all directions!

When You Have Had Fun With The Screaming Bell Remember The Grey Seer

With the Screaming Bell you get a Skaven Grey Seer too. The Grey Seer is a Wizard and can be a very useful general too. You may want to note at this point is that because the Grey Seer and the Screaming Bell are one model, the whole model has both the Wizard and Hero key words and not just the Grey Seer on the bell.

The Skaven Grey Seer / Screaming Bell can cast one spell in each of your Hero phases and attempt to unbind one spell in your opponents hero phase. The Grey Seer knows the two basic spells and his signature spell ‘Cracked Call’.

How Does The Cracked Call Spell Work?

The Grey Seer rang the Screaming Bell with all his might and it replied with an Avalanche of Energy. Feeling the surge of magic the Grey Seer unleashed his Cracked Call spell on a nearby mob of Grots. The earth shook and heaved and ripped apart crating a chasm down to the boiling magma below. Grots threw themselves away from the chasm in a desperate clamour to escape their doom. Most escaped but two slipped howling to their fiery fate.

The Cracked Call spell has a casting value of 6. Remember that a 7 on the Screaming Bell’s Peel of Doom roll will add 1 to your roll result so do that first! As you only need to roll 5+ or 6+ on 2D6 this will activate most of the time (69.4% on a 6+, 83% on a 5+).

If the Cracked Call spell does activate then you can select a enemy unit in 18″, roll 2D6 against that units Move score and cause 1 Mortal wound that you beat the Move Score by.

Here is an example. If you target a unit of Ork Gits that have a move of 5″ and you roll 7 on your 2D6 then you cause 2 mortal wounds. If you target a unit with variable move rate like Grot Squid Hoppers that move 2D6″ per turn, ask you opponent to roll for the units move distance first so you know what you have to beat.

How Does The ‘Alter Of The Horned Rat’ Command Ability Work?

If your Screaming Bell Grey Seer in your army commander, or you have some other trick up your sleeve that enables this Grey Seer to use his Command Ability then you can call upon the ‘Alter Of The Horned Rat’ special rule. If you do then all the SKAVEN units that can see the Screaming Bell can add one to their Move and Bravery ( and I can not see a reason not to! ). The trick here is that the more viable the Screaming Bell is the more Skaven can see it. So if you plan to use this Command Ability frequently have a thing about custom modelling that may make your Screaming Bell higher!

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AoS Skaven Tactics

AoS Chaos Skaven Warp Lightning Cannon Battery

Skaven are Chaos warped rat creatures that mainly live in the underworld of the Age of Sigmar realms.In this section we will have a look at the 4 main Skaven clans and what Skaven Tactics are available in Age of Sigmar games.

General Skaven Tactics

Skaven are rat creatures and follow some characteristics that are associated with rodents,specifically they work better in large numbers, and they prefer to run away to fight another day.

Backing up the troops the Skavens have a number of artillary and special units. Many of these have specific functions. Add these units to your army with care.

If you wish to start a Skaven army, start with a good number of troop units. Get use to there strenghts and weaknesses and ghen add in special units as you develop your play style. At the time of writing, Games Workshop have a ‘Clan Pestilance’ starter box set out. This gives a good value for money way of starting a Skaven army, and while stocks last  you can get even  better value for money by buying the Skaven Clan Pestilance box set from Wayland Games

Skaven Clans

There are countless different clans and subcultures in the Skaven high Archy, however there are 5 clans that dominate Skanen culture. The main clans are Clan Moulder, Clan Pestilens, Clan Eshin, Clan Skryre, Clan Eshin. In gaming terms, have a read through the back stories for each of the clans and pick the one than closest matches your favourite battle style and focus on learning that clan’s style and tactics first, and then, if you wish, expand to other clans tactics.

Skaven Master Clan

AoS Chaos Skaven Screaming BellThe Skaven Master Clan are the leaders of the Skaven race. The Master includes the vermin Lords and the Vermin King Lord Skreech, and the famous Screaming Bell.

  • Grey Seer
  • Lord Skreech Verminking
  • Screaming Bell
  • Thanquol and Boneripper
  • Verminlord

Skaven Clan Skryre Units

AoS Chaos Skaven Warp Lightning Cannon BatteryClan Skryre are the Techno-Wizards of the Skaven race, and by wizards I do mean magic users!

Skaven Clan Moulder Units

Clan Moulder specialise in herding the smaller rat creatures and bio-enginering Monstrous Creatures.

You may want to add Clan Moulder units to your army if you need a swarm of smaller rates creatures or some heavy mussel like Rat Ogors.

Skaven Clan Verminus Units

AoS Chaos Skaven Skryre and Moulder StormfeindsClan Verminus place numbers above science and magic. You would add Clan Verminus units to your army if you need large blocks of Skaven. This is a good idea for the core elements of your army.

  • Verminlord Warbringer
  • Skaven Warlord
  • Stormvermin
  • Clanrats

Skaven Clan Eshin Units

TThe Skaven Clan Eshin are the sneaky assassin creed of the Skaven race. Even then, who is the big dood at the front. Doesn’t he know that being 20 foot high is not very stealthy!

  • Verminlord Deceive
  • Skaven Deathrunner
  • Gutter Runners
  • Skaven Assassin
  • Night Runners

Skaven Clan Pestilence Units

Skaven Clan Pestilence is the closest to Nurgle that the Skaven have.

  • Vermin Corrupter
  • Plague Priest
  • Plague Monks
  • Plague Censer Bearers
  • Plague Furnace
  • Plague Claw
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