Skaven 2500 pts (newer player)

[kiltwearer]

Fantasy Army: BoC

I have not played much fantasy, and I am very new to the 8th edition rules set. After looking around at other armies and looking through the models I have available, I came up with the following list. My first experience with this army will be small tournament at the local store (usually around 8 people). I have no illusions of winning, but would like to be competitive in future tournaments and games with this same army. Are there any glaring mistakes or problems that I can fix in this list?

grey seer (screaming bell, dispel scroll, 2 warp stone tokens)

plague priest (flail, plague furnace)
chieftain (battle standard bearer, shield, tail weapon)
warlock engineer (level 1, doom rocket, warp energy condenser)

2x 50 skaven slaves (musician)
39 clan rats (shields, full command)
40 clan rats (shields, full command, warpfire thrower)

40 plague monks (full command)

hell pit abomination (warp stone spikes)
doom wheel
2x warp lightning cannons

I like the big contraptions of the Skaven and would like to use the larger models in the list as long as they are at least decent units in battle. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[meowser]

looks very solid and competitive (except for maybe the bell)

I'd try and get some junk deployments in there,
you probably have 32 giant rats from your 2x plague monk boxes, so I'd run a couple of min sized giant rat units ('rat darts') as junk deployment, redirectors, warmachine hunters, etc...
enchanted shield/dragonhelm on the BSB is a cheap way to make him slightly more survivable
channeling staff on the plague priest is nice too, and/or rival hide talisman, portent of verminous doom
plague banner on the monks is really useful as well, even with the furnace detracting from it's effectiveness

gutter runners are also a very competitive choice if you have any models to use as them

[kiltwearer]

I would like to keep the bell (even though it may not be the best use of points), it just looks cool and the one I built is heavily converted. I have not bought the second warp lightning cannon, so this would be a possible supply of points. Would 30 monks on the plague furnace be enough, or would you suggest ditching some other units to make up the points for possible gutter runners or giant rat units? I do have a large supply of models, but I lack many of the more specialized units.

[meowser]

dropping one cannon and the monks down to 30/35 are both great ideas

[kiltwearer]

Okay I have considered the advice you have given me, and here is my revised list.

grey seer (screaming bell, dispel scroll, 2 warp stone tokens)

plague priest (flail, plague furnace)
chieftain (battle standard bearer, shield, tail weapon)
warlock engineer (level 1, doom rocket, warp energy condenser)

2x 50 skaven slaves (musician)
39 clan rats (shields, full command)
40 clan rats (shields, full command, warpfire thrower)
4x 5 giant rats w/packmaster (rat darts?)

30 plague monks (full command)
5 gutter runners w/slings

hell pit abomination (warp stone spikes)
doom wheel
warp lightning cannon

Is this more of what you were talking about? How do you run the 'rat darts' to be effective? I don't understand the concept.

Thanks meowser for giving me some good advice and something to think about. I really am new to 8th edition and need some coaching.

[kiltwearer]

To me the 50 point difference from screaming bell to plague furnace is not much. I can live with this. I wonder if the warlock engineer is better than the extra warp lightning cannon. I have 2 'tarpit' units(understand this concept) and the 2 warmachines with units to bulk up the middle. I have the two rare choices to flank with. I know the gutter runners are to harass the units in the back. The 'rat darts' I don't understand and the fact that I have one ranged unit makes me nervous. Should I get rid of the warlock engineer for another cannon?

[meowser]

Rat darts serve a number of useful roles:

1: Cheap Deployment Drops: use them as your first 4 deployments, so you don't have to place your more valuable units until later. This is their primary role. They've done their job once deployment is over. If your opponent has no cheap deployments, they will be forced to place their important blocks before you have committed any of your stuff. Or if they have lots of chaff, the rat darts are an excellent counter to to this

2: Redirectors: run these in the face of an opponent you want to divert, such that they can't charge what they want to, and will be dragged away from the main battle towards a flank if they want to charge the rats. Ideally, you can flee and pull a big flanker off the board with you and have it out of the game for a few turns

3. Weak Hero Assassins: run 2-wide, you can get 7 I4 S3 attacks on a single model with these guys. Charge them into a wizard bunker and try and take out weak characters with them.

4. Warmachine Hunters: these guys are cheap enough to be ignoring by the enemy and sweep behind their lines in 2-3 turn with their M6. They will tie up a warmachine crew for a turn or 2, if not killing them