Thursday, December 03, 2009

My Personal Stances on Skaven Rule Questions

I am definitely a "type B" wargamer.  It's all about the fun and narrative of the experience, and winning is a distant third.  Not that I won't compete, mind you.  I just won't be a jerk about it.  Something tells me "rat girl" on the left would cheese it up.  I dunno.

That said, I have decided to put my foot down about certain vague points in the new Skaven book.  As a Skaven player I am voluntarily taking the following stances.  Theses are my personal decisions and not any official rulings.
  1. Warpstone Tokens and the Storm Banner are "one use only"
  2. The Doomwheel may not start in the front arc of a unit, then use its movement to maneuver around to hit that unit in the flank or rear.
  3. Shooting will scatter into Rat Ogres on a 1-4, into other models on a 5-6.
  4. Only one Night Runner, Jezzail team, Rat Ogre, etc. can be upgraded in a unit, not any and all of them.
  5. Banner of Verminous Scurrying can only be used to augment a unit's normal march, in the movement phase.
  6. Template weapons hitting an enemy unit engaged with slaves will be randomized between slaves/enemies.
  7. Plague Priests may not take warpstone tokens.
  8. I will never take more than one tail weapon or rat hound bodyguard.  A brace of warplock pistols is possible until ruled otherwise, but only because it's a cool conversion option.
  9. The plague censer would benefit from poisoned attacks.  In the same way a great weapon keeps its rules (+2 strength, strikes last) with poison, the plague censer is a weapon with its own rules, not a magic weapon.
  10. Slaves breaking from cc will get additional hits under the "Cornered Rats!" rule only for each full rank of 5 beyond the first, not just for each rank beyond the first.
I'm sure I'll update these as more situations come up.  Most of these are ruling against the cheese option (#9 would be the arguable exception) and designed to minimize arguments.  Nearly all of them are behavioral choices, either in list creation or in game actions.

Until an official FAQ / Errata is released, my position will be "If it's not clear to me, rule in favor of your opponent."

As a bonus, here's an old "Gary the Gor" comic (by Craig Russell) re: Skaven.


    1 comment:

    1. Oh my God that comic was the funniest thing I have ever read! Wow lol that is amazing. I don't understand why people try so hard to power game. Winning is fun sure, but what if you power gamed with everyone and no one would play you anymore? I guess you won't be having much fun anymore.

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