I decided to do Clan pestilens because i liked the idea of them as a theme.
Problem is many of the more competitive units aren't.....well....diseased enough to be Clan Pestilens.
Hell Pit Abominations are obviously Clan Moulder.
Jezzails, Warp Lightning Cannons etc. are Clan Skryre
Clan Eshin units are less of an issue as assassins for hire can appear in any army or for that matter against any army........
A Clan Skryre themed army is perfectly viable as is a Clan Moulder army.
Clan Pestilens with virtually every ranged unit being Strength 2 not so much so. Pretty much every unit being Frenzied doesn't help either, lol.
So if i decide to theme the army around Clan Pestilens (which i obviously have) i effectively handicap myself if i stick to 'Plague' units only.
Don't i?
All of this rambling is leading to a question so bear with me.
In 40K I'd regularly (okay all the time) write an army to win....and then model it so it was themed (at least in my mind). But if that meant mixing 3 different Traitor Legions or putting Khorne and Slaanesh in the same army I'd do it without a 2nd thought.
So,
If i take Jezzails but make them as..for example giant blowpipes (a bit silly i know) or make a Hellpit Abomination as a giant diseased worm thing (something i'm genuinely considering) is that cheating myself for competitiveness or does that still count as theme?
I'd be interested to know what you all think.
I think it's perfectly acceptable to do a themed army, using rules for something else. For example, I think anyone that takes units aligned to different Chaos Gods in the same army should be taken out and shot, after having all of their models melted. However, if you decided you like Nurgle, for example, it would be really cool to do models that count as Khorne Beserkers but actually are Plague Bearing Psychos, or something similar.
ReplyDeleteOn that basis I think you should stick to your theme and model your army accordingly, using the rules for a competitive unit. It's all good brother!
I can see what is going on in your mind, and I too am thinking about this when looking at a themed skaven army and things that are available.
ReplyDeleteI really want something plague esq! all the big uber things skaven have like the bell, furnace, catapult, are all clan pestilence and if true to doing a skryre army they may not have them. But regardless of competitive armies I want nice looking things in the army.
Anyway, from what you have rightly said, there is definitely some leighway with this army, there is alot of 'borrowing' in skaven from what i have read. But there are ways to keep a theme using different aspects of the clans.
I think a giant worm thing would be a great idea for a plague esq hell pit abomination, and it would fit perfectly,
You can effectively look at it like this, and i think its a great way, there is nothing stopping you taking stormvermin for example, and painting them with pale skin unhealthy skin... in keeping with them pestilence theme.
I want to make some plague catapults as I think this would be something a tech army would have... a catapult being a good engineering feat. I thought about making some rat ogres with some mechanical parts to tie them in.
I definitely wouldn't worry about it, ok there may be some things that you can't get around... for example if you had a nice pestilence army and lead it with queak headtaker... probably not the most themed however competitive he may or may not be.
I think the options to convert and theme skaven units to a plague theme is the most abundant, and will look great if you pull it off which by the thoughts you've put forward I think you will :)
I really want some plague monks etc in but am worried myself about keeping to a theme of tech...
Hope the random thoughts help :)
I dont see any problem with what you want to do. Why cripple yourself with a limited selection when you can make some really characterful units.
ReplyDeleteI love going round events and looking at other peoples armies and what they come up with.
As for the plague monks in a tech army, I think rats with lots of bionics on them would make them T4, and as for frenzy, how about combat drug dispensers on their backs. You could even call them tech priests!
nice idea james... going to take some serious work to make 30 of them though!!! lol
ReplyDeleteI think its great to have lots of differnt convertions of things which are from different clans, but the other way to theme armies is about story. I think you said it nicely earlier when you mentioned the assassin as he is in essence a knife for hire. The other way of themeing a skaven army would be what sort of deal did your plague prist nergotiate to get his hands on a doom wheel for instance. For that matter whats in it for all the differnt prists and are some of them deliberatly trying to undermine Skrolk?
ReplyDeleteThe thing about theming your army is its just about giving it a little bit of thought as to what it is and why its there, when people accuse others of being beardy is because they either don't understand the reasons the gaming ability (that being the reason to take it), makes your theme a little to tenuous or that the gaming ability is the only reason.
I think that ultimatly to make a truly themed army you have to make comprimises to your selection otherwise others just see through it but how many is the question.
If I took and eldar force with as many jet locks as possible, then claimed that the theme was a warlock army would I be beardy?
Effectively i am limiting myself to the Following.
ReplyDeleteLord Skrolk - Obviously no problem there.
Grey Seer - As they all apparently specialise in a particular area there is no reason why that area can't be Clan Pestilens.
Warlord - Okay, as there are at least 4 major Warlord Clans affiliated to Clan Pestilens.
Assassin - As already discussed
Chieftain - same reasons as Warlord.
Plague Priest
Plague Furnace
Pretty much all of the Core is fair game including Giant Rats, imo.
Plague Monks and Plague Censer Bearers are fine.
Poison Wind Globadiers are a bit dubious but diseases can easily be substituted for poison so they scrape in.
Plagueclaw Catapult is fine.
Hellpit Abomination is getting in because i have a good idea for one within my theme. Plus the idea came before i found out they were any good, lol.
The only thing i want for competitive reasons that i can't really justify is Jezzails, which is unfortunate. I still may take them but it will need a genius conversion idea before i'd be happy to do it.
Weapon teams are another grey area i'll have to think about.
Thanks for your input it helped clarify the issue for me a little ;-)
Since the Grey Seers all come from the council of 13 then he brings all sorts of gadgets and gizmos, perhaps the Jazzails are because he has a paranoia of been attact and the jazzails give him cover alla the mummy returns? Going to be big then 4k plus with 3 lord choices!
ReplyDeleteIf i do use Jezzails it will have to be either (the slightly lame) blowpipe idea or Jezzails with Plague Monk models using them as i can't think of any other way to make them fit the theme.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if the Grey Seer would trust a load of Clan Skryre snipers as a bodyguard?
Saying that, a unit of Skavenslaves managed to kill a Varghulf today so i suppose anythings possible, lol.