O&G vs Skaven, 2500 pts

So late Saturday night I went up against Niclas of the Warpstoned blog, naturally fielding his Skaven army. I had never faced Skaven before, especially not at such a high point total, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It's one thing, I think, to read through an army book and another thing entirely to face the army in person.

The Skaven were led by a Grey Seer on a Screaming Bell dragged by Clan Rats and carrying the Battle Standard. There were two big heaps of Slaves, Plague Monks bringing their Plague Furnace, and a fairly big group of Stormvermin. Two Warplightning Cannons were in the back, a Doomwheel and an Abomination would bring the pain, and two small units of Gutter Runners with slings.

The Stormbanner came into play early, but I'm not really sure who benefitted the most from it. It prevented Yaisog to fly, true, but he could still march, but Skaven were the ones with artillery, who failed to take him out. One of the cannons misfired and blew up, and the second one squeezed out a S2 hit that failed to do anything.

Things of note:

• Black Orcs - Both the Doomwheel and the Abomination scrambled forward, but the Black Orcs charged into the wheel and destroyed it, revealing their flaming weapons that made the Abomination go into the Savage Orcs instead. Then the Black Orcs caught the 13th spell in the face, casted Irresistibly of course, that left only 2 of them standing.
• Savage Orcs Big 'Uns - After losing a third of their numbers to a second 13th spell, they got into a fight with the Hellpit and inflicted five wounds and sent the monster rolling the other way. The 3D6 movement made it difficult to catch it however, and so it managed to rally later on with a single wound remaining. To take out their frustration out on something, the Savages got into a scrap with Slaves and Clanrats in their front, and Stormvermin in the flank, and still won the combat by plenty, sending the Slaves running and reforming to tackle the Stormvermin head on, before the Wolf Chariots barged in from the side, sending the rats off the board. Sadly, the early battles were starting to take their toll on the Savages, leaving only a single rank of orcs standing. They sought cover but were eventually taken out by another 13th spell, turning them into Clanrats. The one-wound Abomination then followed that up by moving 17" on 3D6 to take out the Wolf Chariots. Had it not, I would have charged it instead.
• Night Goblins - On the other side of the battlefield, I had commited a mistake by matching the Trolls against the Plaguemonks, who revealed their flaming weapons and took out the trolls. However, their overrun set them up for a double flank; shieldgobbos on one side, Yaisog and his Wyven on the other. That was not going to be a battle where the Plaguemonks would stand a chance, and they were grinded down over a handful of turns, before the Plague Furnace finally was destroyed.

Still, the Grey Seer had really done the damage with Scorch and, more importantly, the 13th spell, and in the end I was down about 300 points, with little else than Yaisog, his Wyvern and some Night Goblins still standing, while the Hellpit was still on 1 wound and the Clanrats with the Bell and the Grey Seer remained more or less unharmed (the Seer had probably killed off more with his miscasts than I had done in combat).

I lost this match in the magic phase and by not knowing the real strenghts and weaknesses of the Skaven army. For some reason I was fearing the Screaming Bell instead of just going in there and killing off the Grey Seer. Losing my Savages Orcs, Great Shaman and Battle Standard to a third helping of the 13th spell really got me in a hole from which I couldn't escape. Still, Niclas is a great opponent and plenty of fun to face. I'll be playing him again soon, I'm sure, and if nothing else I'll be using what I learned about the Skaven in this battle the next time I face them.