Introduction

For those of you who don't know me my names Hamish Gordon, I'm a Kapiti coast, Wellington based gamer who's been playing Warhammer Fantasy for the last 1 1/2 years since returning to it after a 14 year break. I have primarily play Warriors of Chaos (my favourite army), High Elves and most recently Skaven and some Empire! I'm also an avid player of "Magic the Gathering" both competitively and socially.

Since the release of the new Warriors of Chaos 8th Edition book my favourite army has fallen a little out of favour with me and picked up and expanded significantly on beloved Skaven army!

Some of you may ask why I'm not fielding my beloved WoC army any more, its simple -

1) Right now I think they have Big Bulls eye on them especially in more competitive environments, there're to many hordes and in my opinions cannon's to really push their advantage. However if 9th Ed rules reduce cannons from D6 wound’s to D3 they'll be back!
2) Overall their still overpriced in most areas and a number of special & rare units are just unplayable now...

Don't get me wrong I will play them again and I'm hoping Nick (Jebson) will be able to make the most of them this coming weekend as he's fielding one of my lists and army albeit marginally modified... All I have to say is Go Throgg and you should have left the mage as a Lvl2, FOR SHAME!

HORNED GOBBO LIST - SKAVEN, 3rd time lucky!

So this coming weekend I'll be fielding my Skaven army for the 3rd time this year at a competitive event, while the last 2 outings have yielded a top 10 results I'm hoping for a top5 if not top 3 placing this time!
However this maybe easier said than done, after reviewing the lists released over the weekend I have to say I'm very impressed with the quality and strength of not only the players but their army lists! The majority of the lists are in my opinion optimal the only real question mark I have is how dominating High Elves will actually be, if they get the right match-up's they'll do well but I suspect some may struggle...

My list -

Grey Seer: Dragonbane Gem; Skalm; Fencers Blades; Earthing Rod; Screaming Bell. 535

Chieftain: Storm Banner; Battle Standard.120
Warlock Engineer: Warp-energy Condenser; Doomrocket; Level 1 Wizard; Skaven Spells of Ruin. 115
Warlock Engineer: Dispel Scroll; Ruby Ring Of Ruin; Level 1 Wizard; Skaven Spells of Ruin. 115
Warlock Engineer 15

40 Skavenslaves: Pawleader; Musician. 86
39 Skavenslaves: Pawleader; Musician. 84
39 Skavenslaves: Pawleader; Musician. 84
39 Clanrats: Clawleader; Musician; Standard Bearer; shields. 195.5
29 Clanrats: Clawleader; Musician; Standard Bearer; shields. 150.5

9 Gutter Runners: slings; Poisoned Attacks.162
9 Gutter Runners: slings; Poisoned Attacks.162

Hell Pit Abomination 235
Doom Wheel 150
Warp Lightning Cannon 90
Plagueclaw Catapult 100

2,399 points

Changes from the Horned Rat VI to now:

Biggest changes:

1) Ruby Ring of Ruin - I didn’t realise how much Skaven struggle to deal with regeneration; this seems like a must in every list.
2) Storm Vermin have been replaced, Strength 4 just really isn’t worth the extra points...
3) Gutter Runners have been increased from 7 to 9 again.

Top 5 Army lists for this weekend (in my humble opinion):

5)  Daniel Butler, WoC - I really like this build however my biggest concern is the Lore of Metal on the Lvl4 Daemon Prince. Unfortunately Lore of Metal tends to be very narrow and in general WoC shouldn't have issues dealing with high armoured opponents. I think the biggest issue here is getting bogged down with horde armies.

4)  Joel - Empire, since delving into Empire myself this list looks to be as optimal as possible. 3 Cannons, Hailblaster, S.Tank and lots of 1+ Ar saves with punch (who doesn’t like chicken's) and to round it all off a big Bunker of halberdiers for his General/BS and Mage! I'll be surprised if he doesn't do well.

3) Locky Reid - Skaven, Double Towers.A very solid scary looking Skaven List with all the usual Skaven toys, I've always wanted to try this list but since I don't own plague Furnace I've never bothered.

2) Thomas Van Roekel, Orge Kindgoms - Double Gutstar, 6 Maurfang plus all the usual toys... personally I hope I avoid this list all day otherwise it's going to get ugly!

1) Peter Dunn - Flithy Flithy Skaven, while I'm sure Peter would be modest and say he's only in with an outside on performance alone he has to be the crowd favourite to take out first. For those of you who don't know Pete managed a clean sweep at the last event and from memory was almost 20 points clear of the field at the end of day 2.

Peter's a skilled player, is fielding a very strong Skaven list with all the toys, the only new addition from his previous list I can see is the inclusion of a Rattling Gun! I'll be interested to see how this works out for him over the weekend; if Peter doesn't take first he'll definitely be top 5!


Honorable Mentions

Nick Jebson, Warriors of Chaos - This list has all the toys to do well in my humble opinion ( I did design it, with the exception of a few minor tweaks), 2 tooled out combat daemon princes will definitely catch people off guard! I think this style of list rewards aggressive play and will help Nick be more focused! Nick in my humble opinion is solid player but sometimes throw's his game plan out the window by being TOO defensive (stupid artillery!). This list has punch across the board and essentially 5 combat blocks, I'm hoping to see Nick pull out his first top 10!

Tip:

T1 - March 12 to16inches
T2 Charge with everything!
Nuff said! :)

My only reservation is the fact that he dropped the Enchanted Shield and Lvl2 from his Chaos sorcerer for an extra troll... this seems bad but I'm hoping to be pleasantly wrong!

Sam Whit, Dark Elves - Beautifully painted army's, strong player, I'm sure he'll do well I'm just surprised no double Hydra or Cold One bus but I'm sure he has a master plan involving those 2 assassins! Top 10 at least!

Sam Campbell (aka Mr Shuffles), Daemons of Chaos and my usual Thursday night opponent! Solid mono nurgle list with all the dirtiest toys possible (0 Skill Cannons but unsurprising), GUO, 7 Beasts (way undercosted!!!) will do well and should top 10. What makes me sad however is No Grudge match round one between Fern (aka his wife) and him... what were you thinking Ray!

Sam's Warhammer moto and to quote LMFAO - "Everyday I'm Shuffling!"