Warhammer Fantasy Battle Reporter Forum

i just versed high elves and killed 7 sword masters in the second turn then whenthe remaining 3 charged me i stood and shot them and killed the last of them

how good is that!?

That's pretty awesome. Starting skaven army of my own and just bought ratling gun today. Any tips.

a few pointers:

- be aware of its short range of 15 inch. Although this is out of charge range of all infantry units, you USUALLY will find yourself WITHIN that charge range most of the time. Decide if a possible charge can or cannor withstand a Stand & Shoot reaction should it be charged. If it can, flee! Hope you flee somewhere near it's parent Clanrat unit to be able to rally again.

- It can be snuffed out EASILY by as few as 5 archers. It has only one wound, and only a 6+ save due to it's cavalry base. mind though, because of this base, that your opponent does not get the penalty for shooting at skirmishers! ouch! So, instead either hide them good in the starting phase of the game, and get them out when they are needful, or make sure that whatever CAN shoot at you, has a more pressing other target to shoot at (like an oncoming unit of infantry)

- Remember that it is Stand OR shoot, so make sure you are in time where you want him to be. I like to look at it like chess: You use this model to guard off a certain area, making sure that MIGHT your opponent get there, he will be shot at mercilessly.

- another nifty trick: scared that a monster, or unit or whatever is going to charge your precious (clanrat) unit, and you cannor get out of the way in time? Place a ratling gun right in the path of charging, forcing him to charge the weapon team, and thus forcing him to eat some warpstone first. If that doens't kill that unit (or make if flee away) h very well will get the team killed anyway, but in the overrun move of that opponent, he will bump into your precious unit, but that fight will not be fought until YOUR next CC phase - enough time to charge one of your other units in the flank of that, deny them ranks and maybe even save the day! Very Skavenlike
Beware though: don't try this with Warpfire Throwers: you will most likely overshoot, or not shoot far enough.

Thanks dims will pay heed to your advice when I get them up and running. Also do you have any effective tactics for warpfire throwers. Any advice would be helpful as I have just returned to the game after 15 years and am pretty much complete novice again.

Just keep the same warnings and tips in mind as with the Ratling Gun.
But:
- Try to get a shot off when you are about 6-8 inch away, that is the best bet to hit your target.
- Make use of the fact that a template only hits what's underneath, so if you are shooting at units in CC, aim the template so that a minimum of your own models are hit. There is NO randomizing between units with this weapon. Make sure though you have LOS to an ENEMY. A lot of players still get that rule wrong where Skaven can shoot into CC - it is not: "May shoot at own units"; you still have to target an enemy unit, but it can be one in CC with your own, and if that kills some of your own models, that's acceptable
- it's preferable to have them shoot big units (due to the template's area of effect), or heavily armed units (-3 armour save), or at units with low leadership (due to the forced panic test). And ofcourse at those few flammable units in the game

It seems like a great and tough weapon, but due to it's high cost and poor survivability, I have a WFT - Ratling gun ratio of 1:2.

Hey Wulfrik, how has your renewed intel on those ratling guns work out for your experiences?