For spells you get dreaded warpgale, a CV8 spell with an 18” range that does d6 mortal wounds and halves the target unit’s run and charge rolls and switches off fly. That’s amazing, but CV8 with maybe a +1 from arcane terrain is not happening as often as you’d like. Finally, the Warpseer gets +1 to its save from its scry orb, which you can sacrifice to throw at an enemy unit within 13” and do d6 mortal wounds. In reality, Thanquol’s spellcasting job is to get out endless spells. In particular, he’s an incredible user of the Lauchon the Soulseeker endless spell, as his base is comically tiny and fits within the Lauchon bubble, letting Thanquol move 18” via Lauchon and then move again in your own hero phase. Contents: 1 x Oldblood on Carnosaur (Hero), 12 x Saurus Warriors (Battleline in units of 10) and 8 x Saurus Knights (Battleline in units of 5)

Even for your Gal Vets, this can still get more models fighting when the proverbial hits the fan and you find yourself in those weird combat formations that inevitably happens in AoS. The Great ClansThere are plenty of other options, of course. As you build your army, explore how you want to play and figure out what works for you. The Battlewagon. The big lumbering behemoth tank for the orks and also a very useful transport with its transport capacity of 20. It is pretty though and has a load of guns and weapons. While overall its shooting in Gunwagon configuration leaves a bit to be desired, Battlewagons work great as mobile open-topped firing platforms or as melee push threats in their Bonebreaka configuration. All three versions can be built from the same box.

Accelerated Regeneration – changes the Hell Pit’s d3 wound hero phase heal to work in every hero phase, not just yours. The default defensive profile of the Hell Pit is so poor there’s a big worry here that you just lose it before this gets to proc too many times. The most expensive (by a whisker) Verminlord and probably the one you’ll see most often. The Deceiver has a very welcome rend -3 on its melee weapon and a d6 shot Doomstar missile weapon that can do mortal wounds on 6s to hit. The Deceiver is your alpha-strike Verminlord of choice and has three abilities geared around making that happen.

Summary

Blistervous, the Living Cyst – Strikes-first for the bearer if they charge. If you’ve got more than one Pestilens hero then from battle round two this artefact will start bouncing between them, which is not ideal for a subfaction with a Priest who doesn’t really want to be in melee. If you’re just running a solo Corruptor then it’ll stay with them, but then why are you running a solo corruptor? Shadow Magnet Trinket – Up front, it’s weird to me that the assassin subfaction gets no damage boost artefacts, but here we are. Three quite techy once-per-game options. For once-per-game, these are all OK. The Shadow Magnet Trinket gets activated at the start of any combat phase and gives the bearer the strike-first effect until your next hero phase. As we will see, Deceivers like going first quite a lot. They’re OK, but get overlooked by the sheer weight of the Skaven catalogue (and those awful minis don’t help either). You’re getting half as many per unit as Clanrats but for 10 points less. They’re a bit faster, a bit squishier and might do a smattering of mortal wounds. Really you’re taking these for two reasons: you’re pure Eshin and need something to hide a Deathmaster in, or you’re specifically buying their pre-game move. Pre-game moves are absolutely fantastic, but this is a 2d6” move so far less reliable than other armies can achieve out of the same mechanic. Gutter Runners Shadowmaster – Stops your general from being targeted by missile weapons if they’re more than 9” from the enemy. The Deceiver has this on their warscroll and Deathmasters can deploy inside your units, so the very specific niche for this ability is if you want to deploy your Deathmaster on the board (and then presumably teleport them via gnawhole or Skitterleap) and you are too high drop to be able to protect them from ranged alpha strikes. It’s very niche, but it’s there if that’s what you want to do.