Warcry/Tactics/Skaven
Praise the Great Horned Rat. Rules writers allowed Skaven to descend upon the Eightpoints with lots of options for cheap chaff ready to die for your under-costed big hitters. Yes yes.
Faction Overview
Pros
- Extra Fast: While most quick warbands have 5" movement, Skaven have a extra 1" over them.
- Versatility: has cheap rats to big brutes to brute with machine guns.
- Strong Synergies: This warband gets a lot of its strength from unit combos.
Cons
- Many Squishy Units: If it's not a rat ogre, Storm Fiend, or a Stormvermin, it's going to die to anything your opponent dedicates to it. Some models might go down fighting, but try to kite things out to avoid on-kill ability triggers from snowballing your opponent.
- Obvious Targets: This warband has a few key models that will draw a lot of attention from opponents that have fallen victim to tricks like a 2x packmaster both popping Crack The Whip on a rat ogre or storm fiend in the turn it charges their leader...
Abilities Overview
- [Double] Scurry Away: (Agile Units: Clanrats, Plague Monks, Gutter Runners, Pack Masters, Giant Rats). A fighter can use this ability only if they are within 3" of an enemy fighter. Roll a dice. On a 4+, this fighter makes a bonus disengage action.
- Fighter Commentary -
- [Double] Crack the Whip: Pack Master only. Pick a visible friendly fighter with the Beast runemark within 4" of this fighter. That fighter makes a bonus attack action that has a Range characteristic of 3 or less.
- Fighter Commentary -
- [Double] Hired Bodyguard: Non-leader Stormvermin only. Until the end of the battle round, friendly fighters with the Leader runemark cannot be targeted while they are within 1" of this fighter.
- Fighter Commentary -
- Consume Warpstone Token (Double, Grey Seer): A chance to power up the damage on ranged attacks (or self-inflict damage).
- Warp Lightning (Double, all Warlocks): Damage up to 6 enemies in a chain for 1 Wound each.
- Flesh-mend (Double, Master Moulder): Heal up to 3 Wounds to a nearby fighter with the Beast runemark (Rat Ogor or Giant Rat, but also the Thralls Razorgor or Chaos Warhound).
- [Triple] Crushing Charge: Rat Ogors and Stormfiends only. Until the end of this fighter's activation, the next time this fighter finishes a move action within 1" of an enemy fighter, pick a visible enemy fighter within 1" of this fighter. Allocate a number of damage points to that fighter equal to the value of this ability.
- Fighter Commentary -
- [Triple] Lead from the Back: Leader only. Until the end of the battle round, add half the value of this ability (rounding up) to the Attacks characteristic of attack actions that have a Range characteristic of 3 or less made by other friendly fighters while they are within 3" of this fighter.
- Fighter Commentary -
- Poisonous Fumes (Triple, Plague Censer Bearer): Chance to damage up to 3 Wounds to nearby enemies.
- Running Death (Triple, Deathmaster and Nightleader): Perform a bonus Move or Disengage action and add +1 to your damage on critical hits.
- [Quad] Recite from the Book of Woes: Bringer-of-the-Word only. Until the end of the battle round, enemy fighters cannot use abilities while they are within 3" of this fighter.
- Fighter Commentary -
- [Quad] Expend Warpstone Spark Canister (all Warlocks, Skryre Acolyte, Warplock Jezzail, Warpfire Thrower, Warp-grinder and Doom-Flayer): Roll a number of dice equal to the value of this ability. For each roll of 1, deal 1 point of damage to this fighter. For each 4+, add 1 to damage dealt to enemy fighters using the Magic attack in the next attack action..
Fighter's Overview
Leader
Clans Verminus
Clanrat Clawleader
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 16; 145 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, Agile
- Weapons:
- Dagger-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- The cheapest of the leader options. For -5 points you lose the [Quad] Ability Recite from the Book of Woes, but otherwise have an identical stat line to the Bringer of the Word.
Clawlord
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 20; 180 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, Agile
- Weapons:
- sword-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 2/6
- Fighter Commentary- Upgrade on Clawleader with +1 Strength and +2 crit damage. still not the strongest fighter but still good.
Stormvermin Fangleader
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 20; 170 Pts.
- Rule: Leader
- Weapons:
- Dagger-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- The standout leader for cost effective damage output and survivability. For +20 points you lose the Quad Ability Recite from the Book of Woes and the Double Ability Scurry Away, but gain 4w and 1 strength. Point for point, the Fangleader has the edge in offense and defense over the other two options against Toughness 3 and 4 enemies, but loses out on the utility of the Skaven specific abilities.
Clans Pestilens
Bringer-of-the-Word
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 16; 150 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, Agile, Priest
- Weapons:
- Dagger-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- The Standout utility option. For +5 points you gain the Quad Ability Recite from the Book of Woes. This adds some great flexibility with the potential for your leader to shut off key turns for an opponent, but don't rely on the chance of rolling a quad, or expect him to stick around for long without support on the turn you use that ability since the easiest way to negate the effects are to either walk away from him or if that isn't an option, to kill him outright.
Plague Priest
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 20; 180 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, Agile, Priest
- Weapons:
- Staff-Range 2"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary-
Clan Esher
Nightleader
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 16; 165 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, scout
- Weapons:
- Dagger-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
- Ranged-Range 8"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
- Fighter Commentary- your cheap Esher with close and long-range capabilities. not good expect dicounting for a themed warbanded.
Deathmaster
- Stats: Movement 7"; Toughness 3; Wounds 20; 200 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, scout
- Weapons:
- Dagger-Range 1"; Attacks 5; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
- Ranged-Range 8"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
- Fighter Commentary- Your most expensive leader. Dose well as a killer, having a Running Death triple, making it very mobile and extra damage.
Master Moulder
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 20; 140 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, Agile, Frenzied
- Weapons:
- Spear-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
- Whip-Range 3"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
- Fighter Commentary- a leader version of the Packmaster. not only improve the combat performance of beast fighters but also heal up to 3 beasts with a '[Double]'. Fragile but Skaven are good at not getting into unfavorable conflicts. Consider if your running a Beast-themed Warband.
Clan Skryre Warlocks
Gettgin the [quad] Expand Warpstone Spark Canister, do greatly increase thier damage. also get [Double] Warp Lightning to deal lost of damageto hoard style warbands.
Warlock Engineer
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 20; 165 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, Agile, Destroyer
- Weapons:
- sword-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
- Ranged-Range 8"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
- Fighter Commentary- cheapest of Skryre, able to harras at all ranges while being ok in melee.
Warlock Bombardier
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 20; 170 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, Agile, Destroyer
- Weapons:
- spear-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
- Ranged-Range 3-15"; Attacks 2; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- for +5pts more gets better range attack, but worse in melee.
Arch-Warlock
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 20; 185 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, Agile, Destroyer
- Weapons:
- spear-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 5; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- The melee fighter, still fragile like most Skaven but wounding most enemies on 3s. Skryre abilities complement his melee game.
Grey Seer
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 20; 175 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, Agile, Mystic
- Weapons:
- Arcane Bolt-Range 3-7"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 3/6
- staff-Range 2"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
- Fighter Commentary- Mage and use [Double] Consuming Warpstone Token to amp up his range damage at the cost herting himself while being fragile.
Fighter
Clan Rats
A defining aspect of Skaven, a base of 6" on a grunt is fast an even for other speed factions. 4 Toughness will let you hold objectives for a while but 8 Wounds get used up quickly.
Clanrat with Rusty Spear and Clanshield
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 8; 75 Pts.
- Rule: Agile
- Weapons:
- Spear-Range 2"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
- Fighter Commentary- Your standard 2" attack.
Clanrat with Rusty Blade and Clanshield
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 8; 75 Pts.
- Rule: Agile
- Weapons:
- Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
- Fighter Commentary- Your standard 1" attack.
Plague Rats
For -5 Points you gain a 1 attack, gain 1 Damage on Crits and lose 1 Toughness compared to the equivalent clanrat. they are some of your cheapest offensive power. Mix at least one in for every clanrat if not going Beast spam.
Plague Monk with Woe-Stave and Foetid Blade
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 8; 70 Pts.
- Rule: Agile
- Weapons:
- club-Range 2"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/5
- Fighter Commentary- Gets range and strong crit damage.
Plague Monk with Pair of Foetid Blades
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 8; 70 Pts.
- Rule: Agile
- Weapons:
- Dagger-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
- Fighter Commentary- goes close up with a extra attack
Plague Monk with Censer Bearer
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 8; 90 Pts.
- Rule: Agile
- Weapons:
- Flail-Range 2"; Attacks 3; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- elite, combines the reach and has better strength and normal damage. compined with the Triple makes it the most damage dealer of the Plague Monks.
Stormvermin
Elite rats, they could be good to protect any leader with [Double] Hired Bodyguard. They do inflict more damage then clan rats, but 2 more wounds is not that much more durable.
Stormvermin with Halberd
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 10; 105 Pts.
- Rule: Elite
- Weapons:
- Spear-Range 2"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- with only 10 wounds, both stormvermin varients go down in a couple activations meaning the extra attack outweighs the extra toughness 9 times out of 10.
Stormvermin with Halberd and Clanshield
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 5; Wounds 10; 115 Pts.
- Rule: Elite
- Weapons:
- Spear-Range 2"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- is T5 hopfualy to protect the leader for longer from normal attacks.
Clan Eshen
Night Runner
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 8; 75 Pts.
- Rule: Agile
- Weapons:
- Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
- Ranged-Range 8"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 1/2
- Fighter Commentary- your cheapest Ranged harrassed fighter. For the same points as a clan rat you gain a low damage ranged 8" attack but lose 1 Toughness.
Gutter Runner
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 10; 95 Pts.
- Rule: Agile
- Weapons:
- Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
- Ranged-Range 8"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
- Fighter Commentary- upgrade on Night Runner for 20pts more to be slightly better in melee and better crits.
Clan Skryre
All sharing the [quad] ability Expand Warpstone Spark Canister, making Skryre fighter high damage dealers at cost of inflicting damage to self. no remarkable defense but very killy.
Skryre Acolyte
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 8; 105 Pts.
- Rule: Agile, Destroyer
- Weapons:
- Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 1/2
- Ranged-Range 3-6"; Attacks 1; Strength 4; Damage 3/6
- Fighter Commentary- Your cheapest range unit, gets a high damage single damage attacks.
Warpfire Thrower
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 12; 105 Pts.
- Rule: Destroyer
- Weapons:
- Ranged-Range 8"; Attacks 3; Strength 4; Damage 1/4
- Fighter Commentary- Invers of aclulite, Ranged fire power to thwor a flurry of dice.
Warp-Grinder
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 12; 120 Pts.
- Rule: Destroyer
- Weapons:
- Spear-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 5; Damage 2/5
- Fighter Commentary- cheaper slower Doom-Flayer with +1 crit damage.
Doom-Flayer
- Stats: Movement 7"; Toughness 4; Wounds 18; 175 Pts.
- Rule: Agile, Destroyer, Mount
- Weapons:
- Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 5; Strength 5; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- Biker Mice
from Marson diceing machine. Gets lots of attacks for being Skyer, while also getting the ability to also Scurry.
Warplock Jezzail
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 12; 165 Pts.
- Rule: Destroyer
- Weapons:
- Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 1/2
- Ranged-Range 6-20"; Attacks 1; Strength 4; Damage 4/10
- Fighter Commentary- Great thing of Super long range, just have a line if sight to unload.
Clan Molder
Speclized in beast warbands. they get the cheapest fighter while also getting big Rat Ogors, and maximizing the damage they produce. also work when allieing in other beast fighters like Razorgors
Packmaster
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 8; 65 Pts.
- Rule: Agile, Frenzied
- Weapons:
- Fangs-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
- Ranged-Range 3"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/2
- Fighter Commentary- For -10 Points compared to the equivalent clanrat you gain a 3" attack profile, gain the Double ability Crack the Whip and lose 1 Toughness. They pair very well with Beasts.
Giant Rat
- Stats: Movement 8"; Toughness 2; Wounds 4; 35 Pts.
- Rule: Agile, Beast
- Weapons:
- Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
- Fighter Commentary- They are fast-moving beasts and the cheapest fighter in the game. You can steal the action economy by just spamming but their durability could hurt you, in the long run, depending on the mission. Can get a bonus attack from [Double] Crack the Whip but you should be saving those for your Rat Ogors when possible...
Rat Ogors
Rat Ogor with Tearing Claws
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 4; Wounds 30; 225 Pts.
- Rule: Beast, Brute
- Weapons:
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- +1 attack action within 3", when within 4" of a Packmaster on a Double...
Rat Ogor with Warpfire Gun
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 4; Wounds 30; 235 Pts.
- Rule: Beast, Brute
- Weapons:
- Ranged-Range 3-8"; Attacks 2; Strength 5; Damage 3/6
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 4; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- +10 points for +1 attack action within 3", when within 4" of a Packmaster on a Double... sacrifices 2 Attacks per action within 3" for an 3-8" attack Profile. Sadly the Crack the Whip ability only works on the 1" claw attacks and not the warp fire ranged attack.
Stormfiend
The biggest of Rats, Toughness 5 and 35 wounds with a lot of profiles. but the pricing of 265Pts will mean its only practical to take one. So think about your Warband's needs.
Stormfiend with Warpfire Projectors'
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 5; Wounds 35; 265 Pts.
- Rule: Brute
- Weapons:
- Ranged-Range 3-8"; Attacks 2; Strength 5; Damage 3/6
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 4; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- Spending +20 points on a Rattling cannon is a good idea.
Stormfiend with Shock Gauntlets
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 5; Wounds 35; 265 Pts.
- Rule: Brute
- Weapons:
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 4/10
- Fighter Commentary- Less attacks than the Doomflayer Gauntlets... the extra 2 Damage on a crit hit do not make up for less attacks.
Stormfiend with Ratling Cannons
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 5; Wounds 35; 285 Pts.
- Rule: Brute
- Weapons:
- Ranged-Range 3-10"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 4; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- The most expensive model for good reason.
Stormfiend with Grinderfists
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 5; Wounds 35; 265 Pts.
- Rule: Brute
- Weapons:
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 5; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- Less attacks than the Doomflayer Gauntlets... But +1 Strength.
Stormfiend with Doomflayer Gauntlets
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 5; Wounds 35; 265 Pts.
- Rule: Brute
- Weapons:
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 5; Strength 4; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- Statistically more attacks is better than more strength unless fighting Stormcast and even then if they have shields its all the same in the end.
Stormfiend with Windlaunchers
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 5; Wounds 35; 265 Pts.
- Rule: Brute
- Weapons:
- Ranged-Range 3-20"; Attacks 2; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 4; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- If there is no terrain on the table this could be worth the points....
Minions, Thralls, and Allies
General Tactics
Skaven are in general very fragile but have a great damage output. Because of their Cheap points cost the average rat is quite expendable, and a good general will make use of this. It is completely acceptable to sacrifice models to win the game overall. Many turns the correct tactical move is to double move multiple models to claim objectives or deny an enemy their optimal action. Double move a model into base to base contact with a strong ranged unit so that it can't shoot at important targets and is forced to waste a turn disentangling itself. Rush a fast objective grabber with some models so that it has to disengage, fight a pointless fight, or eat an attack for trying to move away without disengage. Block up a choke point with a rat so that enemies either have to take the long way around or waste a turn stopping to squish it. You will lose many models, but win the game. Life is cheap, objectives and glory are the real prize.
The stand out leader for utility is the Bringer-of-the-Word, while the standout leader for cost effectiveness is the Fangleader. The Bringer-of-the-Word is the only leader to benefit from all the abilities available to a Skaven leader and is still pretty points efficient. The Fangleader is more points efficient in terms of damage output and survivability but gives up scurry away and recite from the book of woe.
The stand out Fighter is the Plague Monk due to points efficiency, +1 attack,-1 toughness, and -5 points compared to clan rats are a better choice. 1 attack is more statistically valuable than 1 toughness.
The Night Runner comes with an extremely weak ranged option, but can be the ideal choice against slower warbands without ranged options where it can kite enemies and still get in a bit of damage each turn. If you don't think you are going to be making use of the 8" range on those 1 damage per attack throwing stars you may as well take clanrats for the extra toughness... or more plague monks for the avalanche of cost effective attacks.
The Stormvermin with Halberd is neat but not overly point efficient. Both options only have the wounds to survive a handful of hits so the extra attack is probably more useful than the extra toughness of the shield.
The Rat Ogre is an absolute beast, and synergizes to become even more effective with a packmaster. The ranged ogre has changed to 30w in the 26/02/2020 Errata. People think less of it because of the decreased close combat damage over its ranged counterpart, but it is still no slouch. An interesting consideration is that crack the whip is stackable and can be used for each packmaster that burns a double if you wanted. This lets you more easily take advantage of redundancy in a Moulder focused lists with multiple ogers and packmasters.
Giant Rats are very points efficient but could easily give away win conditions dependent on kills as they are extremely fragile.
Stormfiend with Rattling gun statistically performs the best of the ranged profiles but it is dependent on terrain and enemy movement speed. The Doomflayer Gauntlets and Windlaunchers perform better in CQC and high visibility low movement speed scenarios respectively. Your local meta will dictate what is most useful.
Other Helpful Tips
Skaven now have a Warcry boxed set that includes the rat ogre, giant rat, and pack master box contents along with the clanrat box, and the warcry Skaven cards. For roughly a 30% discount on the models alone this box is a great deal, but not the only way you can get into Warcry Skaven.
A single box of Plague Monks provides everything you need to run a perfectly fine (maybe a little one note) pestilens warband. Plague monks are fast, hard hitting, and pretty cheap, which actually makes this a relatively strong list for the cost of a single box.
Alternatively, Spiteclaw's Swarm, and a box of Rat Ogres is also a great place to get started (Just make sure if you are running Skritch as a Stormvermin Fangleader or Clanrat Clawleader that you put him on a smaller base to match his demoted military rank as his normal base is Clawlord sized; if you want to run him as a Clawlord Ally instead and use another model as your leader, this is a non issue)! As many players may have been introduced to Skaven with Spiteclaw's Swarm this is probably one of the easiest ways to pivot into Warcry while still making use of the models you have.
The Skaven start collecting set can be used as a good base for your warband while simultaneously getting you started in Age of Sigmar. For this option you will need to pick up some extra bases in addition to what comes in the set. From the kit you can then build more plague monks than you will need in Warcry, a handful of counts as giant rats, and if you build the plague furnace option instead of the screaming bell from the multipart kit you will be able to convert an extra grey seer, and a pair of Rat Ogres with very little trouble. You also get a cannon/catapult that is not for Warcry. This option does require a little more advanced knowledge of the hobby since it requires extra purchases and some conversion work, so it isn't recommended for someone who has never played a Games Workshop game before, but for someone looking to pick up a Skaven Warcry Warband in addition to their existing army this is an option for an all in one place starter.
Example Builds
Close Combat focused mixed list:
- Stormvermin Fangleader
- 6x Plague Monks (daggers)
- 1x Rat Ogre (claws)
- 1x Packmaster
- 3x Giant Rats
Ranged focused mixed list:
- Bringer-of-the-Word
- 5x Night Runners
- 1x Plague Monks (daggers)
- 1x Packmaster
- 1x Rat Ogor (ranged)
- 3x Giant Rats
The Thirteen - thematic Pestilens 1 box warband (plague monk kit):
- Bringer-of-the-Word
- 12x Plague Monks (daggers/woe staves)
Spiteclaw's Swarm with Rat Ogre kit example list:
- Stormvermin Fangleader
- 1x Clanrat (spear and shield)
- 1× Clanrat (sword and shield)
- 1× Night Runners
- 1× Rat Ogre (claws)
- 1× Rat Ogre (ranged)
- 1x Packmaster
- 2× Giant Rats
Warcry Tactics | |
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Grand Alliance: Chaos | |
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Grand Alliance: Death | |
Grand Alliance: Destruction | |
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Monsters & Mercenaries |