Ratmen Tactics

Ratmen

Setting:	Age of Fantasy
Games:	Age of Fantasy, Age of Fantasy: Skirmish, Age of Fantasy: Regiments
Species:	Ratmen
Version:	v2.50

Note: as v2.50 is in constant development the following might not be accurate.

Why Play Ratmen

The ratmen are legions. You are in command or entire hordes of piddly rats, but you will drown the enemy with these bodies. Even more convenient is that you have special forces: Sneaky assassins and plenty of guns and monsters. You can synergize between these forces to build your own armies.

Pros:

Hordes of rats
Decent access to monsters and war machines.

Cons:

Squads are quite puny in comparison.

Army Special Rules

Wizard Spells

Filth (4+): Target friendly unit within 12” gets Poison for their melee attacks, which is quite a potent tool when you utilize them on the hordes.
Cracks (4+): Target enemy model within 12” takes 2 automatic hit with AP(1). Pretty much meant to snipe out key command group elements on foes.
Sickness (5+): Target enemy unit within 12” gets -1 to hit next time it shoots. Considering how flimsy your troops are, you'll be wanting to protect them at any point.
Lightning (5+): Target enemy unit within 12” take 1 hits with Deadly(3) AP(4) each. Sadly this can't nail heroes, but it can break enemy monsters and vehicles.
Frenzy (6+): Target friendly unit within 12” may immediately move by up to 6”. An absolutely useful tool for getting into melee ASAP.
Pestilence (6+): Target enemy unit within 6” takes 6 automatic hits, making it absolutely useful for enemy mobs like goblins.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Battlemaster: The big rat in charge. They're sporting a +4/+4 statline, but like most hero units the reason you're including them is for their optional buffs.
- Assassin gives Takedown. While takedown only works once it's useful if there's a particular hero based buff you NEED gone.
- Engineer is universally useful, as it's a chance to give any unit applicable unit access to Ambush. Get those storm veterans where you need fast!
- Warlock is +1 AP, which is just universally useful, however it tends to work out best on units with lower AP than higher.
- Army Standard Bearer is great for winning fights you really shouldn't have. This works best when faced off against armies with poor quality.
- Captain is what you need if you want your Militia to stick around beyond their first combat round. This is also useful for your rank and file warriors as well.
- Mounts: Your Battlemaster has three options for mounted combat. The rat ogre is a decent enough combat upgrade, but for ten points more the throne provides the same amount of tough and an extra attack with rending. They're mostly equivalent just a matter of preference. The Great Beast means the Battlemaster can no longer join other units, but it becomes a much stronger individual combatant with 9 tough, +1 defense, and a a boost to speed and number of attacks.
- Pet Giant Rat is a small upgrade but potentially very useful. Preventing enemies from getting within charging range does some serious work, though remember it's measured from the Hero's model, not from the unit.

Champion: The champion is closer to your standard ratman in terms of stats, being only a +5/+5. You're once again picking this guy for his upgrades, rather than his stats. He shares some upgrades with the Battlemaster and his statline doesn't really change anything, so assume those upgrades are the same unless otherwise noted.
- Priest and Master Priest are the unique upgrades worth noting on the Champion. Both turn them into a spellcaster, just of different power levels. Having at least one caster is always useful, if only for negating enemy spell effects.

Infantry

Militia: Untrained and poorly armed units. They're cheap so you can spam them, and they come with slings to pepper the enemy with. They're fodder to draw fire away from your better units, and to tie up your opponents heavy hitters.
Warriors: Your average ratmen, slightly better off than the Militia with a 5+ quality and defense as well as the ability to improve their melee potential with the average list of weapons. On top of that, you can also include...
- Weapons Teams: The heavy weapons rats, and one model is available as a hanger-on for a pack of warriors or storm troopers. By default, each comes with a gatling gun for rapid-fire at a good range. If you're planning on a purely melee hanger-on for a mob, you can swap that gun for a death ball for Impact(3) - it's next-to useless for a gang of heavy weapons rats. If you want something better-suited for heavy infantry, than you could grab the flamethrower for shorter range but AP(1). The poison mortar gives a long-ranged blast weapon with Poison, but Indirect will likely keep them at range. The only paid option is the Tunnel Drill, a weapon that grants Ambush to the unit and is thus quite handy for a surprise flanking unit.
Storm Veterans: Slightly more elite warriors with 4+ quality/defense and halberds for Rending. They can be upgraded with Heavy weapons to be more targeted for monster slaying. They're more likely to be a trade piece than anything else.
Night Scouts: Dual weapons and 4+ quality so they can hit hard against low defense units. They have the scout ability so they can begin combat that much sooner. On top of that, they can have Stealth for protection, giving them a little protection as they close the gap. They have quite a few decent ranged options, as well as smoke bombs to make them a bit sturdier. They're best used to dictate the early game through their superior positioning. Extremely useful against lightly armored units.
Monks: A band of zealots, each carrying a poisoned censer flail and Furious to make extra use of it during the charge. If you dislike the odds associated with Poison you could instead buy paired weapons. Beyond that they're fairly weak and cheap, another excellent trade piece, though unlike storm veterans they're best used against lightly armored foes.
Grenadiers: A pack of warriors carrying grenades for an Indirect shooting attack. Fortunately, they have the Expert Thrower rule, which lets them throw grenades without any penalties for moving. They're great if you plan on having a strong and cheap front line of units to protect them while they throw from close behind.
Snipers: One of the few sniper units in Fantasy, these are best utilized to take down units like Banner Carriers and Musicans that provide buffs to their whole unit. In a pinch they can also be used to take down heroes, though it will likely take more than a few turns.
Rat Swarms: A pack of disposable rats, which is a weird thing to hear with militia also competing for that role. However, the swarms carry Tough in order to mess with any Blast weapons and Fast to get to the enemy faster. You can also buy a rat master for Fearless, providing a slightly better morale check. Unlike the militia they can ambush, meaning that they can be used to tie up and fatigue units you wouldn't be able to reach.
Giant Rats: An extremely mobile unit with quality and defense of 5+. While not quite as useful as Night Scouts for dictating the early game, Fast and Strider make them excellent for seizing objectives or keeping up pressure.
Rat Ogres: A pack of monstrous creatures, keyed exclusively for melee. They come with some mighty rending attacks and Furious to make charges even deadlier. They can also buy rat masters for Fearless, which they might need to keep together before they get into combat. They're ideal for sitting on the front line, both receiving and dealing out decent amounts of damage.
Storm Ogres: While looking as just costlier and heavier-armored rat ogres by default, they get even more options than their peers. When it comes to weapons, drill fists are anti-tough with their Deadly (3), making them an excellent choice for countering heavy infantry. Shock fists are better for a well rounded approach. Roller fists have Lance, which makes them one of your few sources of potential AP4 and ideal monster killers. The ranged options are somewhat lacking due to not synergizing with furious. Flame-fists provide a decently-ranged bundle of shots to cull herds. The gatling guns turns them into a super-armored gunline. Poison mortar gauntlets give you a man-sized artillery option with a durable body, though Indirect will limit their positioning.

Monsters & Vehicles

Giant Rat Beast: A massive flailing mess of AP(1) attacks. While its quality is a bit poor at 4+, it's got a LOT of attacks and Fear can help it crush a unit if beats in combat. Its chief role is being the big distraction, protected by Tough(6), Regeneration and a 2+ defense, making it nigh-impossible to actually harm.
Death Wheel: A far more mobile battletank. This is your only vehicle with Fast, and with Impact(9), it can make its mark fairly easily on the charge. It also makes its mark by being the only vehicle that can shoot with an AP(2) lightning bolt made for damaging other vehicles.

Chariots

Censer Chariot: A roving assault tank, protected by a 2+ defense and Tough(6). Its only means of attack is a giant censer, dumping a literal barrage of AP(2) Poison attacks that can crush hordes and monsters alike. Even monsters will need to be careful from these attacks. If you want to give more roles for this, you can buy a wizard to make this thing cast.
Bell Chariot: This thing has some attacks to defend itself in a fight, but its real purpose is its Unholy Bell. This gives the chariot a random boost between either a speed boost and Impact(6), the ability to grant two friendly units within 12" with an extra attack on the charge (And thus able to stack Furious units), or dealing 6 hits to two enemy units within 12". While all of these buffs are useful, the randomness does hurt. If you want, you can buy a wizard for this chariot as well and potentially help overcome 1/3 of those random options.

Artillery

Poison Catapult: This long-range catapult has your only source of Blast(6) with Poison on top, though it will only see use against mobs with its lack of AP. Buying the poison cannon will deck that Blast to 3, but will offer a mighty AP(3) to crush cavalry and elite units.

Ratmen Tactics

Contents

Why Play Ratmen

Army Special Rules

Wizard Spells

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Infantry

Monsters & Vehicles

Chariots

Artillery

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Tactics

See Also

Navigation menu

Ratmen Tactics

Why Play Ratmen

Army Special Rules

Wizard Spells

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Infantry

Monsters & Vehicles

Chariots

Artillery

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Tactics

See Also

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