A Plague of Pestilens Counters

We are starting a Path to Glory at the local shop, so my Skaven have been seeing some action lately. One of the things I'm discovering is that there are a lot of different sources for buffing the units, and keeping track of it all can get pretty confusing, especially when the opponent gets a double turn and one of your units gets to fight in three rounds of combat before your hero phase comes around again. There have been many times when I wasn't sure if I was applying a bonus longer than I should have.

I've been "rewiring" my brain to think procedurally in terms of the hero phase:

1. Remove spell counters and buffs that were in play.

2. Make any special moves that occur at the start of the hero phase.

3. Roll for effects that replace models (for the undead).

4. Make any other test that occur in the hero phase.

5. Cast spells.

6. Use the general's command ability.

When it comes to the Clan Pestilens Skaven, it seems that every unit either has or benefits from abilities that give a bonus to the wound roll. And sometimes those abilities are applied to an enemy unit, and sometimes they are applied to a friendly unit.

For example, Plague Priests can Wither an enemy unit, granting +1 to any wound rolls made against it. Plague Monk units have a one-use-only scroll that will also affect an enemy unit, allowing any wound rolls of 1 to be re-rolled against that enemy unit. The Plague Furnace, however, can Bless a single friendly unit, allowing them to re-roll any of their failed wound rolls.

Keeping track of which of these buffs were in play, and which units were benefiting from them was getting pretty confusing, so I put together some counters to make things easier:

 

 

The counters are made from the spare parts from my Plague Monk kits (of which there are plenty), and some plastic wagon wheels. I cut up the wheels to make them appear cracked and broken, with some thin strips of styrene card for the metal bands on the outside. The posts are basswood strips. The scrolls had a hand attached to them, which I filed off. All of the wound-related counters are all topped with warpstone, and the one marking the Rabid Frenzy ability from the Plague Furnace is topped with a smoking censor, taken from the furnace kit.

 

The counters were painted up in an afternoon, with a quick drybrushing of browns. The metal bits were picked out with silver and then everything was washed with brown ink. The scrolls were based with P3 Rucksack Tan, then highlightd up using P3 Moldy Ochre, and GW Screaming Skull. The markings, which took the longest, were painted with a fine brush and black india ink.

 

That ought to make things easier to keep track of during the game. We'll see how it goes.

'Til next time!