my oldest one is now starting ratkin and got the army box, the demon spawn, hackpacks, a death engine and some heroes (just bought the stuff he liked or thought interesting)
we already started with some conversions and because we both play Deadzone as well, are not short of rats and bits and are going to use any leftover for the other game
the big plan is to have the army build and painted for the local CoK next year
as my experience is based on a more aggressive playstyle with elite lists I am not sure if the list will work that way and testing it just against each other does not say much for now
some obvious changes would be to save some points by taking Brood Mother instead of Mother Cryza and removing the Plague Pots to get another Vermintide unit in, or spend the points on BaneChant instead of Pods
Also not sure about the Brute Enforcer and if another hero might be better
Lots of good stuff happening, plus tons of variety. The Brute Enforcer is a great hero, I’d keep him around, and Cryza is so good, such a toolbox. You’re really only missing out on points and Eat the Weak by taking her over a standard mom, and I don’t think the list is really built for Eating to sustain.
I do think you could lose the pots on the regiments and put those 30 points to better use. Bane Chant on Cryza would be nice (I’m wondering how often it gets cast tho? Probably only if you can grab a flank that she’s nearby, since you aren’t using Shock Troop hordes), or elite on the Nightmares to combo with their vicious, or maybe something punchy for the mounted Warlord (BOTBS?) or helpful for the Hackpaws (Strider Boots? TC Helm?) or so on.
Plague Pots would free 30-45 points, this could be Striders for the Hackpaws + BaneChant for either Cryza or the Lute for the mounted Warchief or Brute Enforcer
I don’t play a lot with ratkin but my advice would be to upgrade shock troops to horde; they are amazing plus the ralling aura is fantastic (indeed I usually play 3 hordes: shock troops, warriors and spear warriors to grant the ralling +2 to basically all the army). And always with the plague pots. They are just the best army special rule.
Also for the tiny points increase I would upgrade also the tunnel runers to Regiment (for barely 40 extra points you almost double the number of attacks) becoming that unit into a big threat. And, of course, with the boots of strider.
Finally I would rethink including the shredders. Even with the improvement of COK22 they are barely worthless. Point per point the cost is not justified. I prefer to include a second death engine spewer. Moreover, as it is H5 you can play them just behing the infantry hordes without the penalty of cover and shooting at pleasure knowing they are inmune to a frontal charge. And in the event the horde is destroyed they can punch a bit in melee.
RE: Shredders, I only consider them myself because the formation buffs to the Spewer are huge … but I have found I always prefer 2x Weapon Teams to 2x Shredders in game. To the point I think they’re too much of a tax to get one really awesome Spewer
