Clan Moulder

"'Yes-yes Warlord Krizk - for a treaty-pledge of just 200 Slaves, 12 claws of warptokens, a Breeder and certain alliances and pledges, one of our very-very finest Clan Moulder Rat Ogres can be yours...'"
 * —Clan Moulder Haggle-master

Clan Moulder is a playable Skaven faction introduced in Total War: Warhammer II. It is led by Throt the Unclean and can be found in the northeastern parts of the Old World in the Mortal Empires campaign and in the very northern parts of Naggaroth in the Eye of the Vortex campaign.

Background
Clan Moulder is one of the Four Great Skaven Clans which specializes in the mastery of breeding, mutating, and surgically creating some of the most horrific and fearsome war-beasts to have ever existed. Such is the demand for these ferocious creations that Clan Moulder is one of the wealthiest of all Skaven Clans. While many are jealous of Clan Moulder's might, few dare to openly challenge them, not when the clan can field an entire army of grotesquely mutated war-beasts.

The loathsome stronghold of Clan Moulder, known as Hell Pit, lies deep within the Northern Wastes. The many foul creatures that roam this land provide the raw material used in the clan's breeding pits, skin forges, and flesh laboratories. The Clan Moulder spine-rune is a common brand amongst the clan's Packmasters, as are symbols of the glowing-green rat, and crude renderings of the whips and prodders used to goad the beasts that have made the clan infamous.

Indeed, the respect and awe the other Clans feel towards Clan Moulder is well-deserved. Their twisted creations enhanced Moulder’s prestige and influence in the Under-Empire, but it is whispered amongst the other Skaven that this Clan plots something else, something far more dangerous and sinister. Whatever it is, none can say with authority, but the sudden surge of new and terrifying creations spilling out from Hell Pit has more than one Skaven Clan nervous.

The ratmen of Clan Moulder are responsible for monstrosities such as:


 * Wolf Rats
 * Wolf Rats (Poison)
 * Brood Horrors
 * Rat Ogres
 * Mutant Rat Ogres
 * Bonebreakers
 * Hell Pit Abominations

Faction Effects

 * Suitable Climate: Frozen
 * Has access to Clan Moulder Flesh Laboratory
 * Hitpoints +10% (all characters)
 * Immune to mountain attrition
 * Construction cost -50% for Breeding Stock, Pits of the Packmasters, Force-Feeding Chambers and Laboratory buildings
 * Has access to a special Hero, Ghoritch.

Vortex Victory

 * Complete The Ultimate Harvest final battle
 * Defeat the Sisters of Twilight and conquer the Witchwood

Starting territory

 * Mortal Empires
 * Hell Pit


 * Eye of the Vortex
 * The Chill Road (Atorak)

Diplomacy
Vortex: Starts at war with Ghrond

Mortal Empires: Starts at war with Kraka Drak

Eye of the Vortex (before Twisted and Twilight):

 * Spineless
 * Ruin-Dweller

Dynamic Vortex Start
When playing as Clan Moulder in Vortex, the factions present in Naggarond change dramatically. Additional Wood Elf factions occupy settlements around the region which must be taken out to disrupt Ariel's ritual. Each ritual location that is taken will prompt a retaliatory force from The Witchwood.

Wood Elf factions:


 * Avengers of Allisara
 * Masque of Loec
 * Greenbeard's Wargrove

Strategy
In Vortex, the player spawns in the far north of Naggaroth, close to Malekith and Hellebron. Due to the narrative of this campaign being to disrupt Ariel's ritual, there are significantly more Wood Elf faction nearby that are unique to this campaign.

At the start of the Vortex campaign, take Ashrak from Ghrond, colonize at level 3, and build a Weapons Burrow early and get at least 3 Warpfire Throwers and 2 Ratling Guns. Also repair the barracks and upgrade to get a Skaven Chieftain, then take Ghrond, before pushing your first Wood Elf Standing Stone settlement. Warpfire Throwers will hard carry these battles as the garrisons tend to rush a lot of tree spirits into your lines, and the fire damage weakness will let you break their centre quicker than ratling guns do and at lower cost. However you need 2 Ratling Guns to deal with the guaranteed Hawkriders you'll see. Garrisons will have 2 at least, while the expeditions have 2-3 and often a unit of Glade Rider Archers, which Warpfire Throwers will struggle against.

Every time you destroy one of the Standing Stones, an expedition force will start attacking your settlements. Don't pay for a standing army there, instead recruit two lords, give them the Skavenslaves and whatever else you get from the Growth Vat and you should be able to deal with the armies. Though do consider recruiting a few Warpfire Throwers or Ratling Gun units on hard, on legendary you will actually need a standing army spec'd to fight Wood Elves. Consider keeping positive relations with Har Ganeth and Naggarond so you can roam the continent and not worry about your neighbours, however Naggarond will almost never grant Military Access, so be prepared to gift them gold to stay positive.

Lastly the Flesh Laboratory upgrades allow for some interesting unit customizations, as you need to apply lower level upgrades to unlock better ones, I recommend dumping a bunch of upgrades onto Skavenslaves and Wolf Rats and then recycling them. Units that have the mutation debuff lose health in battle and get huge penalties to replenishment so don't pump your starting Brood Horror or Stormvermin unless you're able to replace them. A very strong early upgrade is to put vanguard deployment on your Brood Horror and Rat Ogres, and then deploy them for surprise rear attacks with Wolf Rats. Another good choice is at the top of the unit's tree which grants Perfect Vigour and Regeneration, which is excellent on Gutter Runners, Deathrunners, Plague Monk Censer Bearers, and Stormvermin.

In Mortal Empires, they start with only one settlement but have the potential to expand once the forces of Norsca and Warriors of Chaos start their offensive on Kislev and the northeastern Empire provinces, leaving many cities in ruins, excellent for the Skaven to claim.

Trivia

 * Clan Moulder was originally led by a generic lord named Morlocke before being made playable with the Twisted and the Twilight DLC.