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- 11.1 Skaven in General 122
- 11.2 Characters 122
- 11.3 Regiments 124
- 11.4 War Machines 128
- 11.5 Monsters 129
- 11.6 Special Characters 130
- 11.7 Magic Items 131
- 11.8 Tactics 132
- 11.8.1 The Chittering Horde 132
- 11.8.2 Fury of the Horned Rat 132
- 11.8.3 The Claws of Decay 133
- 11.8.4 The Flames of the Under-Empire 133
(With thanks to the sadly deceased Shannon. I paid a vast fortune to the
Clan Pestilence to infect his Clanhold with the Black Plague. - Can't
have competitors you know... Neek-neek!)
Young warlord Kreekish stepped inside the dark cell. Old, one-eyed
Skaven, dressed in rags rose slowly to his feet, blinking his only
eye in the light of the visitors torch. Once this prisoner had been a
mighty, dark-furred Warrior, but now his arms had withered away almost
to nothing, and his skin was bald and blotched. Still, he was tall, and
his eye glared vengefully from it's socket. "Sraqual." Said Kreekish.
"Your accursed son defeated yet another army I sent against him. My
allies, warriors of Clan Kritus complain that he is too good strategist
for the likes of me. Still, I know that it was YOU who taught him
everything he knows about the Arts of War." The Warlord bent over his
enfeebled prisoner, brandishing a serrated knife. "Now you'll share your
knowledge with ME or I shall cut you up and feed your carcass to my
breeders!"
For a while Sraqual smiled the Dark Smile. Finally he answered.
"Yes-yes. I will tell. This was how I won those victories, all those
years ago..."
Skaven are a very interesting case. In straight hand to hand, they have
advantage over the closest thing, the Humans, since their I and M are
better, allowing them to charge and strike first. But LD 5, inability
to use cavalry and the lack of missile troops swing the balance in the
favor of Humans. Then again, Skaven cost just 4,5 points... just cheap
enough to get the special WH discount of 50 per cent on equipment! The
one thing that always holds true about the Skaven is that you've got to
have lots of them. The bigger their units are, the better. This way you
can increase their LD to a more acceptable level.
If leading a big unit the low LD of the Skaven isn't so much of a
problem, and since they are good value for points in hand to hand. Your
characters are cheap, so you should be able to give them good deal of
magical toys.
Close-combat monster! Get them while they are frenzied! Only 73 points!
Plaque priests are very good value for the points, and it is a rare
day that I leave my Clanhold without one. I often give him a Blade of
Darting Steel (automatic hits) against the Elves and the like who have
low toughness and armor save, or Ogre Blade (+2 S) against Chaos or
such. For extra magical power, equip him with the Liber Bubonicus and
grab those Nurgle spells.
One of the most powerful characters in WH, Vermin Lords are truly
powerful but also a bit problematic. They are pretty cheap compared to
most Greater Daemons, but that 600 points comes out of your Character
allowance...
One good trick is to put Vermin Lord in to a unit of Rat Ogres. This
gives him a protection against missiles and War Machines, and he can't
be picked out as target for missile fire. The merits of the Vermin Lord
also include it's magical powers. It has an access to the Dark Magic
deck, and in larger games this is a Good Thing since Skaven have only
one deck available to them without Crown of Sorcery or such. Against
Chaos he is almost essential since he can beat up practically anybody
except the Bloodthirster, and Chaos lacks the War Machines that are very
dangerous to this rat.
These wizards are cheap, but unlike many other sorcerers they are very
weak in combat. Also, they can't use many of the best spells in the
Skaven deck. They are good of keeping the winds of magic rolling 2D6,
carrying dispel scrolls and (in the case of the Warlock Master) leading
units.
These are your best wizards, and your rats can be served with a
Screaming Bell side order. Grey Seers are as powerful warriors as
your General, just as good leaders, have greater resilience and the
ability to use some of the best Skaven spells. Thus it is no wonder
that I always include one in my army. Very often I don't buy anything
combat-orientated to my wizards, but Grey Seers are an exception
and quite often get at least Warpstone Armor or Black Amulet for
protection. Their only negative side is that they are truly expensive.
As far as the magic is concerned, try to get the Death Frenzy, Plague,
Curse of the Horned Rat and the Madness from the Skaven deck.
Cream of the Clanrats, these Skaven warriors are very unSkavenlike. They
are expensive! They are your best basic infantry unit, and they are one
of the three chances Skaven get to field a magical standard without
allies.
-
WEAKNESSES:
-
High point cost plus low toughness and armor save. Your
enemy will shoot at them with the fury of an ape.
-
USES:
-
Stormvermin are a problematical unit. On the other hand, they are
much better warriors than almost any other unit of rats, but their high
point cost is un-Skavenish. Since IMHO there is no sense cutting the
corners with a Skaven unit, a small unit is out of the question. I have
two answers.
- Simply drop some of the auxiliary troops and take a large regiment
of the Stormvermin as your core unit. The Ruby Chalice is probably
a good buy against opponents with lots of missile weapons, since -2
to shoot is something that bothers even the Elves. Put all the usual
Skaven paraphernalia of Screaming Bells, Warlords and assassins with
this unit, plus perhaps the Black amulet and Banner of Might, and
off you go.
- Buy some 20 Stormvermin to act as a bait for enemy missile fire.
It is not a very good option against armies with very powerful
missile weapons, but if your Undead opponent targets your Stormvermin
instead of your main unit of Clanrats with his Skull Chukers as he
is bound to do, it might save you. In this devious tactic, don't buy
stormvermin any additional equipment (except perhaps halberds) to
keep the cost low. Deploy as narrow and deep unit as possible to keep
the leadership value as high as possible. This is a risky option, but
sometimes worth it.
Basic Skaven: The only real fault is their low leadership, but as long
as you have your extra three ranks, you should be OK.
-
WEAKNESSES:
-
Leadership 5 and average statistics.
-
USES:
-
For their core unit, many people use the clanrats with spears
since A) they are cheap B) with spears your rats might even get a chance
to fight back! Since they are very cheap, you often find that you have
points for an additional unit that might be worth it just to draw
missile fire and transport assassins, globadiers and a Warpfire thrower.
Unit sizes should start at 30-40, and can go up to infinity.
Fast, strong, well equipped, expensive. Their special deployment is very
useful since they don't have to suffer from the hail of missiles as your
other units.
-
WEAKNESSES:
-
Can't field a magic standard. Expensive. Low toughness.
-
USES:
-
The usual method is equip them with everything imaginable, use
their special deployment rule, and harass War Machines, marching units
and such. Unit sizes from 6 to 12 should be enough.
The other method I use is sneaky and frighteningly risky. Since Gutter
Runners are great fighters, (weapon skill 4, strength 4, and 2 attacks
with additional hand weapons) they can be formed into a standard
regiment instead of skirmishing and deployed near the enemy. You
should be able to charge your opponents on a first or second turn.
With assassins, good leaders and wise choice of magic equipment, there
are not many regiments that can stand their charge. Of course this
option is very costly and can cause you your worst defeat, but it is an
entertaining variation.
Poisoned blades, weapon skill 5, 2 attacks and a handy disguise rule
make Adepts of Clan Eshin very useful rats to have.
-
WEAKNESSES:
-
Elven and Dwarven elites have as high weapon skill as they
and thus are hard to hit. strength 4 isn't that hot against a Nurgle
Character with toughness 6.
-
USES:
-
I almost always take as many assassins as I can. Good fighters,
dangerous against characters and they don't eat up my character
allowance. Though it must be said that when I need more points, the
assassins are the ones that go.
Weak, weaker, Skavenslave, but don't ignore them! They are cannon fodder
par excellence!
-
WEAKNESSES:
-
Leadership 4, weapon skill and ballistic skill 2. Need I say
more?
-
USES:
-
If you are playing on a battlefield with relatively few hills,
you'll do well by using slaves as living shields against the enemy
missile fire. If your opponent has a nasty habit of using frenzied
troops, you can use slaves to take the charges of these very dangerous
things. With a Crown of Command and 40+ slaves you can lock that
Khornate knight unit in a futile and endless combat.
If there ever was a good troop type, it's plague censer bearers. 2
attacks, re-rolls on the first turn, hard to hit, weapon skill 4,
leadership 10 for break tests, and the poison wind effect, all at 15
points!
-
WEAKNESSES:
-
Sometimes an unlucky row of dice rolls can thwart your plans
and the globadiers kill themselves with the poisonous fumes, or break
regardless of their unmodified leadership of 10. You can't have a really
big regiment since their formation. Other than that, no weaknesses.
-
USES:
-
Try to find toughest possible target for them. On the first round
of their charge the Cencer Bearers always cause immense damage, and even
after that they tie the enemy up because of their hatred, and the fact
that they are toughness 4 troops and thus very hard to hurt. They are
very useful for their brother Plague Monk's also, since they can act as
a missile shield as they are -2 to hit. The one problem is to get the
unit size right since otherwise they get in each others way an possibly
poison themselves. 12 should serve you well. As a final word, don't ever
forget these troops! They are IMHO an essential part of any Skaven army.
The initiates of infection and the disciples of disease have toughness
4, ability to carry a magical standard and they are affected by the
rules for frenzy.
-
WEAKNESSES:
-
Low strength. Spells which require armor save are dangerous.
-
USES:
-
As they give access to Plaque Priests, Censer Bearers and
additional magic standard, I always field at least one unit. With
toughness of 4, they can take quite a lot of punishment from missile
fire, and it partially offsets their low armor save. I always give them
additional hand weapons, and if facing somebody with regular bows, like
Wood Elves, I consider giving them light armor.
Rat Ogres are your heavy hitters.
-
WEAKNESSES:
-
If you lose all your packmasters, the Rat Ogres are history.
Stupidity and leadership 4 are a deadly combination.
-
USES:
-
As shock troops since you lack heavy cavalry. I've seen many
different units, ranging from a single handler and Rat Ogre to a monster
unit of 24 Rat Ogres! I would say that a large unit is better than
smaller one, since spells like Death Frenzy are of much more use. But
remember that if your unit of 12+ Rat Ogres breaks and is destroyed, it
could well mean the end of you. Crown of Command is a good buy to the
character leading such an expensive unit. It is sometimes worth to move
a Skaven Character from a regular units to the Rat Ogre unit if all
their packmasters get killed. Characters can act as packmasters.
Since they are so cheap, they are a good place to invest some extra
points.
-
WEAKNESSES:
-
Of course they can't beat heavy cavalry, don't even try.
-
USES:
-
There are couple of pitfalls to avoid. Don't fight opponents with
weapon skill of 5 or more, since you'll hit them only with 5+. Also,
don't take too many packmasters, since the cost of the unit will be too
high then. Giant Rats can fight against Skeletons, Goblins and such,
act as a knight trap with Crown of Command, and draw out charges of the
frenzied troops. Remember that they can always lap around their enemies.
At 30 points, they are expensive and must be always used for the best
effect.
-
WEAKNESSES:
-
You really can't use them in their own regiments. They can't
stand any hand to hand combat, and their "Stand and Shoot" reaches only
6 inches.
-
USES:
-
Since they can hurt anybody, they are a valuable part of any
Skaven force. You should always include them in every regiment allowed,
for even though the often let you down, their psychological effect is so
great that your opponent often uses too much time trying to kill them,
neglecting your real units. Always target your worst nightmares with
these things since they can hurt even a Dwarf Lord with Toughness of 10.
When these thing work they are deadly to extreme. remember that the crew
have heavy armor! That 5+ armor save has helped me time and again. If
used as their own units (You must be very brave or stupid to do this
since they have leadership of 5) keep them away from the rest of your
troops! They have the worst misfires in the whole game! I recommend
using them attached to units.
Against Chaos and other armies with little or no missile power and
dangerous hand to hand troops, Doomwheel is almost essential. It is one
of the few things in Skaven army that can operate alone, for the Warlock
Engineer driving it has a leadership of 10! Obviously too much warpstone
snuff.
It is a good idea to keep the Doomwheel on a hill in the beginning of
the game since it gains extra impetus when it rolls down the slopes.
Don't forget that the Engineer wears heavy armor! This has saved my hide
now and then.
These are one of the few long-ranged Skaven weapons. The trouble is
that their leadership 5 causes them to run away practically every time
there is a panic test to take. They are also uncommonly expensive rats.
They have ballistic skill of only 3 so you generally hit with 5+ on D6.
Because of this, choose your targets! Go for knights, ogres, chariots
and such. Because of their strength of 5 and D3 wounds you can hurt
almost anything badly. I recommend targeting anything larger than 10'
since you gain +1 to hit bonus. Don't over rely on them! They are too
expensive to compensate for your lack of bowmen.
As a package, Screaming Bell is cheap. It charges as a chariot, has 4+
dispel, makes the Grey Seer and the Bell Slave immune to psychology and
gives them hatred, grants you one extra magic card, plus gives you the
random powers of the Bell itself! On the other hand, it slows down the
regiment pushing it, can be targeted with missile weapons, may explode
if strung with too high note and becomes a prime target for the enemy. I
wouldn't field it against Elves or such since it is far too easy to lose
your invaluable Grey Seer, and even the loss of the Striker is a sad
blow. It might be a good idea to give the Grey Seer a Warpstone armor
when he is riding Screaming Bell. Recommended against assault armies
like Chaos.
I avoid mounting Skaven characters on monsters since they often become
the prime targets for enemy missile fire. The problems are even greater
if you send your Warlord or Grey Seer to face the enemy alone. The low
leadership of the Skaven Characters will probably be the death of you.
A powerful monster might be able to swing the balance to your favor
in hand to hand, and without rider it doesn't eat up your character
allowance.
Rat Swarms are the best buy on this list. They are cheap, but above all,
they are immune to psychology and break tests. There is a unit you don't
want to fight? Send couple of swarms to bug it down!
If you want good value for points, choose Thanquol. He is accompanied
by extra-strong rat-ogre, is able to re-roll warpstone tests, and costs
only little more than normal Grey Seer. Since he replaces the general
you can save couple of points in smaller battles. In bigger ones, you
must use Special characters to field Skaven Lords with Thanquol. He is
pretty good if you feel you must take risks since his Special Blessing
from the Horned Rat that shifts wounds suffered by him to other Skaven.
Just remember to keep him with units or near them!
Need to kill somebody? Lord Skrolk is your rat. With 8 attacks while
frenzied and one of the deadliest weapons in the game, Lord Skrolk
really send shivers up your opponent's spine. He is actually pretty good
against big monsters since they don't wear magical armor, and they will
die on a roll of 6 on D6 regardless of their toughness. While he is
expensive, I consider him every time when my Stormvermin start pressing
Clanrats into service.
I like Ikit very much since he can take his spells from any spell deck,
overcoming the normal Skaven problem of limited choice of magic. He is
actually pretty tough in hand to hand and is immune to psychology and
rout tests. He also can act as an extra poison wind globadier from the
middle of the unit if you don't fancy your chances in hand to hand, and
besides he is not even that expensive.
On the down side, he has to take the Storm-Daemon, which is a good
weapon but the wizards really need those power scrolls and such. He also
replaces your general and forces you to field 25 per cent of your points
as war machines. I've seen him defeat the Undead and the Chaos very
handily with High Magic Spells.
As he always acts as a general, try to keep him alive. He is actually
extremely good at leading army because of his unheard of leadership of
9! He really puts some backbone to your army's morale.
He can act as a extra-strong packmaster that your opponents fear since
he tends to snap their necks with his Man-Catcher. Typically dirty trick
is to give him a Sword of swift slaying that can really shock your
opponents. A good place for extra points, but not essential.
One of my answers for too powerful characters, the Deathmaster will
put fear of the Horned Rat into the hearts of your opponents. Give him
the Black Amulet and put him on the orders of terminating everything
non-Skaven. All in all, I can't recommend him highly enough. There is
almost no easy way to take the Deathmaster on.
Against the Dwarfs and Orcs and Goblins, I try to always include this
very colorful creature. Mind you, a Chaos Lord will usually have
him for lunch in challenge match, and you might need that Warpstone
Armor somewhere else. Remember that in a challenge match against
Dwarfs he wounds automatically since he gets +1 to wound rolls and the
Dwarf-Gouger wounds Dwarfs on 2+!
Skaven have access some of the best magic items in whole game, so read
the Skaven book thoroughly. Crown of Command is compulsory, don't even
think of not taking it. The only problem is where to put it. Weeping
Blade is one of the most point cost effective things you can get and
should always be a high priority. Warpstone Armor is good, since it can
give an unmodified save even to the wizards of your army. Since your
army generally includes large units, a things like Skavenbrew work very
well.
Because it is very, very hard to rally fleeing Skaven, the Horn of Urgok
is a good buy. Also, since you don't want to roll against that lousy
leadership of yours, you should consider Sword of Fortitude.
Take many jezzails and warpfire-thrower units with poison wind
globadiers, NOT!
No, even I can't make a defensive Skaven army. Offense is the way to
go. But the problem is that very few rats can gnaw, say a large unit
of Dragon Ogres, to death. because of this you have to resort to very
low tricks. Then again, you're a Skaven Lord, so dirty tricks are your
life's blood!
- Challenge opposing characters to single combat while your warlord
hacks away at his rank and file.
- Give the Heart of Woe to the leader of your Gutter Runner unit and
watch your opponents expression.
- Take some nasty allied cavalry to throw your opponent off balance.
Remember, keep your units large. Missiles will cut your numbers, but if
you have enough rats, you can afford the losses. Take magic items that
protect whole units; they are the most cost efficient.
According to GWUK all weapons that include warpstone are classified as
magical.
Here then are some of my suggestions for the overall tactic.
This is the famed "all or nothing" tactic. Concentrate everything you've
got on 1 big unit. If you want to make an impression on your enemy with
sheer numbers, then take Clanrats. I've seen a unit of 200 Clanrats
once! Other troops should be there only to support your main unit.
The magical items you need are Crown of Command, Amulet of Obsidian,
the Talisman of Ravensdark, Skavenbrew and perhaps the Battle Banner.
Give your characters the best possible weapons like Slayer Swords,
Frostblade, Fellblade and so on. Just watch out for those goblin units
with Crown of Command and Warbosses with the Heart of Woe. The Ring of
Corin should serve you well.
Skaven army has some very powerful characters and special troops, and
sometimes I like to go for the quality and not the quantity. With
a Vermin Lord leading the attack of the Gutter Runners, Rat Ogres,
Stromvermin and Plaque Monks with Cencer Bearers, you have every
possibility to defeat anybody in hand to hand. This works best against
opponents who dislike missile troops and war machines. Losing many of
these valuable troops before actual combat spells D-E-F-E-A-T.
This is my favorite tactic: Since Skaven get many cheap and effective
sacrificial troops, I use them to the best effect: Rat swarms and
Skavenslaves plus Giant Rats will tie up the most dangerous parts of the
enemy. Meanwhile, using their local superiority, the actual regiments
defeat the weaker parts of the enemy force. Imagine your opponent's
heavy cavalry struggling with 100+ Slaves who have the Crown of Command.
This is definitely a thinking man's tactic, since a mindless and
destructive charge is much easier to master. Then again, it is very
difficult to defeat a Chaos or competently led Dark Elf army without any
tricks.
This is not a tactic on it's own, it is rather a compliment to any other
Skaven Tactical approach. Many opponents are quite happy to stay in
cover and shoot at your rats. This might be problematic, especially if
your opponent is skulking behind a defended obstacle, making hand to
hand a risky business. The answer to this problem is to field as many
Warp-Fire throwers as possible, perhaps even in their own units, and
fire away against your opponents. The immense destruction these devices
cause, combined with the panic tests they cause, soon make your opponent
to re-consider his tactics.
The eyes of Kreekish glittered. "Fool-fool!" he cried. "Now I shall
vanquish your Clan and bring the head of your son for my breeders to
gnaw! You have recreated your own Doom!"
Triumphant young Warlord left his prisoner and hurried off to muster
his army. "Yes-yes." Whispered Sraqal. "I have told you everything.
Everything but that your allies, Clan Kritus have secretly pledged
alliance to my son. It's your fate that is sealed." Skral fell silent in
his unholy joy.
Next part: Against Chaos.