Skaven 8th Edition: Core

In this edition of my Skaven 8th edition review, I will be going over core units, and how much I love 'em. I will even share some cheese with all the rats reading. Lets start at the beginning, the main stay of the Skaven army.

Clanrats (8/10)

Clanrats use to always had to be in the army in 7th edition, now in 8th edition its more of a choice rather than a requirement. I still love putting clanrats in, they are very afforable at 4 pts a piece, and have access to some awesome weapons that some other units do not. In this portion I will cover both clan rats then the weapon teams to be complete.

With Clanrats I usally like to go 25 models for the 5x5 block with full command.

Now depending if they are pushing the bell or not, I like to equip them with just the shield and hand weapon for the 6+ ward save, but I do see merit for the spears to be an option if your pushing the bell. Since you aren't likely to break, those extra attacks can come in useful.

As for the weapon teams, there are two I usually will take and leave the others at home.

1) Warpfire thrower. I really like this solution especially against other big blocked opponents and against armies such as the Darkelves who have hydras with regeneration. Now that you can measure the distance away from a unit, its best to be around 8.5 inches away from intended target, and fire away. And as long as you do at least one wound, it causes panic which is nice.

2) Poison Wind Mortar. One of my most favorite weapon teams to take. Since long range guess work is no longer the issue, these guys are quite awesome. Having 2-3 of these guys makes a lot of cheese and wine from your opponents. For sportsmanship I would only take 1 maybe two, but not more. Oh and for further advice, never use the parents line of sight as this could very well mean disaster for you, as it has for me a couple times in the past till i learned :)

3)Doom-Flayer, the only non ranged weapons team the clan rats of to take. It is OK in combat, but I do not think it is worth 55 points to take.

Stormvermin (8/10)

The Storm vermin got a significant boost going into the 8th edition from 7th. Mainly because they have a pretty descent initiative sitting at 5. They are now a very viable choice to take, as they are the elite core unit that the Skaven have. I always take a full command and this unit is my choice when pushing the bell, and the capability to take a magical banner is a huge plus. Stormvermin are also another cheap way to get out some Poison Wind Mortars, if you want to be cheesy in that way. Ohh how much wine you will get with that cheese.

Skaven Slaves(10/10)

Probably the only 10 out of 10 core choice there is. They are a must have. They are probably the most underrated, yet broken unit (even more so than the hellpit) the Skaven have. This coming after the latest Skaven faq v1.3, where you can delete the last two lines of expendable. Which means you can shoot and kill opponents that have been "tarped" by Skaven slaves without having to need to randomize where shots go to. The Blessed Horned Rat has shown his mercifullness to the slaves, and made them that much better.

Sitting at 2pts a piece, I now like to take a couple 5x10 blocks of slaves with a musician. for a 102 points, that's a great deal. If you have a Grey Seer on a Bell, that means you can be 18 inches away, and usually be at a stubborn ld of 10. What??? That is awesome, throw in a BSB near by, and you got some awesome tar pits. Cast poison on them and frenzy, they are a unit to be scared of. I'm not convinced taking a shield or spears are worth the points, rarely will you see them in action. Slings on the other hand I have seen and can add that extra long range punch. 50 sling attacks coming at you is nothing to sniff at.

Some of my lists I will take 3 of these units of the 5x10 blocks if I have the grey seer on bell. If I'm not taking the Bell, I will probably only have two of these units. But they are very impressive, and have done me very well recently. And the exploding feature of the slaves adds just that much more fun, the Skaven way. Yes sir, here is some wine to go with my cheese.

Other tactics that are common among slave owners is using a block of 20 slaves, and marching then up and angling them next to your opponent, hoping that they will charge, and fail to catch up with the slaves. This strategy is there to expose the flanks of your enemy.

Night Runners(5/10)

Coming from the 7th edition Skaven to 8th Skaven, they took a pretty good beating, taking away their skirmishing ability, and not having much combat to go along with what they can do. The main strategy that is used is to setup one unit of them with the Warp Grinder weapons team ,I say one, because that's all that can have with the Warp Grinder weapons team, tunnel behind the enemy and go for a rear charge. Usually winning by static res due to hitting in the back ranks, plus having ranks of their own, they usually can get an enemy unit fleeing towards your own units.

Giant Rats (7/10)

Giant rats excel at flanking units with their blazing speed as they are the "fast cav" of the Skaven army. They are best used along either a unit of Clanrats or Storm Vermin. Other uses I have seen them in are what is called speed bumps for your higher damage dealing units. Basically 2+ units are lined up the rats up 2 rats per rank and like the Skaven slaves, march the them in a single filed line one inch behind the other. Forcing the enemy to either charge them or go around them, slowing them down some. If the enemy decides to charge, all the merrier, as it doesn't matter if they break through or overrun, because you will have less than 5 rats left they wont cause panic, and the enemy will run into the next set, which will again slow him down, not doing too much damage (24 points per unit or so, depending if you want to add extra pack masters and rats or not). Also adding master moulder with great weapon to the front unit pays off as he can get a couple s6 attacks in. He also adds a descent leadership in case of fear charging units.

Rat Swarms (4/10)

Rat swarms have two basic strategies.

1) They are similarly used as Skaven slaves in that they are good as tar pits. Using 3+ bases which gives a descent 15 wounds slows down most units.

2) The other use which was a little better in the 7th edition rules is it shields of units from being charged like your Jezzails, or even stops some units like your plague monks from charging due to frenzy.

For the most part, I do not see the cost effectiveness and rarely will you make up the points spent here.

Skaven 8th Edition: Lords

The first section I will be over viewing are the Lords of the Under Empire. Assuming a standard game is 2500 points, I will base my opinions off of that.

First Up"

Lord Skrolk (5/10)

I give Lord Skrolk a 5 out of 10 in effectiveness per points spent. At 470 points, he is a very high priced Level 3 Plague Priest for what you get, but after saying that, he has been one of my favorite named characters to take. Primary reason:Plague Monks count as core. With him in my list it allows me to take two very large blocks of plague monks of 40 usually with a furnace in each. Throw a few units of slaves in there to fill in rest of core requirements, and you got some nastiness to work with. On the other side, one hit he took going from 7th to 8th edition is that you must use power dice to cast his awesome Liber bubonicus. For games that are competitive, I would leave him at home because there are other Lord choices that give you more for the price.

Thanqoul & Boneripper (8/10)

At 450 Points, Thanqoul and the Boneripper combo comes out to be worth each point if you calculate a greyseer to be 240pts, Boneripper @ 75 points, Up to an extra 5 warpstones over a normal grey seer, that he gets to reroll worth 75pts, +4 ward save worth 45pts, and extra spell worth say 35 pts, and throw in a chance to heal for 20 pts, thats 490pts there. Which I feel is well worth it.

The advantages with him is that he usually will always have enough power dice to cast spells, he has access the the 13th spell, and he get 5 spells instead of 4. Which is pretty awesome.

Goes along pretty nicely with the extra warpstone he has to cast with.

The only downside is that he wont ever ride a screaming bell, which in the 7th edition Skaven Rules I believe he could. Guess he got scared of heights or something. But at least he gets the +4 ward save that the bell normally would give him.

I personally love taking him, and feel he is very competitive as far as Named Characters goes. He is definitely one of my top 2 favorite Named Characters. The other is coming up shortly.

Ikit Claw (6/10)

As much as I like this character, I do not see him as competitive as some other options. But having said that, he is a very fun character to have. Bringing the beloved Storm Daemon into battle and having descent saves by himself makes him a viable and fun selection. But at level 3, I would look elsewhere.

Throw The Unclean (8/10)

Probably one of my top two favorite named characters. On of the reasons is that I love having rat ogres on the table. Allowing two large groups of Rat Ogres core (18 each), I think is a huge advantage, which can give you up to 60 attacks at str 5 for each unit.

He is also pretty cheap compared to other Lord Options which will allow you to Add in a Grey seer if you wish. Additionally I enjoy the fact that he 4 attacks that are considered to have creature killing blow, and then an addition whip attack that can lower opponents ld by 2.

And if all that is not enough, he also enjoys having the blessings of the horned rat by having regeneration.

Queek Headtaker (7/10)

Probably one of the most underated Named characters as he is the only one that can buff up Storm Vermin by giving one unit of Storm Vermin +1 ws and +1 str.

As far as Skaven Warriors goes, he is pretty descent in HtH combat, and does even better in Challenges as get he gets both a +1 to hit and to wound. His armor is pretty descent as it gives +3 Armor saves at the same time bounces back successful hit with a str5 hit back. Thats pretty dang cool. I have played with him with great success mainly because of my large block of Storm Vermin just kick butt.

Vermin Lord(5/10)

Ohh how much I love playing the vermin lord, oh how much a target is painted on his head. Luckily he has 5 wounds, is a fighting machine, and can cast with the best of the skaven. He is much better with the 8th edition rules than the 7th edition rules mainly because of how Terror works. Plus Large Target doesn't give bonus to people shooting at him. For Fun games I think its all right to take him, not too much cheese because he is easyily snipable, but, he does pack a punch and miscasting the 13th spell doesn't bother him too much as he isn't by any of his own units, and he does have those 5 wounds. That is if he isn't instant killed. Another knock on him is he only has a 5+ ward save, which isn't that great, just like any other daemon out there.

Warlord (10/10)

The first of the non named characters. The warlord has many options you can go with.

First option is what some call the butcher. Basically getting on the warlitter, taking a shield and warpstone armor, giving you the +2 armor save, with back bounce damage. Very good against rank and file units that have low str. The next setup i have used is the flanker setup. I put him on a Rat Ogre, give him the warlock augmented weapon, portents of verminous doom, and the warpstone armor(which of course I love to put on him) This setup is basically for hitting the flanks of armies and making them run. Put him in with a group of rat ogres, and not much can with stand a flanked charge from him, especially having that portents which lowers enemies' LD value by one. This setup also gives him 10 Str5 attacks (including the bonebreaker). Very nice I think. Another setup I have used is the bounty Hounter. Basically Give him a shield, great pox for movement, and the fellblade. You can then have him join a fast moving unit if you like, but basically aim him towards anything scarey on the opposite side, at let them have it. I have done this once, killed two dragons before the fellblade finished him off. Luckily in 8th edition you can have more than one lord under 3k.

Overall I love the warlord options, and there are many more. Very good companion to the grey Seer, and should be considered for every list.

Grey Seer(10/10)

If you do not have a grey seer in your list, your probably playing for fun, or have some other really cheesy option out there. The grey seer is one of the best options for lord, if not the best. Coupled with the power stone, you can almost guarantee that he gets of the 13th spell which can be a huge game changer. Also give him Skalm to heal any damage from the miscast that could, and probably will happen. The Bell mount he has options to is also a very solid choice, and has the fun factor and competitive factor rolled up in one.

If for some reason you find your self having two of these guys in your list, and you can always have fun with skitter leaping into the back ranks, then miscasting your 13th take not just the average 14 models with that spell, but also have a chance with a large template surrounding the grey seer, and kabooming it. I have done this once, and the look on my opponents face was :(

Loved every moment of it. Grey Seer is a very competitive Lord, and should only be really considered if you aren't really concerned how the your opponent feels about cheese and sportsmanlike conduct.

(PS. On the grey Seers, the only items you really need to take is the skalm and power scroll, everything else can be taken by a caddy)

Skaven Report

My hopes are for the next couple weeks, I will be able to give my opinion and break down of the Skaven Army and how they rate in 8th edition. Like my fellow comrades Steve and Ben I will attempt the same with the Skaven breaking down their ranks, and perhaps adding a section for the Skaven strategies and army lists. Doing this will both help you as a reader better understand the Skaven, and either how to play them, or against them, and help better myself in future gaming events.