With the launch of Dominion and the advent of a new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, hordes of Chaos-worshipping ratmen are preparing to spring their traps. We’ve had a look at how the myriad factions of the Mortal Realms are faring under the new ruleset, and the time has come to look to the denizens of the Under-Empire gnawing at the roots of reality.
Who Are the Skaven?
The children of the Horned Rat are a twisted amalgamation of vermin and men. They breed incessantly, their clans fighting with each other for supremacy as the wars and ages of the Mortal Realms pass them by. The ratmen bide their time until they can strike against a weakened enemy in a tide of filthy fur, chittering fangs, and beady eyes.
The various clans of the skaven each have their own distinct culture. Some of them focus on creating bizarre and unstable technology, others the crafting of mutated flesh, and many toil to contrive virulent contagions to unleash upon the Mortal Realms. They work together when needs must, but their capacity for cruelty is matched only by their passion for back-stabbing ambition.
The ratmen use a steady stream of fodder to fight their wars and excel at constantly expanding their territory through sheer weight of numbers. When the time comes to strike, the skaven burst from tunnels through reality in seething tides. They utilize everything from peculiar devices, filthy magics, virulent toxins, mutated beasts, and even the daemonic avatars of the Horned Rat to tear down the works of civilisation. Their strength is in their nearly limitless supply of warriors and the accumulation of vast hordes of warpstone – solidified crystals of raw Chaos energy – to power both their sorcery and their technology.
Here to tell us more about how they play in the new edition is playtester extraordinaire Paul Buckler, who you may recognise from his recent writeup for the Ogor Mawtribes, plus Metawatch and other Warhammer Community articles.
Paul: The forces of the Skaventide can really bring their weight of numbers to bear. Clanrats have a massive unit size of 20 models, and of course, they’re Battleline. If you’re so inclined, you can use your Reinforced Unit allowance to bulk them once or even twice, and have a LOT more models than most opponents on the board.
Clans Skryre weapon teams are vital to protecting these large, key units. An opponent might want to charge those 60 Clanrats with something like Witch Aelves, but if there’s a Warpfire Thrower sitting just behind them, the prospect of a lot of mortal wounds from Unleash Hell before they get to fight might just make them think twice.
Magic-rich Skaventide forces can make the most of endless spells with easy access to a wide variety of Wizards. The skaven-exclusive Warp Lightning Vortex is still as formidable as ever.
Alongside tried-and-true predatory endless spells like Purple Sun of Shyish and Aethervoid Pendulum, your skaven Wizards are able to cause massive damage. Whatever you choose, endless spells will be a real boon to the Skaventide and are likely to appear in loads of armies.
Biggest Winners
The new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar brings in a fresh crop of new universal command abilities, heroic actions, and monstrous rampages that work to the benefit of the skaven. Paul picked a few of his favourite new units and tells us what he likes about them.
Stormfiends
Paul: The Unleash Hell command ability, combined with hit and wound re-rolls from the More-more-more Warp Power! spell makes Stormfiends a real danger to charge – especially if they’ve been given an additional 1 to hit from a nearby Hero’s Vigordust Injector artefact.
Since they have more than five wounds, Stormfiends count double when contesting objectives. A Reinforced Unit of six (they’re Battleline in Clans Skryre armies) will count as a whopping 12 models. Use the Rally command ability for a chance to return fallen models with their full wounds and they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.
Grey Seer Thanquol
Paul: The devious Grey Seer Thanquol and his bodyguard Boneripper benefit from a number of rules that will ensure his supremacy at the forefront (or is it ‘forerear’?) of Skaven armies. The first is the Heroic Recovery heroic action, enabling him to potentially heal D3 damage taken, on top of his Warp-amulet healing 1 wound a turn.
With 14 Wounds, a 4+ Save, Mystic Shield, All-out Defence, and Protection of the Horned Rat giving him a chance to negate wounds and mortal wounds, he can survive almost anything. Monstrous rampage increases his combat power with options like Stomp and Roar. Finally, any fool-fools who charge him will have to face Boneripper’s warpfire projectors when he uses Unleash Hell.
Verminlord Warpseer
Paul: The Verminlord Warpseer has long been a mainstay of skaven lists. With all the new uses for command points, The Great Manipulators ability really shines, giving you more command points to use across your entire army.
Keep them alive with the wide range of defensive and healing abilities available to skaven armies, along with a re-rollable save and negating wounds on a 5+ thanks to the Scry-orb and Protection of the Horned Rat abilities, to keep generating those extra command points.
Thanks, Paul! If you’re feeling inspired to start a Clans Skryre force of your own, you’ll need to pick up a box or two of Clanrats to get the ball rolling. If you’d rather try out the Clans Pestilens, check out the Start Collecting! Skaven Pestilens box to kickstart your army.
We’re nearly finished talking about how all the factions play in the new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Check back tomorrow for a look at the Lumineth Realm-lords, and be sure to secure your copy of the immense Dominion launch box ahead of release this Saturday.
