The clock has struck 13, which means it’s that time again – Battletome: Skaven is coming. Verminous tides of vile ratmen, erratic and esoteric war machines, and giant mutated abominations are all scurrying forth to conquer the Mortal Realms in the name of the Great Horned Rat.
Leading this great unwashed mass are the six Great Clans of the Under-Empire. Each of these chittering factions encompasses multitudinous minor tribes, packs, and sects, all united under a single name, such as Eshin or Pestilens. Mostly united, anyway – backstabbing and tail-biting is just part of the rich skaven cultural tapestry.
Unlike the subfactions employed by less cunning (and mercenary) cultures, there’s nothing stopping Skaven generals from mix-and-matching units from each Great Clan to create the army of their ambitious dreams. The new battletome does offer a devious twist for those showing uncharacteristic loyalty, however…
On top of a unique selection of command traits and artefacts, each of the Great Clans now has a two-tiered allegiance ability – include one or two HEROES with the same Great Clan keyword, and they’ll unlock a nifty battle trait. If you take three or more HEROES from that Great Clan, however, that trait will get much stronger – strength in numbers, yes-yes!
Take the sorcerous Grey Seers of the MASTERCLAN – on a roll of 3+, these Skilled Manipulators can shift their wounds onto a nearby friendly unit with three or more models.*
If you’ve added three of these supreme schemers in your army, you’ll be Always Three Clawsteps Ahead. This sneaky ability lets you take the first run roll and charge roll each phase and use it for all of the other units in your army – perfect for swarming across the table in a single masterstroke! On top of that, the first time one of your units piles-in each phase, you can pile-in with your whole army at once – drowning your foe in tooth and claw.
The highly-trained assassins of the CLANS ESHIN have a new Deathmaster on the loose. When not lurking within your ratmen hordes, he benefits from Masters of Murder, which lets you pick one specific enemy HERO to be the target of your ire.
If your army has three or more HEROES from the CLANS ESHIN – including Slynk Skittershank, last seen hunting aelves in the Nethermaze – this battle trait gets a boost. Now your hit and wound bonuses apply to all enemy HEROES. Those blade-wielding liquidators just got even scarier…
The vicious Clawlords who lead the CLANS VERMINUS rose to the top by being more resourceful than any other skaven. As such, these Mighty Warlords can use a heroic action to gain an extra command trait from Battletome: Skaven for that entire turn.
Loaded up with three or more CLAWLORDS? Now each of them can nab a command trait, for some squirmingly flexible commanders with a swarm of powerful choices. Perhaps one of your head honchos has rat-raced too far ahead of the pack? Call on the Powerful Alpha Command Trait to let them shrug off two wounds each phase.
This pick-and-mix approach gives you a tremendous amount of wiggle room when building your Skaven army. A matched play army of 1,000 points can squeeze in the full three HEROES from a single Great Clan, or trade power for versatility by spreading its choices around. At 2,000 points, you can maximise two Great Clans at once, focus on one Great Clan to fully indulge in its boosted battle trait, or sprinkle in leaders from every Great Clan and enjoy a buffet of weaker abilities.
When it comes to strategic options, the Skryre’s the limit.
On top of that, every Skaven also benefits from three updated universal battle traits – keep a watchful eye out for those when Battletome: Skaven scurries into pre-order shortly.
Don’t wait for your whiskers to start twitching at the scent of betrayal – sign up for the Warhammer Community newsletter to get all of the latest news sent straight to your inbox.
* In the Under-Empire, “HR department” stands for “Horned Rat department”.